L.A. Turning Into Book Country

An annual, admirable street fair in New York goes by the title “New York Is Book Country.” True enough: At annual book sales of $283.2 million (for 1987, the most recent year for which final figures are available), New York has been the nation’s largest book market for as long as anyone can remember. But Los Angeles-Long Beach is closing fast and may in fact be in first place already.

From 1984 to 1987, book sales here rose from $176 million to $265.6 million, an increase of $90 million. During the same period, New York sales rose by only $5 million. Per capita sales in New York declined during that triennium from $87.54 to $82.93; per capita sales here rose from $61.61 to $85.76. Even a modest continuation of those trends during 1988 and 1989 would make Los Angeles-Long Beach the largest book market in the nation.

The drop in gross sales is steep from the two mega-markets to third-place Boston ($168.8 million); but what these recently released U.S. Dept. of Commerce statistics really show is how admirably polycentric and unpredictable the book market continues to be. Thus, though the highest per capita figures typically come from college towns (like Austin, Texas, in first place, with $195.86), San Jose--without a major research university bookstore--weighs in at an impressive $164.25 per capita. San Jose is flourishing book country, and so is Los Angeles.