Who Reads and What Do They Read?

Get ready to be surprised with the results from 2 reading surveys—Wattpad and Library Journal—about who reads, what do they read, and how do they find the books they read.

Respondents were asked about movies and other forms of entertainment too.

Respondents were classed by age groups: GenZ, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers.

To refresh your memory, here is a breakdown of these age groups:

GenZ: Born between the late 1990s and early 2000s. They are about 20% of the U.S. population.

Millennials: Born between 1981 and 1996. The oldest millennials are turning 43 this year. They are about 21% of the population.

Gen X: Born from the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. They are sometimes called the Forgotten Generation. (They are better educated than older generations, and they are the first generation with more college-educated women than men.)

Boomers: Born between 1946 and1964. They are 20.9% of the U.S. population and were the largest group until about 2019 when Millenials began overtaking them. I'm fairly certain that's because Boomers started dying.

PICTURE STEVE HARVEY NOW—SURVEY SAYS

What subject matter do you look for in choosing books and other entertainment?

Gen Z: 70% said diversity is important.

Millennials: 82% said diversity is important

Gen X: 57% said diversity is important.

Boomers: 60% said diversity is important.

Where do you go for book suggestions?

Gen Z: 72% BookTok, BookTube

Millennials: 68% BookTok, BookTube, Celebrity Book Clubs which was cited by 26%

Gen X: 64% get recs from friends and family

Boomers: 70% get recs from friends and family (Celebrity Book Clubs attracted only 6% of this group)

How popular are webnovels, ebooks, and webcomics?

Gen Z: 65% like them

Millennials: 71% like them

Gen X: Less than 50% like them

Boomers: Less than 50% like them

What is your most popular genre to read?

Gen Z: Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror

Millennials: Mystery/Suspensee, General Adult Fiction, and Fantasy (Library Journal calls them voracious readers.) Prefer print.

Gen X: Reads across all genres. Read ebooks on a tablet.

Boomers: Surprisingly, most respondents in this age group read books in any format: print, digital, and  audio. Respondents to Wattpad showed little genre fiction with the exception of Mystery. Top choices here were History, Biography, and other Nonfiction. The Ebook friendly survey showed 61% prefer fiction with nonfiction subject matter of Crafts and Hobbies.  Libary Journal showed 43% prefer Thrillers.

For more information, check out the more detailed survey done in 2023 by ebookfriendly which compared 5 generations of reading habits.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

What is the takeaway? People still read. If you're an author, you probably want to consider the genre and format in which you publish if you're trying to attract readers of a particular age.

 

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