The charts depict the proportion of categories for books sold by a bookseller in 1972, 1992 and 2012.
Overall, adults’ fiction books witnessed a significant rise over the period, while children’s fiction also increased modestly. However, the proportion of non-fiction books, namely biography experienced a marked decline over the forty-year period.
Initially, in 1972, all the categories were balanced. Specifically, Adults’ fiction and children fiction each were 20%. As for Others, they accounted for the largest proportion at about 25%. The category for non-fiction groups such as Biography and Travel was 20% and 15% respectively.
By 1992, the categories experienced slight shifts. Fiction books saw a slight increase, Adults’ fiction grew to 25%, while Children’s fiction rose to 22%. Meanwhile, the percentage for Biography decreased to 15%.
The most considerable changes occurred in 2012, when adults’ fiction surged to 45% and children’s fiction reached 25%. However, biography dropped to 8%, travel to 10% and others fell to 12%.