Science fiction and fantasy book sales, as measured by Nielsen Bookscan, have dropped dramatically in recent years. Just in 2012, science fiction book sales dropped 21 percent, and fantasy book sales dropped a startling 28 percent. In one year. Before you panic too much, bear in mind that Nielsen is only measuring print book sales in certain outlets — and e-book sales are probably picking up much of the slack here. If anything, I’m guessing SF and fantasy readers are more likely to be heavy adopters of e-readers, due to our tech-savvy leanings.
The main thing that’s worrying about this? If your city is still lucky enough to have a specialty SF bookstore, it may be suffering from the turn away from print books. Definitely worth swinging by your local SF bookstore and buying some extra books this week. [Genreville]
