Taylor Lunsford — 2020 Reading Debrief

Last year, I started to deliberately track the diversity of my reading on several levels. I think we can all agree 2020 was a butt-chunk and we’re well rid of it.

Because seriously.

Looking back at my year to date in reading, I can definitely see the contrast. While my reading has decreased year over year for the last few years because I’ve spent more time writing and you know, having a life (because boyfriend), this year I read the fewest books I have since I started tracking my reading habits. I only have the data from the last 2 years with all the breakdowns, but for quantity sake: in 2019, I read 118 books by 62 different authors. In 2020, I read 80 books by 42 different authors.

Why is this year so much slower than last? I wish it could be because I was writing more, but it wasn’t. It was stupid COVID and all the fun mental and physical changes it brought to my life.

Let’s start digging into the breakdowns. We’ll go high level to more detailed.

First up: Format.

Normally, I’ll listen to audiobooks when I’m multitasking—driving, working, exercising, etc. In 2019, audiobooks were a decent chunk of my “reading” list. In fact, it was almost half.

In 2020, that obviously wasn’t the case. Aside from walking the dog in the morning, I haven’t had a commute since the end of March. COVID eliminated a lot of my opportunities to listen to audiobooks, and it’s reflected both in the change in format of books I consume, and in the amount of books I consumed this year.

The same story can be seen in the genres I read. When I listen to audiobooks, a decent sized chunk are non-romance books like biographies, nonfiction, historical fiction.

Because I lost the need to commute and exercise at a gym, my reading was much centered on romance after March, and before that I went on a big podcast binge during the commute and exercising I was doing. I did do a more detailed tracking of the type of romance I was reading for my own visualization to make sure I’m reading in the subgenre I write in, as well as keeping up with other markets and trends.

One of the few things that didn’t change was the gender of authors that I gravitate toward. I want to ensure that my money goes to hardworking women that are my colleagues in the industry, plus I enjoy their books and voices more in general.

Fun fact: the only reason I read a book by a male author this year was because my boyfriend and I gave each other books to read last Christmas in each other’s preferred genres. I read N0S4A2 by Joe Hill. He read The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook.

**2020 Author Preferred Gender Breakdown**

Now for the important info: the diversity of the authors I read. Last year’s numbers weren’t stellar, but in 2020, I met my goal of increasing the percentage of POC authors year over year.

The diversity of the main characters follows the same trend (unsurprisingly).

And for the curious, here’s the list of the authors I read and how many books I read from each of them. It used to be I read the same 10-11 authors more than others, but I think this exercise has helped me add more variety to my reading habits and kept me out of the re-reading rut.

In 2021, I’m going to keep up the same mentality as I had on diversity in 2020: read widely, embrace POC authors, and recommend their books to anyone who’ll listen.

Top Reads of 2020

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

Well Played by Jen DeLuca

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

How to Catch A Queen by Alyssa Cole

The Legal Affair by Nisha Sharma

Daring and the Duke by Sarah Maclean

The One For You by Roni Loren

Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

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