News Stats on what genres Americans read the most.

Well, this is interesting! Check out this Substack newsletter from Lincoln Mitchell and Counter Craft (1/10/24) for lots of intriguing poll data and discussion.
Statistics on what genres Americans are reading.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

It doesn't really matter which genres etc are popular (besides, the results of self-reported polls are enormously distorted by confirmation bias and social desirability bias, e.g, fewer adults will admit to reading children's of fantasy books than actually do, and if reading Dan Brown is generally thought to be frowned upon and reading literary fiction though to be admirable, you see how that will affect self-reports.)

Write what you love to read. Then you will love to write, and provided your craft is good enough, you're more likely to sell.

 

[CarolMS]

It doesn't really matter which genres etc are popular (besides, the results of self-reported polls are enormously distorted by confirmation bias and social desirability bias, e.g, fewer adults will admit to reading children's of fantasy books than actually do, and if reading Dan Brown is generally thought to be frowned upon and reading literary fiction though to be admirable, you see how that will affect self-reports.)

Write what you love to read. Then you will love to write, and provided your craft is good enough, you're more likely to sell.

A lot of people are embarrassed to admit they read "mass market" romance books, too. They even smirk with disdain or stick their noses up. Many do the same thing when it comes to classical versus types of popular music, too. So silly.

I wonder, though, how important is "popularity" to agents, given they are focused so much on the sales potential of a book when considering whether or not to take it on.

 

[Bloo]

A lot of people are embarrassed to admit they read "mass market" romance books, too. They even smirk with disdain or stick their noses up. Many do the same thing when it comes to classical versus types of popular music, too. So silly.

I wonder, though, how important is "popularity" to agents, given they are focused so much on the sales potential of a book when considering whether or not to take it on.

I think you mean a lot of guys are embarrassed to admit reading romance

 

[BrianY]

Bloo, while my guess is that more men than women are embarrassed to admit they read romance novels, I think that plenty of women fall into that category too. I'm in a big Amish area and Amish romance novels are everywhere. Nobody admits to reading them and (non-Amish) people are very defensive when asked, but the numbers don't lie and library stats back them up. Apparently romance novels are a big deal for every sort of person.