“Currently, Kindle sales are at their highest in over a decade, with 20 billion pages read every month,” Panay claims. “And we found that the majority of this new population are Millennials and Gen Z, which is the fastest growing segment.”
Kevin Keith went further and explained that while social media used to be a distraction from books, it is now the driving force behind selling Kindles to new, younger readers. He said this has a lot to do with the “BookTok” phenomenon, a hashtag that includes people sharing book reviews and recommendations on TikTok, which has amassed around 39 million videos and more than 200 billion views. is accumulating.
“There is definitely a bit of a TikTok/BookTok effect right now, but this also extends to Reels, Instagram and Facebook,” Keith said. Whereas headwinds used to keep people from reading, now they are actually driving people to read. ”
“It’s been more than two years since we’ve seen this kind of growth rate,” he added. “Sales are the highest they’ve been in a decade, and this comes after several years of double-digit growth.”
Data suggests this may be the start of a broader trend, with the e-reader market expected to start growing again between now and 2029. In this regard, Panay argues that it is important to maintain an emotional connection between the reader and the book, which he quotes as follows: Here’s why people accept a $120 price increase on the best-selling Paperwhite.
“The value is not in how the device looks or feels. The value is in the emotions that having a color screen elicits. Right now, it’s a choice, and that’s what matters,” he says without hesitation. If you want beautiful colors, they are readily available. ”
It remains to be seen whether coming late will work out better for Kindle, but Panay hopes that emotional connection will play a role. In an over-connected world, Kindle is a sanctuary for users, a device free of distractions and notifications, he says. Of course, books have been doing that for centuries.
“That sanctuary is very real,” Panay says. “You pick up a book[on your Kindle]and start reading. There’s no multitasking, because you disappear in that moment. We need that part of us now more than ever. I’m here.”
