Graph of 2018 female authors and POC books.

2018 Reading Statistics

I’ve given my total reading numbers for 2018 and my favorite fiction and non-fiction books, now it’s time to look at some stats.

I’ve been tracking my reading stats for a while. It’s a good way to actually gauge my progress and encourage diversity in the books I read.

Counting these numbers can be hard, but here’s how I do it: I base gender on the author, counting a book if any contributor is a woman. For race I count a book if a contributor or main character is a person of color.

Here are my numbers for 2018:

  • 55% POC books.
  • 70% female authors.

Here’s how that compares to previous years:

Graph of 2018 female authors and POC books.

It’s also helpful to compare it to my total reading:

Chart of total reading, female authors, and POC books for 2018.

It’s encouraging to see these numbers stay high. POC books slipped a bit from last year, but having it over 50% is good. The percentage of female authors hit a new high. That might not seem like a number worth paying attention to in the 21st century, but I’ve had years when J.K. Rowling was the only female author I read.

More Stats

Here are some other stats from my reading in 2018:

  • New is even better: 75% of the books I read were published in the last three years. Nearly 42% were published in 2018. I only read 10 books that were more than 20 years old. The oldest? Camilla by Madeleine L’Engle from 1951.
  • Print wins: 83% print, only 2% digital. I always prefer having a book in my hand. Audio made up 15%, which is mostly from driving.
  • Sci-fi is #1: As usual, sci-fi is my most-read genre with 31%. Non-fiction takes second at around 15%, though that’s probably more a result of it being a catch-all category—fiction still makes up 75% of my reading.
  • I quit: I didn’t give a single book less than three stars. Which means I quit any truly meh books before I could finish them. It’s important to be picky and read what you love.

More Reading

If you want to read more, check out my booklet 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading Again.

For more on diversity and stats, check out previous years: 2017, 2016, and 2015.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *