Adult coloring books apparently are indelible. A year after Shelf Awareness's last roundup, sales in the coloring category are still soaring, alongside the number of titles on offer, from one million units sold in 2014 to 12 million last year, and 300 titles in 2014 to 2,000 in 2015, according to Nielsen BookScan.
Booksellers confirm the boom. At Bank Square Books, Mystic, Conn., "adult coloring books were crazy in 2015," said owner Annie Philbrick. "They're coded under Art, and that section's sales increased from $6,969 in 2014 to $23,213 in 2015. Total units sold increased from 300 in 2014 to 1,300 in 2015."
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| Adults coloring at the Southeast Steuben County Library. (photo by Jenn Gaylor) | |
Alice Hutchinson, owner of Byrd's Books, Bethel, Conn., saw a similar trend: "In 2014, we sold about $460 of coloring books. In 2015, we sold upward of $4,200 in coloring books."
Publishers of all stripes, even university presses, are making their marks on the genre, leading, perhaps, to the first cramps of coloring fatigue.
"The coloring books are still doing well for us, though with the amount available I have to be careful not to over-order," said Jill Hendrix, owner of Fiction Addiction, Greenville, S.C.
"Our coloring book section is overflowing; I can't fit another book," said Diane Holcomb, book buyer at East West Bookshop, Mountain View, Calif. "I've stopped ordering frontlist coloring books unless there's something unique about them, due to space constraints."
Publishers are working hard to make something unique. From nature to nursery to naughtiness, upcoming 2016 titles leave no niche unfilled. But the saturated market hasn't dampened sales figures or dampened another key element of the adult coloring book phenomenon: coloring, wining, dining and mingling events.
Hutchinson, of Byrd's Books, said her store holds "monthly coloring nights at the arts center across the street. We supply the materials and food, and folks bring their beverage. We have date nights, ladies meeting for fun and singles--so we really have fun, relaxing, colorful evenings!"
"We offered two coloring book events in our store, one for adults and one for children," said Holcomb of East West. "The only event that had participants was the one for adults!"
Fiction Addiction is hosting its fifth Coloring, Cocktails and Conversation event at the end of April, said Hendrix. "We're averaging about 20 people per event. Now, if there were just a better supply of pencils available."
Sets of colored pencils are a particularly popular pairing with adult coloring books. "Colored pencil sets from Peter Pauper were also a huge item and were hard to get," said Philbrick of Bank Square Books. "Our rep told us in January that we were one of the few stores that even had any."
Janis Herbert of Face in a Book, El Dorado Hills, Calif., said her store's "Color Like a Grown-Up" display "gets lots of attention, and we're constantly refilling it," and that "pencil sets, too, sell very well."
Sue Davis of River Lights Bookstore, Dubuque, Iowa, sells International Arrivals brand markers and pencils with her store's coloring books. She also found a solution for small stores with too little shelf space for wide coloring books: an oversized magazine spinner from University Products.
Carol Spurling of BookPeople of Moscow, Moscow, Idaho, had different stock problems and event successes: "Coloring books are still selling well in our store--I let my stock levels drop in late December and early January, thinking the peak had passed, but I quickly realized that was the wrong strategy--and this week I took them to a book fair for the first time. They have been a hot item among middle-grade boys and girls, and their mothers, too."
Some publishers are bridging the gap between the traditional coloring book audience--children--and the new one: adults. Let's Color Together: A Shareable Coloring Book for Parents and Kids by Margaret Peot is coming from Sourcebooks April 1, and Color with Me, Mom! by Jasmine Narayan (a child psychologist) and Hannah Davies from Race Point/Quarto April 15. Little, Brown's four-book Coloring Studio series (Extraordinary Machines, Once Upon a Fairy Tale, Amazing Animals and Imaginary Cities), all released in January, are designed for children over 6 and adults to enjoy together.
Other publishers are looking for the next children's-turned-adult crafting activity. Little, Brown released two connect-the-dots titles in March (Dot-to-Dot: Journeys and Dot-to-Dot: Nature). Barron's released one in February (Ultimate Dot-to-Dot) and one in March (Extreme Dot-to-Dot). Ulysses Press will publish Calming Dot-to-Dot in September. In February, Dover continued its popular Creative Haven series (12 million copies sold) with Wild Animals Dot-to-Dot, which doubles as a coloring book once the dots are connected.
Some titles are literally stretching the envelope. WAVE by Shantell Martin, out May 17 from TarcherPerigee, unfolds into a single nine-foot, accordion-style sheet. To the Moon: The Tallest Coloring Book in the World (February 23) and To the Ocean Deep: The Longest Coloring Book in the World (May 24), both by Sarah Yoon, are 15 feet tall/long. Both are published by Laurence King, the original publishers of the "queen of coloring," Johanna Basford.
Basford's Secret Garden (2013) and Enchanted Forest (2015) were the first adult coloring book blockbusters. Her next titles are from Penguin Random House: Lost Ocean came out last October, Magical Jungle is out August 9 and Johanna's Christmas comes out October 25. Last July, Laurence King adapted Enchanted Forest into a book of 20 detachable postcards, a design move mirrored by many other publishers (including Penguin--Lost Ocean: 36 Postcards is out May 31).
As the formats evolve and supply increases, the major remaining question is demand. "Stores are overwhelmed with coloring book choices," said John Mesjak, a sales rep with Abraham & Associates. "The supply/demand curve we saw in operation last year has flipped. What I've been seeing this season is that buyers are considering their options, avoiding the most-obvious rip-offs, and buying the really unique and/or most beautiful ones. But nearly every publisher catalogue has coloring books this season." --Tobias Mutter