Women Now Publishing More Books Than Men — And It’s Helping Sales
Economist Joel Waldfogel looked at how women and men have influenced the publishing industry for the last 70 years and found that since 2020 at least, women have been publishing more books than men.
Data Waldfogel analyzed from “Goodreads, Bookstat, Amazon, and the National Library of Congress” revealed that the percentage of books published by women increased from 20% in the ’70s to more than 50% by 2020. This is the first time this has happened in the U.S.
With this increase in books published by women comes another increase: the Association of American Publishers has said that revenue for the publishing industry rose 12.3% in 2021, generating $29.3 billion.
Though this increase in books published by women may have dislodged a few male authors, Waldfogel notes, it has grown the industry overall, offering a diversity of voices that wasn’t available to readers before.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
Also In This Story Stream
- The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists
- 72 of the Best Horror Books, According to Horror Authors
- The Best Books of the Year So Far, According to Amazon
- The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week
- 60% of Netflix’s Most Popular Shows Are Based on Comics or Books
- Audible’s Top Audiobooks of 2024 So Far
- First Looks of the New Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Anime
- The 2024 Lambda Literary Award Winners
- The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists
- Shop From These LGBTQ-Owned Bookstores During Pride Month