- Average time spent reading on weekends/holidays in 2005: 27 minutes
- Average time spent reading on weekends/holidays in 2015: 21 minutes
- Average time spent by those 75 and older on weekend reading: 65 minutes
- Average time spent by those aged 15 to 44 on weekend reading: 7–12 minutes
- Average time spent TV-watching on weekends/holidays in 2015: ~200 minutes
- Average time spent playing video games on weekends/holidays in 2015: 30 minutes
- Number of US chain and independent bookstore locations in 1992: 13,136
- Number of US chain and independent bookstore locations in 2014: 6,888
- Number of US bookstore employees in 2008: ~150,000
- Number of US bookstore employees in 2014: 92,620
- US physical bookstore sales in 1992: $1.3 billion (inflation adjusted)
- US physical bookstore sales in 2004: $2.08 billion (inflation adjusted)
- US physical bookstore sales in 2014: $1.14 billion (inflation adjusted)
- US physical bookstore sales in 2015: $1.17 billion
Sources: Time Spent Reading; Bookstores: Establishments and Sales
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
