A lot has been written in recent years about the average readers’ shrinking attention span.
We all know that the non-stop news cycle and round-the-clock social media have sped up our consumption habits. But do these same habits translate to books?
We decided to find out.
To get straight to the point— As recently as 2011, the average book length of the #1 non-fiction bestseller was 467 pages. By 2017, however, that number has dropped to 273 pages.
What was our methodology?
We gathered a list of every New York Times #1 Non-Fiction Bestseller for the past 7 years and analyzed how the average length has evolved.
The answer was clear: our collective cultural ADD is impacting our reading habits.
The Average Bestseller Length Is Falling Fast
Since 2011, the average length of a bestseller has dropped steadily from year to year.
The average #1 bestselling book length has fallen by 42% in just 7 years.
And this doesn’t seem to be an anomaly. The drop comes as part of a larger downward trend:
- In 2011, the list’s average length peaked at 467 pages.
- In 2012, that average fell to 410.
- In 2013, it fell further to 367.
- In 2014, it recovered slightly to 382 on the back of three 600+ page books.
- In 2015, the drop resumed as the average fell to 345.
- In 2016, the drop lessened, falling only to 342.
- In 2017, the downward trend has continued, with an average book length of 273 pages.
This isn’t to say that long books are no longer succeeding. In 2016’s list, Ron Chernow’s 816-page Alexander Hamilton managed to crack the top spot.
However, the drop in the overall average length of bestsellers over the last 7 years points to a marked trend in the overall preferences of the average reader.
#1 Bestsellers Have A Wide Range, But A Narrow Average
Since the New York Times Non-Fiction Bestseller List began in 2000, books of all sizes have claimed the top spot.
The shortest book to hit the #1 spot was Harry Frankfurt’s 80-page On Bullsh*t.
The longest? Robert Caro’s 1232-page tome, Master of the Senate.
Looking at this, a hopeful author might believe that length plays no role in the likelihood of a book becoming a bestseller. But while books of all sizes have cracked the list at one point or another, the vast majority of #1 bestsellers fall into a much smaller range.
Over 64% of the #1 bestsellers since the list began have fallen in the 200 to 400 page range.
In recent years (2015-2017), the trend has become even more pronounced, with over 50% of #1 bestsellers falling into the narrower 250-350 page range:
Shockingly, the 450+ page length that held the average book length just 7 short years ago, now makes up just 13% of the books in the top spot.
How to explain this dramatic shift, and whether the trend will continue, remains to be seen.
