Amazon India Finds Out What India Read In 2017 – The Results May Surprise You!

Amazon started their journey in 1994, with selling books.

Right now, they account for 84% of all e-books sold and 35% of all hard copies sold in the US. Although exact numbers for India is not available, their influence and hold on the market is unquestionable.

So, when Amazon India came out with their annual survey of Indian books and authors, based on their own sales numbers, then heads are bound to turn, and curiosity is bound to surface.

After all, by understanding Amazon India’s Reading Trends Report 2017, we can feel the pulse of the book readers in India, and try to have a sneak peek into their reading habits.

Amazon India Reading Trends Report 2017

Here are the highlights:

• Amish Tripathi Best Selling Fiction Writer: Sita – Warrior of Mithila, written by Amish (he has changed his name from Amish Tripathi to Amish) has emerged as the best selling fiction novel in India for 2017, and this makes Amish the best selling fiction author for 2017! Chetan Bhagat’s One Indian Girl and Savi Sharma’s This Is Not Your Story were also included in the best selling fiction novel list. Interestingly, This Is Not Your Story is the most popular book of 2017, based on votes.
• Raghuram Rajan Most Popular Non-Fictional Writer: RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s controversial book, I Do What I Do has emerged as the best selling and most popular non-fiction book on Amazon India last year. While Karan Johar’s An Unsuitable Boy stood as the most popular biography; And Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway by Jeff Kinney became the most popular Children’s book on Amazon India.
• If we observe the sale of non-fiction books, then Indian Polity (5th Edition) by M. Laxmikanth emerged as the #1 choice. This book is recommended for aspirants of IAS and other competitive exams, and this means that textbooks are selling more than fiction novels on Amazon India. Word Power Made Easy, General Knowledge 2018, A Brief History Of Modern India (Old edition) and Certificate Physical and Human Geography were other best selling books in this category.
• India’s Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes by Shiv Aroor became the most popular non-fiction book for 2017, meanwhile Our Story Needs No Filter by Sudeep Nagarkar was the most popular book under Romance. How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life by Lilly Singh was the most popular book under Self Help category.
• Sales of translated books picked up this year, and in this category, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad has beaten all other translated works. In fact, this book topped the sales of Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali and Gujarati category books! Interestingly, The Secret’s translation topped the sales in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada languages. As per some unconfirmed reports, Amazon.in offers 12 million books in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Malayalam languages last year.
• In Hindi fiction, Heera Pheri by Surender Mohan Pathak topped the charts.
• Overall, the category of Exam Preparation books topped the list as it beat all other categories including non-fiction, fiction and children’s categories. Personal Development & Self Help was at #2  and Romance fiction was at #3.
• Bengaluru has been hailed as the most well-read city of India, as the book lovers from this city beat other metros in sales of physical books. Mumbai was placed at #2, Delhi at #3 and Chennai was at #4. The other cities in the top 10 include Hyderabad at #5, Pune at #6, Kolkata at #7, Gurgaon at #8, Noida at #9 and Jaipur at #10.