“Right now, we’re seeing the highest Kindle sales in over a decade: 20 billion pages are currently read each month,” Panay says. “And it turns out that the majority of this new cohort are millennials and Generation Z, this is the fastest growing segment.”
Kevin Keith goes further and explains that while social media used to distract from books, it is now a driving force in selling Kindles to new, younger readers. He “BookTokThe phenomenon, he says, has a lot to do with that, and the hashtag, which includes people sharing book reviews and recommendations on TikTok, has amassed nearly 39 million videos and more than 200 billion views.
“There’s definitely a bit of a TikTok/BookTok effect going on right now, and this has also transcended to Reels, to Instagram, to Facebook,” says Keith. “So you see it across the board in terms of the social media impact that it used to have.” “A headwind that used to drive people away from reading is now actually driving people to read.”
“It’s been more than two years since we’ve seen this rate of growth,” he adds. “When we say sales are at their highest level in a decade, it’s after several years of double-digit growth.”
There is data to suggest this could be the start of a broader trend, with the e-reader market expected to begin growing again between now and 2029. This is where maintaining the emotional connection between readers and their books is important, Panay insists, citing this as one of the reasons why people will swallow the $120 increase on the best-selling Paperwhite.
“The value is not in the appearance of a device,” he says, without hesitation. “The value is in the excitement you’ll get from having a color screen. At this point, it’s a choice, and that’s what matters.” beautiful. “If you want color, it’s there for you now.”
Whether it’s better late than never works for Kindle remains to be seen, but Panay is confident that emotional connection will play its part. In an overly connected world, he says that for its users, the Kindle is a sanctuary: a device without distractions or notifications. Of course, books have been doing that for centuries.
“That sanctuary is very real,” Panay says. “You pick up a book (on your Kindle) and start reading… multitasking doesn’t exist because you disappear at that moment. “We need some of that right now, more than ever.”