#45 Are Gen Zs Saving Reading Culture?
The book hauls and visits to bookstores aren’t just for Instagram, Gen Z might actually be saving reading culture and print books.
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Gen Z: the social media addicts, killers of toxic work cultures, and eaters of avocado toast. Now, ‘Saviours of Book Culture’ has also been added to the list.
A quick scroll through Instagram would show you what your friends and others on the internet are reading; Dostoyevsky, Ghalib, Murakami, and Rushdie are just a few commonly seen online. Books that are carefully framed with a cup of coffee or a background that matches its cover are common on Bookstagram (accounts dedicated to books, which has now become a subculture on Instagram). But are these books actually read, or are they all for Instagram?
Despite accusations of Gen Z only hoarding books for the “aesthetic” (a visual art style, sometimes accompanied by a fashion style, subculture, or music genre, that usually originates from the Internet or is popularized on it), research from Nielsen book data shows that Gen Z are reading more than any other generation. About 40% read daily or a few days each week, and 55% still read once a week or more. They also read a much more diverse range of books and prefer print books over ebooks.
One factor for this could be the growing subcultures around books on social media. Bookstagram and Booktok have romanticised the notion of buying books for the “aesthetic”.
Popular books like The Secret History, It Ends With Us, or even leatherbound copies of Classics are commonly seen on people’s feeds. Beyond bestsellers, there are also accounts dedicated to more niche books and translations, helping users discover more books.
Similarly, there has been a trend of visiting certain legacy bookstores like Faqirchand in Delhi, Blossoms Bookstore in Bangalore, and KitabKhana in Mumbai for the “aesthetic” and nostalgia of old brick-and-mortar stores.
While aesthetic seems to be a big motivation for the purchase of books, nostalgia also plays into why Gen Z prefer physical books. Gen Z nostalgia isn't only about wanting a simpler past. It's also because they feel overwhelmed and alone, with too many choices and not enough clear answers. This longing for the past shows up in things like fashion, movies, music, and their love for printed books.
A result of this is an increase in demand for print books, and inadvertently, a return of physical bookstores. Gen Z are also more likely to participate in events held by bookstores, like author interactions and book clubs to find spaces away from the internet. Most bookstores have also hopped on the trend of curating books according to what is popular on the internet, making them more accessible to Gen Z.
Buying books to keep up with internet trends does seem superficial, however, it has resulted in Gen Z reading more than ever before. It also seems to have addressed the issue that had the publishing world very concerned, of saving bookstores from giants like Amazon.
Way to go, Gen Z.
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