About 1 in 5 buy books on spirituality

CHICAGO — A new survey by the trade magazine Publishers Weekly shows that 18 percent of consumers bought books dealing with religion or spirituality in the past year. Preliminary results of the survey, conducted in May, were announced last week at Book Expo America, the major annual publishing industry trade show, in Chicago.

Using the Internet, the magazine surveyed 10,000 representative consumers. It broadly defined religious or spiritual books, including not only such traditional texts as Scriptures but also a wide range of nonfiction and fiction with religious or spiritual themes such as Mitch Albom’s best-selling novel “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”

“The subject of religion and spirituality has gotten into many categories,” said magazine executive editor Daisy Maryles. She noted that religion and spirituality books consistently show up on best-seller lists and have been among top sellers on an annual basis since 2001, when “The Prayer of Jabez” by Bruce Wilkinson, a minister, was among the year’s top books.

Asked why they purchased a religion book, 48 percent said they were interested in the subject. The next most frequently cited reason was to find God’s presence in their lives, mentioned by 30 percent of respondents. And 29 percent said they were looking to find their purpose in life. Among buyers, 69 percent of women and 68 percent of men said that religion and spirituality were very important to them.

The survey measured some demographic characteristics of religion and spirituality book buyers. A majority — 59 percent — are female, with an average age of 38. Forty percent identified themselves as evangelical Christians.

More than one-quarter of religion book buyers were between the ages of 25 and 34, and another quarter were in the next age tier of 35 to 44. Only 11 percent of spiritual-book buyers were older than 55.

The survey also measured what kinds of books respondents had purchased. More than two-thirds — 68 percent — said they had purchased fiction. Of types of nonfiction, the largest category — practical life — was purchased by 35 percent. The next largest, purchased by 28 percent, was Bibles.