Yes. Most American households buy around 1 book a year. Roughly 50% of books are sold to just 2-3% of the market. There's a power law at work (with, admitted

Yes. Most American households buy around 1 book a year. Roughly 50% of books are sold to just 2-3% of the market. There's a power law at work (with, admittedly, a cut-off at the high end). I know quite a few folks who typically buy and read 50-150 novels a year. To make a runaway best-seller, you need to reach out to the 1-book-a-year folks, but to stay in business you've got to keep the 50-books-a-year people happy, because those are your core market. Regularly reading fiction for entertainment is, these days, a niche market.