According to polls reported by Statista, the number of adults who are reading more because of the pandemic for every generation is increasing. The Wall Street Journal confirmed this in a recent interview with the CEO and founder of Overdrive, a free service offered by libraries and schools that let's people borrow e-books and audiobooks. More people are turning to indoor hobbies because of lockdown.
Poll of Adults Who Read
This is not just in the US but also world wide. A survey of readers conducted by The Guardian showed that many people have doubled their reading consumption. Instead of reading dystopian fiction, which perhaps is too much like real life, readers were turning to the "comfort" of crime and thrillers. This is interesting because the pandemic appears to have influenced reader's appetites.
According to book sales, fiction books have become more popular despite many book shops closing. According to the UK Publishers Association, sales of fiction books in the UK in 2020 grew by 16%, which corresponds to an increase of more than $970 million. In the US, according to the Association of American Publishers, the trade or consumer book industry saw an increase growth of 9.7%.
