Will Americans Read More or Fewer Books in the Future?

I love to read.

I’ve loved reading at least since picking up the first Harry Potter book in the 4th Grade. When I decided to give up my pursuit of building a content marketing agency, I knew immediately what I wanted to do instead: I wanted to work on books.

I recognize I'm an outlier. I read 30-40 books a year (ironically, I’ve read LESS since starting Damn Gravity, but I’ve also written 3 books and read countless manuscripts in that time, so it all evens out.) My wife reads even more than me. And while I’m sure there will always be readers, I have always been a bit concerned by the overarching downward trend of readership levels in the US.

I’ve been asked numerous times by people when they learn I run a book publisher: “Do people even read anymore?” My answer is typically, “Enough people do,” and leave it at that.

But I was curious… what do the real numbers look like? WHO is reading less? Is the decline equal across all demographics?

When Gallup studied this question back in 2021, they found that the decline was not equal. Strangely enough, it was the groups with the higher readership rates that saw the biggest declines: Women, older people, and college graduates:

The number of books read each year by college graduates dropped a staggering 6.5 books.

People age 55 and older saw a decrease in 4.7 books per year.

Women are reading 3.6 fewer books per year.

But here are the hopeful trends:

The demographic with the smallest decline in readership were young adults, ages 18-34. In fact, Millennials and Gen Z are not the largest cohort of readers in the country, averaging 13 books per year.

These groups are also the largest consumers of audiobooks, currently the fastest growing book format in the world.

The last hopeful trend comes from the least likely of places: TikTok.

BookTok videos have been viewed over 185 BILLION times, skyrocketing any other that is lucky enough to go viral. BookTok has become the go-to source for reading inspiration for an entire generation. One study found 48% of TikTok users in The United States and 53% of Canadian users reported reading more because of the influence of BookTok.

Those are insane numbers. TikTok (as well as Instagram Reels) has been a huge boon to the publishing industry. If Gen Zers can rekindle their love of reading today, that habit could stick for the rest of their lives.

So let’s go back to the central question: Will people read more or less in the future than they do today?

Given the positive reading trends among young people, I’m optimistic that readership will grow in the future. People realize that they cannot spend all day doom scrolling on social media without serious health consequences. As the first mobile phone generations (millennials and Gen Z) continue to become parents and raise their own families, I believe phone, internet, and iPad usage will be closely monitored, and parents will place books in their childrens’ hands to pass the time.

Not only that, I think the biggest readers in the country—women and college graduates—will return to reading again as we get further away from the Covid pandemic (aka the Doomscrolling, Binge-watching Super Bowl).

Reading is one of the few forms of entertainment with not only zero downside, but incredible, life-changing upside.

I’m excited to see the readership trends steadily rise and people discover and re-discover the magic of their favorite books.