Last week I got curious about when and how readers shop for new books, so I wrote up a survey to find out. I didn't get a huge turnout, but I did get 54 people who filled it out-- and the results gave me a lot to think about.
Here are the questions I asked:
1. When you look for a new book, where do you look?
2. Where do you get recommendations for your next book to read?
3. When do you shop for new books?
For the quick summary, here is the condensed profile of the most popular answers from 1, 2, and 3:
Readers are always in the market for new books, turn to friends for recommendations, and then shop online for those books.
In general, that makes me think that the future of book search will be in making it easy to find and buy books people are searching for. It means that most often people are looking for a specific title, not browsing around. It also means that the offline, WOM recommendations we give each other for books is still the most powerful catalyst to get people buying a book. That's good to know, and a strong argument for authors and publishers alike to focus on promoting those kinds of marketing outreach efforts.
4. If there was one thing that could make finding the right book easier, what would you want?
To find out the most popular answers, check out the end of the article. Then leave your own suggestion or idea in the comments.
Let’s Make Book Search Better Survey Results
Note: Survey-takers could select as many options from the choices as applied.
1. When you look for a new book, where do you look?
80% look for new books through online retailers.
44% go to a bookstore.
Just 15% look to the library.
The two most popular additional places in the “Other” response field were Newspaper Reviews and GoodReads.
2. Where do you get recommendations for your next book to read?
74% of people taking this survey ask friends for recommendations on what to read next. That’s almost double any other response.
43% said family members, 41% use the recommendations on Amazon or another online retailer.
37% turn to social media and 30% chose “I have different people I ask for recommendations depending on the type of book.”
Only 7% said they ask “whoever is behind the counter at the bookstore,” and just 2% said they have “one person I always ask for book recommendations.”
There were many “Other” responses, with the most popular being “Other books by my favorite author(s),” “From people I know in book clubs,” “Librarians,” and “NPR or other radio reviews.”
3. When do you shop for new books?
80% said “I’m always in the market for a new book,” which is good news for the publishing world 
19% shop for a new book when they finish the one they’re reading, and 15% shop for new books when they are getting ready for vacation.
Just 9% shop around birthdays to give books as gifts, and 9% in November/December for the winter and holiday season.
The most popular “Other” responses were “Anytime I hear something interesting” or “When the next book in a series is coming out.”
4. If there was one thing that could make finding the right book easier, what would you want?
This question was text answers only, and I’m still analyzing and grouping the responses. I’ll update with specifics later today. Broadly speaking, the suggestions converge around these themes:
- A smart app, database, or program that readers could enter their genre, theme, author, or other preferences into and get back targeted results. This is by far the most popular type of response.
- Improved reviews that are more relevant and focused on helping the reader/shopper guess whether he/she will like the book.
- A notable number of responders said that they don’t want any changes and that the hunting is part of the fun!
I’d love to hear what you all think about these survey results. Please do drop questions or thoughts in the comments.
Image source: Kevin Dooley via flickr
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