If you have shopped on Amazon lately, you may have noticed that five of the top ten best sellers on the retail giant’s website are adult coloring books. What makes these books so popular? Behavioral economist Michal Ann Strahilevitz points to five reasons why adult coloring books are trending. First, she notes the obvious – they are fun! “Every grown up has an inner child that just wants to play, and coloring books are perfect for that,” she explains. Second, “there is a nostalgia element, since coloring books remind us of childhood.” The third factor driving coloring book sales is relaxation: “So many things in life are hard, but coloring in a coloring book is easy. It’s a nice way to relax.” Fourth, coloring books tap into our desire to be creative without requiring any drawing skills. “These books let us be creative with choice of color and create something lovely and unique, and best of all, we don’t have to be any good at drawing to make something pretty.” Finally, Dr. Stahilevitz attributes the proliferation of quality adult coloring book options itself as driving demand in the market segment.
It turns out that adult coloring books have been around since the 1960s, but according to Najeeb Khan, founder of The Monthly Coloring Club — an adult coloring subscription service starting at $4 per month — the advent of social media is what has really boosted demand in recent years. “Social media made it easier to share finished work,” Khan explains, “which acts as a catalyst for the growth of the trend.”
There has also been new research tying coloring to anxiety and stress reduction. Some of the most popular coloring book companies, like PCG Publishing Group, LLC which sold over 1 million coloring books and had 3 Amazon #1 best-sellers last year, have been successful with titles like Stress Relieving Patterns and Stress Relieving Animal Designs. The introduction to their first coloring book, written by co-founder Gabe Coeli, features Zen meditation instructions converted to working with a coloring book. As CEO Camden Hendricks notes, this intro helped “situate coloring for adults as a positive, stress-relieving, almost meditative activity.” As such, PCG drew the attention of Time, The New York Times and other outlets that helped rocket the team to fame.
Whatever the reason, the growth curve in the coloring book market is now mimicking the “hockey-stick” profile most venture investors dream about. “To be totally honest, we spent a lot of time in 2015 holding our breath, waiting for the ‘bubble’ to burst, but here we are in 2016, and none of our indicators suggest any kind of slowdown in the near future,” confesses Hendricks. “All of our data suggests strong, continued growth throughout the rest of the year, so we are nothing but bullish. Coloring books are not like other publishing trends — they have already proven to be more durable, and their appeal just continues to expand.”
Many of the newcomers to the coloring book arena who are trying to compete with PCG Publishing Group, LLC and Joanna Beresford, author of Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book, are taking a niche marketing approach. Katie Matthews, founder of Wandertooth Media, Inc. recently published her first adult coloring book, Travel Between the Lines Adult Coloring Book: Inspirational Coloring for Globetrotters and Daydreamers. The coloring book, which is travel-themed, is based on actual travel photographs. “It’s a new way to experience a destination, whether you’re actually able to get on a plane or not,” she explains. She plans to launch four more titles in 2016, including a volume created in partnership with National Geographic’s Travelers of the Year Dalene and Peter Heck.
Some coloring book authors, like Colleen Darby, are using their personal narratives of transformation to bring attention and buyers to their books. “In 1995, I was diagnosed with cancer when I was four months pregnant. It was during that stressful time, I discovered coloring offered an escape from my fear and anxiety. I brought that memory with me when I went to work as an Artist in Residence on the oncology floor of a Children’s Hospital. There, I witnessed hundreds of people in very stressful circumstances get lost in the world of their imaginations. It’s in this meditative, healing, creative, flow state, where time and space no longer exists, that I saw people transformed,” Derby shares. She sells her book, Mindful Mandala Meditations, on Etsy.com.
But it is not all startups and artisans trying to break into the market. Even Zondervan/HarperCollins, the biggest publisher of Bibles in the world, is getting in on this trend. Their new illustrated journaling book, Beautiful Word Bible (available in three translations) will be coming out in February with a coloring element included in them. “The bible verses are illustrated and there is room to note and color your thoughts or inspirations while reading,” Melinda Bouma, Associate Publisher of Bibles for Zondervan explains. “The goal is to provide women with the inspiration and starting place they desire to help them dive into this new expression of worship.” Zondervan has also released a biblical quotes coloring book and “orders are piling in.”
Kate Harrison, Contributor