Julie BroadYour Non-Fiction Sidekick for Writing, Publishing & Marketing a Book That Builds Your Brand and Grows Your Biz

People Aren't Buying Books Anymore - But they Are Reading!

29 Aug 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:35

In this monologue, Julie Broad cites a June 2026 Authors Guild study showing that only 25% of the books people read in the past month were purchased, while the remaining 75% came from libraries, author copies, subscription services, used books, borrowing, existing home collections, and even piracy. She argues that the real challenge for authors is not selling books but getting them discovered by the right readers. A book should be viewed as intellectual property and an asset that creates opportunities beyond its direct revenue, rather than a mere business card. Broad emphasizes that the most valuable metric is how many people actually read the book, because the right reader can generate opportunities unrelated to sales. She encourages authors to celebrate readership numbers instead of focusing on purchase percentages.

Chapters

25% of readers bought the book they read last month, according to an Authors Guild study released in June 2026. 3 out of every 4 books people read came from something other than purchasing them. Libraries, author copies, subscription services, used books, books borrowed from friends, books already sitting on shelves at home. And yeah, in some cases, piracy. Here's the good news. People are still reading, are still consuming ideas. They're just accessing books differently. And the battle is not in selling books, it's about getting discovered by the right people. But this study suggests something else matters even more: how many people actually read your book. One of the things I hear all the time is, I want to write a book so I have something to hand out. In other words, they want a business card. And I cringe when people say they want a business card book because people throw away business cards. A great book is not a business card, it's intellectual property. It is an asset and it gets shared, talked about. The authors who are winning, they understand this. They understand that books create opportunities far beyond the revenue generated by the book itself. And what's interesting in many cases is the opportunity had nothing to do with how many books were sold. It happened because the right person read the book. If you see the stat and think only 25% of the books read were purchased, you're not looking at it the way I am, 'cause I see a challenge. If 5,000 people read your book this year, would you rather spend your time worrying about how many of them bought it? Or would you celebrate that 5,000 people read your book?