Food, Services, Hobbies and Now Books: Cost of Living Crisis Starting to Bite for Aussie Readers

The cost-of-living crisis has affected many aspects of life in Australia. But now it’s impacting books. New research* from ongoing fantasy web serial The Wandering Inn reveals. A quarter (25%) of Australians have been prompted to join a library or re-read old books due to cost-of-living pressures.

Over a fifth (22%) have stopped buying any new books, even 11% of Aussies aren’t buying e-books, while over a fifth are only buying books and e-books on sale (22%). There is some good news for the circular economy as 22% of Australians are now borrowing and sharing with their friends. A boon to the 66% of Australians who enjoy recommendations from their friends and family.

However, the research reveals the cost-of-living crisis isn’t hitting people equally. A generational divide persists with younger Australians, especially millennials cutting back more on book buying than older Australians, especially baby boomers. Victorians were the Aussie most hit by the cost-of-living crisis with New South Wales (and the ACT) and Western Australian not far behind.

The greater need to work as prices continue to increase is cutting into how much people read too. 60% of Gen Z and 50% of millennials have not had enough time to read because of work (work is the over whelming reason why younger generations are no reading as much). While this was true of only 11% of Baby Boomers. Gen X were also reading less than they wanted to, but there the leading cause was family commitments.

The cost-of-living crisis appears to be doing more than just reducing the number of books people buy. It’s changing how people read. Over a quarter of Australians (28%) are reading fewer physical books than they were 12 months ago and almost 70% of Australians would choose reading an online book over a physical copy. Costing less was the reason nearly a third (30%) of Australians gave for choosing to read an online book over a physical copy.

With greater number of Australians reading online stories this could prove a boon to online serials such as The Wandering Inn and provide an alternative route for publishing for young Australian writers. Especially as Australians become more use to reading stories across multiple devices and look to less bulky was to consumer media.

*1,010 Australians 18+ in both capital city and non-capital city areas were surveyed.