The pie charts compare the sales of a bookstore in terms of five book genres in 1972, 1992, and 2012. Units are given in percentages.
Overall, the sales of two out of five genres namely adult and children’s fiction rose, while those of biography, travel, and others dropped. Furthermore, adult fiction did not just grew popular, it also had become by far the most purchased genre by 2012, surpassing all its counterparts.
Regarding book genres whose sales increased, growing only by 5% in 1992 from a fifth initially, adult fiction sales nearly doubled in 2012, accounting for 45%. Its counterpart, children’s fiction, saw minimal rises over the period in question. Like adult fiction, it made up a fifth of the bookstore’s sales in 1972, which increased by a mere 2% two decades later. By the final year, it had grown to a quarter, becoming the second most popular genre.
The sales of other genres, on the other hand, registered a decline. The shares of biography and “others” sales had more than halved over the period, going from a fifth and a quarter to 8% and 12% respectively. While the sales of travel books seemed to go up in 1992, reaching just under a fifth from 15% two decades prior, they plummeted to a low of 10% in 2012, making it the second least purchased genres after biography.