The romance category was the largest segment in terms of units sold in 2003, according to figures from Ipsos BookTrends. Romance represented 19.1% of all trade books sold last year, nearly identical to its share in 2002. There was little shifting among the top-selling categories, although the espionage/ thriller segment's share moved up from 3.5% to 4.7%, and the children's segment increased its share from 3.6% to 4.6%. Ipsos estimated that consumers bought 1.176 billion trade books in 2003, down slightly from 1.777 billion units in 2002.
Top Consumer Purchases by Category
(percentage of units)
| Category | 2002 | 2003 |
| Source: Ipsos BookTrends | ||
| Romance | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| General Fiction | 14.0 | 14.6 |
| Mystery/Detective | 7.0 | 7.5 |
| Espionage/Thriller | 3.5 | 4.7 |
| Children's (incl. Harry Potter) | 3.6 | 4.6 |
| Biography/Autobiography | 3.0 | 2.9 |
| Cooking/Wine | 3.0 | 2.5 |
| History | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Suspense/Psychology | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Diet/Health/Fitness | 1.8 | 2.1 |
