Difference between the US and UK markets

Eddyz Aquila · Mar 25, 2012

I've recently seen London for the first time, and one of the first things that I've done was a visit to the Waterstones in Picadilly, a huge bookshop that had around 5 stories.

I took a glance at almost all of the fiction books and before I left a question struck me - how different is the US and the UK market?

I'm not talking here about size, because obviously US is way bigger, I'm talking here about genres and tastes.

What's stronger in a US market, compared to the UK? What genre?
What genre appeals more to the UK reader?

seun · Mar 26, 2012

Based on my experience of working in a library, crime and romance are the two biggest genres. Misery memoirs, YA and thrillers are up there, too. I'd be interested to see if there are noticeable differences between the UK and US markets.

AVS · Mar 26, 2012

I was under the impression that the US market was disproportionately larger than the UK markets (getting accurate book sales figures is always difficult). By that I mean the US market should be five times the size of the UK one, but something tells me (read a long time ago no doubt) that it's about 7-8 times larger. I also believe genre markets have a larger share of the overall US market.

This might be bunkum, but there are experts on AW here who know rather than haphazardly half-remember.

waylander · Mar 26, 2012

There is no appreciable market for Christian fiction in the UK. It is a major market in the US.

Difference between the US and UK markets

Eddyz Aquila

Noob Writers United

seun

Horror Man

AVS

waylander

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