Friday, March 30, 2007
I thought this was interesting.
"In its third survey on the book-buying habits of Americans, the advertising firm Spier NY asked readers what factors motivated them to buy a book. Readers could choose more than one answer; below are the top eight answers.
Reason % respondents
1. Friend's recommendation 49
2. Familiarity with author 45
3. Description on jacket 32
4. Reviews 22
5. Advertisement 21
6. Place on bestsellers list 17
7. Reading group pick 16
8. Cover design 12
Source: Spier NY. Based on responses from 813 book readers. 2007"
It is definitely interesting to me to see how certain books get insanely popular mainly through word-of-mouth. The Philippa Gregory books were like that in our library, and also The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which didn't really get all that popular till it was already out in trade paperback (great for us at the library, because we were able to buy multiple copies to satisfy demand without breaking the bank). And once Jodi Picoult hit the jackpot with My Sister's Keeper, all of her earlier books started flying off the shelf. ¶ posted by Mary Martin @ 4:50 PM
"In its third survey on the book-buying habits of Americans, the advertising firm Spier NY asked readers what factors motivated them to buy a book. Readers could choose more than one answer; below are the top eight answers.
Reason % respondents
1. Friend's recommendation 49
2. Familiarity with author 45
3. Description on jacket 32
4. Reviews 22
5. Advertisement 21
6. Place on bestsellers list 17
7. Reading group pick 16
8. Cover design 12
Source: Spier NY. Based on responses from 813 book readers. 2007"
It is definitely interesting to me to see how certain books get insanely popular mainly through word-of-mouth. The Philippa Gregory books were like that in our library, and also The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which didn't really get all that popular till it was already out in trade paperback (great for us at the library, because we were able to buy multiple copies to satisfy demand without breaking the bank). And once Jodi Picoult hit the jackpot with My Sister's Keeper, all of her earlier books started flying off the shelf. ¶ posted by Mary Martin @ 4:50 PM
