JOIN USNonfiction, self-help books in demand as buyers return
Biographies, self-help and cookbooks are selling in huge numbers since the lockdowns were lifted and readers started visiting bookstores again.
The demand for fiction has come down at many physical bookstores. “Lately, people are picking up self-help and non-fiction. We have seen a steep fall in the sale of fiction,” says Mayi Gowda, proprietor of Blossoms Book House.
Non-fiction is doing well even at Goobe’s Book Republic, another bookstore on Church Street. “Readers are showing less interest in other genres,” says Ravi Menezes, proprietor.
Champaca, on Edward Road parallel to Cunningham Road, has seen a rise in demand for crime and mystery and cookbooks, says Radhika Timbadia, owner.
The rising interest in non-fiction is confirmed by Akruti Books, Rajajinagar, “More and more young people are walking in to buy autobiographies and historical non-fiction books,” says Guru Prasad, owner.
Self-help and management, health, business, current affairs, and children’s books are doing well at Bookworm on Church Street, according to Krishna, co-founder.
Similarly, children’s books, young-adult novels and business investment books have picked up in demand in recent months, says Nijesh, director of Sapna Book House. At Gangaram Book Bureau, Ashok Nagar, Somanna says that children’s books and books related to self-growth are selling the most. “Although our sales have greatly plummeted, the books in high demand right now are fantasy fiction books,” says Venkatesh, proprietor of Nagasri Book House.
Top 3 bestsellers
Blossoms Book House
Fractured Freedom: A Prisoned Memoir by Kobab Ghandy
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Gangarams Book Bureau
The Battle of Belonging by Shashi Tharoor
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Restless as Mercury: My Life As a Young Man by Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi
Bookworm
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah
Harari
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman