How much time do people of various ages spend reading? How true is the commonly held rule of thumb, that the older a person, the more they spend reading?
The answer can be found in a recent article by James Tozer published by 1843 (The Economist’s sister publication). It quotes data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), an annual survey run by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine how leisure time has changed in the last 10 years.
What, you may ask, is the main change since 2006? The rise of the mobile phone, is the simple answer. So, how has that changed the way people spend their leisure time?
The 65+ Group: More TV, Less Reading
To my surprise, it turns out that it’s the 65+ who have the greatest decrease in time reading. Their reading time has decreased from 50′ to 30′.
What has taken up the bulk of this change for the 65+ group? Again, I was surprised to see it was almost exclusively TV. Indeed, TV has also eaten up that group’s thinking time by almost 15′. Despite this, however, the 65+ group remains the largest consumer of reading material.
How About Them Youngsters?
Again to my surprise, the 15-24 age group’s reading habits have remained steady, at some 10′ per day. They, too, are great consumers of TV, but actually, watch less than they did 10 years ago. In their case, however, it is computers and phones that have grabbed their attention — to the great expense of socializing. However, it has to be pointed out that many youngsters use their phones and tablets to read, so their reading time may have actually increased in the past 10 years.
Erm… You Mentioned Marketing?
Yes, I did. What does all this mean for your marketing efforts? Studying the above data, I reached 3 conclusions:
- The rule of thumb is true: the older a person, the more time they spend reading.
- Youngsters spend more time reading on devices. Make your books available in both print and digital format to attract a younger audience.
- The impression that youngsters no longer read is misleading. Young people and teens read on their devices and they read as many books as they did 10 years ago.
I hope you find them useful. Check out the original post on 1843 for more information on how people spend their leisure time!
kimwrtr said:
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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gibsonauthor said:
Reblogged this on s a gibson.
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The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Don Massenzio said:
Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Here is an excellent post from Nicholas Rossis’ blog on marketing your book for the right age.
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Marje @ Kyrosmagica said:
That’s encouraging about young people and teens still reading as much as they did, (now on devices,) as they did ten years ago. 🙂
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Couldn’t agree more. It’s still quite low, but at least it disproves the common misconception that they never read at all anymore.
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maliaann said:
Reblogged this on Writing for the Whole Darn Universe.
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rijanjks said:
Most interesting. Looks like an author’s prime market is 45 – 64. Good to know.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Indeed 🙂
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Shallow Reflections said:
This is interesting, Nicholas, and somewhat sad regarding TV taking time from reading. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised about it as I’m sure if I did my own time study it would be true for me too!
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Lol – that’s true 😀
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Paul Andruss said:
This was a real eye opener Nicholas. Thanks
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thanks! I’m so glad you found it interesting 😀
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mypeacockbooks said:
YA novels are massive these days and along with New Adult books is why young people still read quite a bit these days. These novels are also far more gritty and tackle tougher subjects that they wouldn’t previously so I’m guessing that’s why reading is still the same in the young age group. My grandmother over 65 reads little but watches a LOT of television these days so I’m not surprised by that finding either 🙂
Btw does socialising on social media count as socialising in this study.? Young people might not meet up much these days but plenty use their phones to use social media.
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
A great point about socializing. I doubt that the authors have bundled social media with socializing, so that has obviously skewed the results.
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Tanya MacPherson said:
I’d be honoured if you’d check this out https://tanyatale.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/back-with-a-bang/
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Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Oh, how I dread when my own little girl turns into Sally 😀
Thank you for the link and welcome to my blog 🙂
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