According to NPD Group, an American market research company, U.S. sales of self-help books have exploded in recent years by 11% from 2013 to 2019. The self-help literature is one of the fastest-growing nonfiction genres, and the market is expected to reach $14.0 billion by 2025.
But who is driving this growth – men or women?
The quickest answer is – maybe, women!
To find the answer, Quartz – an American news website – reached Goodreads. Owned by Amazon, Goodreads is a website where readers can buy books, read and share reviews, and connect with other readers. With over 125 million users, Goodreads claims to be the largest website for readers and book recommendations.
The Survey – Finding the Answer
Quartz chose the 100 most-read self-help books on Goodreads and identified the gender of 88 authors based on these books. Then, based on the top 500 most popular reviews, they identified the gender of reviewers.
Image credit: qz
Books authored by women were mostly read by women – on average, 83% of readers were women. Books authored by men have 50% male and female readers. So, we can say that more men are writing, and more women are reading self-help books. This means the majority of women seeking advice end up getting books written by male authors. On the other hand, men are less likely to read books authored by women. Only three books written by female authors have male readers higher than the average (37.5%).
Image credit: qz
A Quartz study shows that books written by men are read by people of all genders and receive higher ratings from men. And books from female authors are read mostly by women and get higher ratings from female readers.
Image credit: qz
Fuzzy Definition of the Genre
One self-help book could be tagged in multiple genres. Surprisingly, men and women have a different psychology when tagging self-help books. Self-help books tagged with memoir, biography, and autobiography have more female readers, while those tagged with science, business, psychology, and religion have more male readers.
So, who reads self-help books the most – men or women?
Considering the books that are tagged as ‘self-help’ only, we can say that women are the primary driver of this genre’s growth.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.
