Red over Red

Red over Red

Friday, March 1, 2013

Okay, here's the problem...

My wife came across this interesting graphic showing what an average American family spends on what per year. You will notice that, in a society that has largely abandoned smoking, people still spend 0.7% of their income on tobacco and only 0.2% on reading! And we writers wonder why we can't make a living. From now on, I'm offering a free packet of Camel Filters with every copy of my book.

You will also notice folks spend 0.9% on booze. Could it be that people are drinking so much that they forget to read? Still, that's just a little more than $38 per month on booze. Are we becoming a nation of non-drinking, non-reading lightweights? What would Papa Hemingway say?

I know I'm ready for a little 0.9% right about now.

5 comments:

  1. I like that idea - free pack of fags with the next book. Wonder what sort of non P.C. outcry you'de get though? Fantastic free advertising would go with that though..... :-)

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  2. Wow, kind of a shocking statistics when you compare books to tobacco...and I always thought reading was addictive:)

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  3. Actually, that .2 percent spent on reading is probably generous. But it maybe it includes reading the labels on the rum bottles and the warnings on the cigarette packs. :)

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  4. Didn't know I was saving that much on tobacco. And considering how the only apparel I bought in the last year is a chamois shirt, long johns, and a pair of sneakers, that's even more booty for books.

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  5. Is there a way to increase the nicotine level in books? That tactic seems to have worked like gangbusters for the tobacco industry.

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