The pie charts compare the percentages of five kinds of books(adult’s fiction, children’s fiction, biography, travel, and “others”) purchased in 1972, 1992, and 2012.
Overall, adults’ fiction increased significantly and became the most purchased category by 2012, while biography, travel, and other books declined over time. Children’s fiction showed a moderate increase, whereas biography experienced the sharpest decrease and became the least purchased kind of book.
Regarding increased book sales first, adult’s fiction and children’s fiction both experienced noticeable growth. Adult’s category saw sharp increase throughout the period. In 1972, its proportion stood at 20%, after that the figure for adult’s fiction went up significantly to 25% in 1992. Then the sales of adult’s fiction increased sharply to 45% in 2012, making it the most popular category in the end. Meanwhile, sales of children’s fiction showed a moderate increase. In 1972, the rate of purchases was similar with adult’s fiction sale, making up 20%. After that its figure increased slightly to 22% in 1992, before reaching 25% in 2012, becoming second most purchased category.
By contrast, non-fiction and miscellaneous genres saw consistent declines. Biography purchases fell steadily across the period, decreasing from 20% in 1972 to 15% in 1992 and then dropping sharply to a just 8% in 2012, which made it the least popular genre in the end. Travel books followed a similar but less pronounced downward trend, falling from 15% to 10%. Meanwhile, the category of “other” books declined markedly from 25% – the highest proportion in 1972 – to just 12% by the end of the period.