Friday, April 10, 2009

Grim is good for some

There's no doubt about it, we are living in tough economic times. Home foreclosures, job losses, you name it, we've got it. Lately I've been noticing though that not every business is suffering.

Yesterday a friend and I were chatting. She'd just read an article in the New York Times about the rise in sales of ebooks despite the decline of other goods and services. I asked her for the link to the story but she couldn't find it. Bummer. I've been really interested in this. Every month I get checks in the mail and I haven't seen a decrease in sales. Have any of you?

Oddly enough, I had the television on to MSNBC, my favorite news channel. They were running a segment about businesses that were seeing huge growth. One of those was BURPEE. They package and sell seed. More and more people are planting vegetable gardens in the hopes of saving a few bucks at the grocery store. Even Michelle Obama has planted a nice little garden at the White House.

More people are going out to bars and alcohol sales have picked up. Another business that is on the rise is CHOCOLATE. Not necessarily the pricier, top of the line stuff like Godiva but plain old Hershey's, Snickers, etc. Yep, things might not be good but I dare ya to take a Hershey's Kiss from a depressed woman! Not gonna happen. And apparently we're eating more of it.

Guess what else they mentioned!!! ROMANCE NOVELS. Harlequin is a company that announced rising profits and I'm sure the other publishers have seen the same. Now we readers and writers of romance already know that diving into a great book can take us away. We get lost in the plights of our favorite heroes and heroines if only for an hour or two. Must say it was very neat to see the racks of romance novels they showed on the segment.

In the year ahead, it will be interesting to see what we depend on most for our comforts in these grim economic times.

WAIT! I found the link to the NY Times article. Posting it late. Sorry.

New York Times Article

14 comments:

Anny Cook said...

Yep. Always read when things are down...

Uncle Sam said...

Hi Rita, I read the article and it did say that. The Chicago Trib had a similar article. I hope it's true.

BTW, congrats on your new contract.
I have a couple books in EC myself now. Keeping my fingies crossed.

Teri Thackston said...

I'd always heard that sales of small pleasures like Hershey Bars and books picked up in hard times--glad to hear that it's true!
Teri

Ava Rose Johnson said...

Very interesting, Rita. I'm the same, no decrease in sales as far as I can tell. And I'm buying ebooks all the time, recession or no recession :)

Regina Carlysle said...

I forgot to mention in the post but Netflix (the video rental biz) is showing an increase, too. Books and movies, escapist fare, is doing great.

Regina Carlysle said...

I'm hoping it's true, too, Dee. They are getting those figures SOMEWHERE! If Harlequin is picking up,I'm thinking other pubs must be as well.

Thanks for the congrats! It's very exciting and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!!!!

Regina Carlysle said...

My book buying habits haven't changed either, Ava. Still read as much as ever. Ebooks are certainly cheaper though and I'm thinking sales for those will pick up as paper book prices increase.

Linda LaRoque said...

Interesting post, Rita. Nice news to hear. I'd heard the info about more people having a garden on our local news. Another item I saw was more people giving their boys haircuts rather than paying for them.
Linda
www.lindalaroque

Regina Carlysle said...

I heard that one too, Linda. Giving boys haircuts in the kitchen used to be the norm. Wonder if people will do the bowl on the head thing??? lol

Mary Ricksen said...

People will always bury chocolate. I hope things get better soon. It's getting a bit scary, especially when you see the prices go up and up.

Susan Macatee said...

Yes, I saw that! Romance novels and chocolate. Great combination to get us all through these tough times. Aren't we romance writers lucky we're still in such demand?

Emma Lai said...

My husband loves his garden and his chocolate while I love my books. People may no longer be able to afford the big things, but few are willing to give up those little pleasures.

Julia Barrett said...

Yeah, when life gets you down, read romance. And eat chocolate. Keep eating chocolate - my son has investments in Cadbury.

Anne Rainey said...

It's so exciting to see that sales are up! I love it! I have to tell you, I"m doing my part. LOL I bout four books off Amazon the other day, and yesterday I bought another from Borders. And there are yet more releases coming later this month that i don't wanna miss.