Statistics from the National Booksellers Association indicate that dur

Statistics from the National Booksellers Association indicate that during the last five years most bookstores have started to experience declining revenues from the sale of fiction, despite national campaigns to encourage people to read more fiction. Therefore, these reading campaigns have been largely unsuccessful.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

Last sentence is the conclusion. There are two way in which campaigns might not be unsuccessful(eventually weakening the argument):
1. A proof which establishes the fact that campaigns led to increase in revenues.
2. Something on financial terms like per unit price that may have led to decrease in revenues.

(A) Mail order book clubs have enjoyed substantial growth in fiction sales throughout the last five years. - CORRECT. Point number one is what this options follows.
(B) During the last five years the most profitable items in bookstores have been newspapers and periodicals rather than novels. - WRONG. Profitability and revenues are not on same platform.
(C) Fierce competition has forced booksellers to make drastic markdowns on the cover price of best-selling biographies. - WRONG. Biographies are not fictions.
(D) Due to the poor economic conditions that have prevailed during the last five years, most libraries report substantial increases in the number of patrons seeking books on changing careers and starting new businesses. - WRONG. Again not fiction.
(E) The National Booksellers Association statistics do not include profits from selling novels by mail to overseas customers. - WRONG. Like B this is wrong.

Answer A.

The author concludes that "[National campaigns to encourage people to read more fiction] have been largely unsuccessful."

To reach this conclusion, he/she cites some evidence: "Statistics from the National Booksellers Association indicate that during the last five years most bookstores have started to experience declining revenues from the sale of fiction."

Notice that the author doesn't care about why the reading campaigns have been unsuccessful. Maybe people just started to hate fiction, maybe a meteorite incident took out large swathes of the population, or maybe any number of other things caused the decline. The author just argues that the campaigns have been unsuccessful, regardless of the reason why.

With that in mind, take another look at (D):

(D) tells us that there has been an economic downturn, and thus people have been going to libraries to find books on "changing careers and starting new businesses" - in other words, nonfiction books.

Could this mean that people would normally buy fiction books from bookstores, but are instead borrowing nonfiction books from libraries? Maybe, but even that is a stretch -- there's no indication that these people would have bought fiction books if the economy had been better.

And again, the author doesn't care why the campaigns failed, he/she only cares that they did, in fact, fail. (D) offers one potential reason why people would read less fiction, but at the end of the day, the result is the same.

(D) doesn't weaken the argument that the campaigns were unsuccessful, so eliminate (D).

Here's (A):

The author cites one piece of data to support his/her argument: that bookstores experiences a decline in revenue of fiction books.

But what about other places to buy fiction books? (A) discusses one of those places -- mail order book clubs. Specifically, we learn that these book clubs have seen "substantial growth" in fiction sales.

This opens the possibility that the reading campaigns DID work, even if bookstore revenues have declined. Perhaps people are reading more fiction, but they're not purchasing those books from bookstores.

Of course, (A) doesn't PROVE that the campaigns were successful, because we have no idea how the increase in book club revenue compares to the decrease in bookstore revenues. Luckily, we don't have to completely destroy the argument -- we just have to weaken it.

(A) does exactly that by offering another point of data that shows an increase in book sales. (A) is the correct answer.

I hope that helps!

The statement to waken is reading campaigns have been largely unsuccessful.
The best way will be if we can prove ppl are still buying books and the sales have increased even if not from bookstores.

A is exactly what we want.
It tells a lot more are brought from mail book club. Thus it weakens the conclusion

C doesn't weaken that "these reading campaigns have been largely unsuccessful." It largely explains that since these bookstores are reducing costs but has no impact on conclusion

Getting these types of Questions correct just requires one's attention to the details in the answer choices.

Summary of the Argument -
Main Point- The National Campaign to encourage people to read more fiction has failed. (This implies that People aren't reading fiction at all)
And a look at the Question stem closely will help you know what you are indeed looking for.
Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Mail-order book clubs have enjoyed substantial growth in fiction sales throughout the last five years. This is Correct because it presents an alternate reason as to why the sales at Book Stores are reducing. What if people are indeed buying books, but through different means. And this indeed reduces our belief in the conclusion (The plan has failed)
(B) During the last five years the most profitable items in bookstores have been newspapers and periodicals rather than novels. This gives more reason to believe in the conclusion. Strengthener. Out.
(C) Fierce competition has forced booksellers to make drastic markdowns on the cover price of best-selling biographies. Out. Biographies aren't Fiction.
(D) Due to the poor economic conditions that have prevailed during the last five years, most libraries report substantial increases in the number of patrons seeking books on changing careers and starting new businesses. Out. Attractive choice, explains why the sales might be down, and provides reason for the plan's failiure. Yet, the complete opposite of what we're looking for. Strengthener.
(E) The National Booksellers Association statistics do not include profits from selling novels by mail to overseas customers. Close, but Out. Look at the Plan's objective closely. We're looking for what's causing the plan's failiure. And the plan is concerned with National Book Sales, not international.


Psyllium9

Actually, prices are reduced for biographies not for fiction. If it had been fiction, then this option would have been correct.

@VeritasKarishma, GMATNinja -Can you please explain why ans choice A is right? and also explain D ans choice? Doesn't it indicates that since it was poor economic condition and so people started to buy startup books but had it been a normal situation then the campaigns would not have been unsuccessful and hence it weakens the argument

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