Most of you know that I have some interest in writing, publishing, and making millions of dollars off a book. So when I came across link to a page of publishing statistics while reading Seth Godin’s “Advice for Authors,” I couldn’t help but follow the link.

Here are the more interesting ones:

• On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction title and 725 hours to write a nonfiction title.
• Since 1776, 22 million titles have been published in the United States
• A larger publisher must sell 10,000 books to break even.
• A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies; a successful nonfiction, 7,500.
• As of 1998, one-third of the books sold worldwide are sold in the US.
• As of 1997, the top ten US cities by dollar volume of book sales and number of bookstores are Los Angeles-Long Beach; New York; Chicago; Boston; Washington, Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle-Bellevue-Everett; San Jose; San Diego.
• In 2001, consumers purchased 1.6 billion books.
• The heaviest book buyers buy more than one-third of their books used.
• 59% of the customers plan to purchase a specific book when entering a bookstore; 40% make impulse purchases.

Perhaps the most depressing statistic to a wanna-be writer like me:

• 81% of the population feels they have a book inside them.

Of that:

• 27% would write fiction.
• 28% would write on personal development
• 27% would write history, biography, etc.
• 20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.

And just in case I wasn’t feeling depressed enough:

• Only 200 first novels are purchased each year
• 70% of the books published do not make a profit
• Up to 40% of all books manufactured never sell

And if you’re saying to yourself, “You idiot. Books are dead medium. Movies is where I’m going to make my money.”:

• Only 100 scripts are purchased each year

And here are some fun stats about the subscribers to Writer’s Digest:

• Each averages 12.6 hours/week writing:
  • Advanced writers: 30.5 hours/week
  • Intermediate writers: 11 hours/week
  • Beginning writers: 7 hours/week

In case you’re wondering, I’m hovering between the beginning and intermediate realm.

And just so I’m not the only one that is depressed, here are some scary statistics about the idiots among us:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years (only 32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore)
• 57% of new books are not read to completion (most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased).
• As of 1992, 20% of adults in the U.S. read at or below the fifth grade level

Isn’t life as a want-to-be professional writer grand?