Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Where People Really Read by Andy Scheer

In case you missed the October WordSmith newsletter from the Christian Writers Guild, a short article reported a revealing glimpse of Americans' reading habits.

More people read in the bathroom than you may suspect, according to an infographic compiled by The Reader’s Edge.

Sixty-three percent of people surveyed admit they read books, magazines, and newspapers while in the bathroom. (People said they average 30 minutes per day there.)

The most frequent bathroom readers are men and people 34 and younger. For men, 86% said the toilet was the place they did most of their reading. Only 27% of women said they did most of their reading there.

The top choice of bathroom reading material for both men and women was magazines. For men, their second choice was sports biographies (36%) and crime novels (24%). Women listed romance novels (27%) as their second choice for bathroom reading.

It's long been standard advice that while writing, you should envision your readers. But maybe it's best if you ignore where they read.

10 comments:

Rick Barry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rick Barry said...

This is the first time I've seen bathroom statistics on readers. However, they look pretty realistic, so maybe that's the way to go.

I especially appreciate the bottom line. If that's where they choose to read, it's okay with me. But somehow that knowledge won't make me flush with delight.

Andy Scheer, Hartline Literary said...

The infographic also provides information about germs on printed material vs the plastic of an e-reader.

Anonymous said...

Those are interesting statistics. I never understood spending more time in there than necessary!

Andy Scheer, Hartline Literary said...

Maybe whether it prompts you to spend extra time behind closed doors to finish a section is the real test of powerful writing.

Anonymous said...

I don't know Andy, something about this post stinks, know what I mean? Joseph Max Lewis

Heather Marsten said...

LOL - Can't imagine romance and the bathroom - wait a minute - yes I can. I had a bathroom romance of sorts. I met my husband (almost 27 years of marriage) when he rescued me by helping me unclog a toilet in a houseboat I was boat sitting. Trust me it was odiferous. Our first date was sanding barnacles off the bottom of his houseboat - and he dumped his toilet into red jerry cans to properly discard the waste at the marina. Our first trip out on the boat he took one of these cans and said, "This is me." And tossed it overboard. I was trying to figure out if he was commenting on his mood (knowing the previous contents of the can), or describing himself. Turns out he wanted me to "rescue" the can as practice for if he fell overboard. So romance in the bathroom or bathroom romance - totally plausible. :D

Diana Flegal said...

I grew up in a home that stocked reading material in the bathroom, on every nightstand, coffee table and every other place where it could be stacked:-)

Linda Glaz said...

Well, there are more places to read in the bathroom than just, well, sitting around soaking in fiction. There is also the TUB! And g'zillions of women read in the tub. It is generally the only place people leave them alone long enough to take in more than two pages. So with fingers like prunes when I'm done, that is my fave place of all to read. Bubbles, steaming water, and a novel. Ahhhhhhh

Diana Flegal said...

Why can't there be a like button on the comments here? I would put a few on several of these. Liked the word play from Max and Rick, and Linda, I too enjoy the same. :-)