Throughout 2015, a new trend came to fruition in the book market. That trend is adult colouring books, and those who have yet to be exposed to it may be wondering why anyone would want to partake in a children’s activity unless the children themselves are involved.
Well before judging another adult for wanting to colour in their favourite Harry Potter scene, it’s important to understand the benefits of this soothing pass-time. Colouring in has been proven to have positive effects on stress and it even helped one lady drop her blood pressure significantly. For creative people it can also be a therapeutic diversion from the stresses of their day job. It’s also been known to be fulfilling for those with OCD and anxiety.
Because of all these positive effects, you can probably guess that people are now swarming to the adult colouring in craze, and as a result eight of the top 20 top selling Amazon books in 2015 are colouring books. Colouring pencil and felt tip suppliers have even struggled to keep up with the demand. Mia Galison the owner of eeBoo Corp has noticed the spike in demand for her coloured pencils and this has created a dilemma as it takes about six months between making an order and receiving the pencils from Taiwan. She says she is struggling to guess how strong the demand for the pencils will be come June, as the craze could easily die out by then.
This brings us to the question of whether adult colouring books are just another fad, or whether they are now a way of life. We see it again and again in retail, specifically with the fashion industry. One year Russian hats are the in thing, and next year its beanie hats with a fur pom-pom. For now booksellers are making bank on adult colouring books because people are buying them, and colouring books aren’t eBook friendly; but how long can these booksellers have faith that people will continue to buy them?
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The power of genuine interest
I remember having an interest in comic books before it was cool for adults to read them. I wouldn’t say I was the type to show up at a comic book store and buy a new set of issues every week, but every now and then I enjoyed reading through a comic volume. Now, in the age of Marvel’s movie and TV dominance it seems many are discovering the awesomeness of comics, as if they never existed before.
There are people just like this when it comes to colouring books. There are talented creatives in the world that enjoyed nothing more than colouring either their own sketches or something created by someone else. These people are likely rolling their eyes at the new wave of people who are just getting into the hobby because it’s being talked about in the media, and I completely understand their annoyance. However, it’s not fair to frown upon those who are now getting into the hobby for the first time and genuinely enjoying it. Even once the hype has died down, the colouring community may now be better off than it ever was before because now there are new people discovering that they have a genuine love for the activity.
Sure, there will be the people that demanded colouring books for Christmas and then abandon them after only colouring in five shapes. But the ones that stick around for the long haul and gain legit health benefits from it are the winners, and who are we to criticize the trend for making this discovery possible for them?
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More colouring and less judging
To summarize, yes, adult colouring books are the fad of the moment when it comes to the book market. But as readers (or “colourers”), should we even care? Did we all frown when vampire books were the bread and butter for the self-publishing revolution? I would like to think that during this time we simply read books, just like always. Let’s not worry about the purchasing choices of the majority and focuses on what we enjoy; because fad or not, we’re still winning as there’s now a larger selection of things to colour.
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.
