US GDP per capita

As US GDP per capita has grown, self-published books have multiplied, a correlation of 0.982 that connects national wealth to literary ambition with the economic confidence of a chart that treats economic output and creative output as the same thing. The GDP climbs, the manuscripts upload, and both numbers rise because a wealthier nation produces more of everything, including novels about vampires that nobody asked for.

GDP per capita grew from about $49,000 to over $76,000 between 2010 and 2021. Self-published books grew from about 150,000 to over 2 million. Both are upward curves in the same decade: GDP because the economy recovered and grew, self-publishing because Amazon KDP made it free and easy. The shared variable is economic growth creating both more wealth and more leisure time to write.

Nine years of GDP and self-published books is a story about a wealthy society producing more creative output: the richer the nation, the more people have the time, tools, and confidence to write and publish. The economy grows, the bookshelf fills, and the chart records both as the same upward line.