Who Buys Cookbooks?

Who Buys Cookbooks?

According to Publisher's Weekly, a publishing trade publication, Cookbooks are selling like hotcacks!

Here are some statistics from 2012 cookbook sales.

Perhaps not surprisingly, more women buy cookbooks than men; around 69% of cookbook buyers are women, whereas 31% are men.

And according to Bowker Market Research, 27% of cookbook buyers are in the 30–44 age range. The two next-older groups (45–54 and 55–64) account for 36% of cookbook customers (with 18% each). Those over 65 make up 15%. 

Breaking down cookbook buyers by household income, 31% come from households earning $25,000–$49,000 a year.

Hardcover cookbooks still outsell all others, but as a portion of total unit sales, hardcovers dropped from 49% in 2011 to 42% in 2012. And e-book sales more than doubled, up from 9% to 22%.

And where are those cookbooks sold? Amazon, by a wide margin—its percentage of all cookbook sales nearly doubled, from 18% to 36%.