The Writing Center

For one, your readers are likely to be liberal. According to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll, people who consider themselves liberals are more prodigious book readers than conservatives, the AP reported yesterday. According to the survey, more conservatives (34 percent) said they haven’t read a book within the last year, compared to liberals (22 percent).

Your audience is also likely to be female, retired, with religious works and popular fiction topping their lists. Twenty-five percent of adults surveyed said they didn’t read any books last year; the median number was nine for women and five for men. Those likeliest to have read at least one book in the past year are from the West or Midwest. And Southerners who read tend to favor religious books and romance novels.

The sad news is that, as The Guardian reports, book sales in the United States have been flat in recent years, with no forseeable changes. The Book Industry Study Group reports last year’s global sales at only 3 percent more than the year before.

This doesn’t create the sunniest outlook for writers — but think of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter, and keep writing. You just never know.

We’d like to congratulate Metro and San Diego writer Tori Malcangio on receiving second prize in the San Diego Reader’s “My Neighborhood” writing contest, an essay contest sponsored by the magazine this summer. Tori will receive a cash prize, and her piece, “Jesus from the Hill” will be published in the Reader’s September 20 issue — so keep an eye out and be sure to pick one up.

Congratulations, Tori!