This fortnight on BookMachine, it’s all about colouring!
In the past year the industry has seen a new craze for adult colouring-in books flourish around the world, crossing markets and continents, as stressed-out grown-ups turn to colouring books for peace of mind.
The market has ballooned faster than the London property market, but publishers are beginning to wonder how long this growth is sustainable for. Once it stops growing, will it shrink? And what does the current obsession with these books mean for the industry overall?
Surprising trend
Colouring books for adults have been being published, sold, returned, pulped, and produced again for many years without significant success, but the past two years have seen demand for these books sky-rocket. From the US and Brazil to France and Australia, adults around the world have suddenly been buying colouring-in books like they’re going out of style: last year in France alone over 3.5 million of the books were sold and Amazon’s top ten lists have been dominated with colouring-in titles throughout 2015.Reports have even stated that producers of colouring pencils are actually struggling to keep up with demand.
Yet, as the year comes to a close, publishers are becoming wary. It is hard to predict how this market will continue to grow, or indeed, whether and when it might begin to shrink. [READ MORE]