The pie charts indicate the proportion of five specific types of books sold by a bookseller over a 40-year period, starting from 1972.
Overall, the proportion of adult and children’s fiction witnessed a consistent upward trend, whereas other categories had a tendency to decrease over the period given. In addition, it is apparent that the biggest change was seen in adult fiction.
In 1972, the figure for adult fiction was the same as children’s fiction, each accounting for 20%. From the year 1972 onwards, the percentage of adult fiction rose moderately to 25% in 1992, after which it experienced an upsurge to 45% in 2012, making the highest proportion throughout the period. Similarly, there was a marginal increase to 25% in the percentage of children’s fiction after 40 years.
Regarding biography, in 1972, its figure demonstrated a modest decline from 20% to 8% in 2012. Meanwhile, the sales of travel books grew steadily from 15% to 18% in 1992 but later fell sharply to 10% by the end of the timeframe. Notably, ‘Others’ was by far the most predominant figure shown in 1972, constituting 25% of total. From then on, it dropped substantially to 12% in 2012.