Reading habits: how do you find out about new books?

[Lauren]

Hello, I'm conducting a really simple and quick questionnaire (all ticky boxes) in reading habits, where people get their recommendations/purchase prompts for my Masters in Publishing Studies dissertation. I would be hugely grateful if anyone would be happy to quickly fill a questionnaire out. Here's the link: Click here to take survey: Click here to take survey

Thank you , Lauren

[Chris]

Thanks for posting this; an interesting survey though, not unexpectedly, not all available options applied to my book habits (for example, I get a lot of my print books second-hand, typically charity shops, but then I don't expect that that's going to be hugely of interest to the publishing world).

[Ape]

Hi, oh, my first post in this group =). Have just done the survey.
I buy a lot of my books second hand at charity shops, or I get hold of them via places such as bookmooch - wasn't really an option for these kinds of things.

[Lauren]

Thank you for responding Chris and Ape - it's very much appreciated! Yes I wondered about putting the charity shop option in - it's definitely where I get most of my books from! - but I'm trying to suss out whether word of mouth through online channels, which publishers are _convinced_ drives their sales now(we shall see : ) ) - is actually true, so I'm looking at the first purchase of a book, rather than second-hand purchasing where marketing doesn't play _such_ a role.

Thanks again for filling out the questionnaire - it's quite exciting watching the number of respondents rise on survey monkey - my new procrastination trick!

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel]

I just did the survey, very good survey, but no option to tick all the boxes that apply in the first set of q's, I get my new books where they are cheapest so I use Amazon, supermarket and chain book stores and get the cheapest on sale.

[Dalia]

I get 95% of my books from the local library, only buy when I am traveling and don't want to bring the books back (I leave them in public places for someone to pick up so I don't have to carry the weight back), so I was a bit surprised that the library/book sharing wasn't mentioned :-)

[Sam]

Just completed the survey and I would have liked an option to maybe note what sites or stores I use when buying books. I wonder whether knowing those specifics would help or not. I use Ebay and my local independent store a lot, which are two arenas not widely advertised in by publishers whereas Amazon has a lot more, don't know if that would make a difference to your results.

Good luck with your dissertation though :-D

[Chris]

Lauren wrote: "I'm trying to suss out whether word of mouth through online channels, which publishers are _convinced_ drives their sales now (we shall see) - is actually true ..."

It would certainly be interesting to see if online recommendations (a) make a significant difference now and (b) will dominate sales patterns in the future. If fewer people are going into bookshops to physically peruse a book before deciding to buy then how to judge whether you will like a book when you go online? Yes, many sites like Amazon give you an option to 'look inside' the book, but social network sites like Goodreads and Library Thing, plus Facebook links and blogs (where real people and not publicity machines give you personal opinions) must be the future for both discerning readers and fans.

[Ian, Moderator]

Just completed your survey. Wondered why your question re number of books purchased annually micro analyses buying prompts of those who buy 10 books or less per year. I would have thought you'd get some better data re the differing purchase drivers/habits of those who read more rather than splitting up your data into sections of those who read less than 1 book per month.

[Joe]

I did the survey too. It must be hard designing a survey, knowing what questions to ask and what choices to offer. My main reason for buying a book is often that I have read an author before and check his/her other novels out. If I'm looking on Amazon, this will often lead to authors writing in the same genre who I also will check out... yes, I can spend a lot of time on there! Since I've been on Goodreads, I can follow a similar trail on there too. Sometimes I'm doing the shopping and (depending on how soon my missus drags me away from the book section) I get a book or two just because I like the sound of it (pretty good success rate with this). Same goes for charity shops. What I'm saying is that I don't have one specific place, although I have to admit that I do most of my book research on Goodreads and Amazon.

[Donna]

I've done the survey, but like some others I buy from charity shops and second hand websites like greenmetropolis.

[Simon (Highwayman)]

You need to watch out with your survey. By asking people here to fill it in you are getting a skewed subset of the reading public. Everyone here is computer literate and has access to the internet.

What proportion of the reading public are in this category I wonder?

[Thomas]

Each year I make the same New Year resolution to try out a new writer at each library visit. I`ve found a few roses and some weeds, but hey weeds are just flowers that nobody appreciates, right?

[Andy]

I've just found the goodreads recommendations option, not sure how long its been there - probably always, it gives some interesting resuts. Has anyone else used it?

[Linda]

I recently realized the recommendation option is there and am finding it useful for choosing books to deliver to the homebound. I can check genres that I know little about. It is just one of the wonderful things I do. Joking about being wonderful, but do get joy from helping make books available.

[Judyta]

It's been introduced only a few days ago. Looks good, but mine at least is somehow glitched - when I remove something from the list (either marking it as read or not interested), new recommendations are not being provided. The list just becomes shorter :-(

[Niall]

I think the idea is good re the recommendations, however the recommendations I'm being given are really off the mark at the moment. I'll give it time and hopefully it will get there