The charts illustrate the proportions of 5 different book genres sold in a bookshop spanning from 1972 to 2012.
Overall, whilst Children’s fiction stayed remotely stable throughout the period, Adult fiction witnessed a huge jump in its overall share. Conversely, as Travel genre fluctuated, ‘Others’ and Biography faced a steady decline.
In 1972, Adult fiction had the same importance as Children’s fiction (20%), but as the trends changed, first one took a dominance, resulting in the biggest percentage amidst others in the final year with 45%. Similarly, Children’s fiction progressively increased from 20% to 25% in 40 years.
On the contrary, ‘Others’ section that predominated at the beginning of the trends with a quarter of the overall share steadily shrank to 12% in 2012. At the outset of the period, Biography accounted for 20%. Since then it notably decreased, topping 8% in 2012. Only Travel genre fluctuated: in 1972 it represented 15%, then two decades later the book type climbed to 18%, only to fall to 10% in 2012.