Gen Y Beats Boomers In 2011 Book Buying Race

by Kimberly A. Cook      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It’s fabulous news. For the first time, Generation Y (born between 1979 and 1989) have surpassed us Baby Boomers in buying books. The news release last week from Bowker and Publishers Weekly means great news for writers on three fronts.

First, the age group the Librarian of Congress was concerned had the lowest reading rates has stepped up their game. Two, the Baby Boomers, us pig in the python oldies, are still out there with massive future book buying power and we can compete with the young whippersnappers. Last and best – we have more reading customers! Let me just be mercenary about that last part and enjoy it.

The press release listed a couple of reasons for the change, but three stood out; the shift to ebooks, the ease of buying ebooks and the loss of the Borders bookstore chain which pushed people toward ebooks. Is it just me or did I almost swoon with ebook envy?

Though completely unsupported by scientific fact, I’m also going to throw out the possibility this pesky recession also chased more than a few of us to good old-fashioned cheaper entertainment like grabbing a good read. With ebooks also going from free to $9.99 in the most popular price range, it’s also a bargain.

Now before everyone gets crazy from some of the comments I saw online, let’s look at the numbers. Advice from my first semester of statistics comes back to me – you can say anything with numbers. The study says even with Baby Boomers as the biggest population group and spending the most on books in the past, 30 percent, we dropped to 25 percent. The Gen Y buyers stormed up to 30 percent from 24 percent last year.

This does not surprise me. While we Boomers are trying to retire, buy our long-term health care insurance and support college graduate kids who can’t find jobs, we’re slowing down a little on book buying. Ya think?

But just you wait. Treacherous old age Boomers will outwit youth and wi-fi debit cards. As for the small percentage drop in women buying books; while caring for aging parents, growing our own vegetables, babysitting grand kids and trying to make money, we are a tad bit BUSY right now.

However, we will be back. Boomer women buy. We did the 1980s the first time around – we know real sparkle, truly big hair and valley girl competitive mall shopping. We are not done. As soon as we get those retired husbands on an activity schedule, the grand kids atrocious spelling cleaned up from texting and our own businesses built to make enough money to support us to age 115, we’ll be right back.

There is no downside to this news. But keep in mind, there are more of us Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). We might have lost one year of our book buying edge, but we can win this title back, I know we can. Let’s show these kids we survived without seat belts, bike helmets, cell phones or i anything. It’s a Baby Boomer Book Buying Throw Down. It is on!

Read the entire news release here http://tinyurl.com/c9jshmu )