Get Your Book Banned!

If you want people to read your book, get it banned.

That’s the logical conclusion to draw from a recent study by the research organization Marketing Science. By studying library circulation of banned books (both school libraries and public libraries), the study’s authors concluded:

“... that the circulation of banned books increased by 12%, on average, compared with comparable non-banned titles after the ban. We also find that banning a book in a state leads to increased circulation in states without bans. We show that the increase in consumption is driven by books from lesser-known authors, suggesting that new and unknown authors stand to gain from the increasing consumer support. Additionally, our results demonstrate that books with higher visibility on social media following the ban see an increase in consumption, suggesting a pivotal role played by social media.”

And for those who promote book bans as a way to protect children, there was this gem: “... after book bans are initiated in other states, there is an increase in readership of those books by children under the age of 18.”

I’m no fan of book bans—quite the opposite. We’ve all seen the encouragement to buy banned books (usually in bookstores), but I have to admit that I find these paradoxical results delightful.

What do you think? Are you working on a bannable book? 
Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2024.0716