{"id":2168,"date":"2012-05-22T20:01:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T20:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildbookbuzz.com\/?p=2168"},"modified":"2012-05-22T20:01:14","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T20:01:14","slug":"who-buys-books-and-what-do-they-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandra.oddjar.com\/who-buys-books-and-what-do-they-buy\/","title":{"rendered":"Who buys books and what do they buy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/officeimg.vo.msecnd.net\/en-us\/images\/MH900408819.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"227\" height=\"227\" \/>While looking for information on how people decide what books to buy, I found a helpful PowerPoint presentation from Bowker that summarizes research from the first quarter of 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The information presented probably hasn&#8217;t changed dramatically since then (with the exception being the growth of e-books, but even with older research, you can see the trends), so I&#8217;m sharing a few highlights from the research here and including the presentation, too, so that you can review the slides for more information.<\/p>\n<p>The Bowker research studied:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who buys books<\/li>\n<li>Categories and formats they buy (the information shared\u00a0is skewed toward fiction &#8212; the categories are all fiction, graphic novels, mystery, romance, biography, cooking)<\/li>\n<li>Where they buy books<\/li>\n<li>Why they buy them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are a few facts that stood out for me and might help you.<\/p>\n<h3>Who buys books?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Of the categories reported on (all fiction, graphic novels, mystery, romance, biography, cooking), women buy most books except graphic novels (men buy two-thirds of them).<\/li>\n<li>Men buy almost half of all biographies.<\/li>\n<li>The two strongest categories for men in this research are graphic novels and biographies.<\/li>\n<li>18-29 year olds buy the most books, but those 30-44 are right behind them.<\/li>\n<li>The people with the most money bought the least amount of books.<\/li>\n<li>Those in the mid-income range of the study, $54,000-$74,900 in annual income, bought the most books.<\/li>\n<li>When combining age ranges, those 13-17, 18-29, and 30-44 buy more books collectively than those 45-54, 55-64, and 65+.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Categories and format they buy<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Those ages 18-29 buy 60 percent of the graphic novels.<\/li>\n<li>People 65+ buy the least number of books,\u00a0favor mysteries, and don&#8217;t buy graphic novels ( that part is a big surprise, eh?).<\/li>\n<li>Trade paperback is the most popular format for graphic novels.<\/li>\n<li>Hardcover is the favored format for biography and cooking books.<\/li>\n<li>The most popular choice for mysteries and romance novels is mass market paperback.<\/li>\n<li>All categories cited were seeing an upward trend in e-book purchasing except graphic novels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Where do they buy books?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The information shared only addresses mystery books &#8212; those buyers purchase online and at large chains.<\/li>\n<li>Mystery buyers with the highest income buy at Amazon while those with the lowest buy at Walmart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Why they buy them<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Mystery and romance lovers are influenced the most by the author.<\/li>\n<li>Biography and cooking readers say they buy because they like the topic or subject.<\/li>\n<li>Graphic novel purchasers like the series.<\/li>\n<li>Those buying graphic novels, mysteries, and romance novels cite &#8220;other awareness&#8221; for how they learn about the books they purchase over options ranging from a friend&#8217;s recommendation to reviews.<\/li>\n<li>Biography buyers learn about books through recommendations.<\/li>\n<li>Cooking category buyers discover books through in-store displays.<\/li>\n<li>Those buying cooking books are the most impulsive with their purchases; those purchasing graphic novels are the least impulsive.<\/li>\n<li>Mystery and romance readers\u00a0plan to buy at a specific time, but\u00a0don&#8217;t have a specific book in mind.<\/li>\n<li>Graphic novel and biography buyers purchase a specific book at a specific time &#8212; it&#8217;s all planned and not impulsive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Here&#8217;s the file<\/h3>\n<p>Interested in learning more? Here&#8217;s the file. My thanks for the folks at Bowker for sharing this on SlideShare.<\/p>\n<div id=\"__ss_8705985\" style=\"width: 425px;\">\n<p><strong style=\"display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;\"><a title=\"Bowker Market Research: The Magic and Mystery of Book Consumer Research\" href=\"http:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/PubTrack\/pubtrack-consumer-the-magic-and-mystery-of-book-consumer-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bowker Market Research: The Magic and Mystery of Book Consumer Research<\/a><\/strong> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/slideshow\/embed_code\/8705985\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 0 12px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>What do you do to research your book&#8217;s target audience? How do you learn what you need to know about them?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/officeimg.vo.msecnd.net\/en-us\/images\/MH900408819.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"227\" height=\"227\" \/>While looking for information on how people decide what books to buy, I found a helpful PowerPoint presentation from Bowker that summarizes research from the first quarter of 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The information presented probably hasn&#8217;t changed dramatically since then (with the exception being the growth of e-books, but even with older research, you can see the trends), so I&#8217;m sharing a few highlights from the research here and including the presentation, too, so that you can review the slides for more information.<\/p>\n<p>The Bowker research studied:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,12],"tags":[106,107],"class_list":["post-2168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-tools","tag-buying-habits","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who buys books and what do they buy? - Build Book Buzz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandra.oddjar.com\/who-buys-books-and-what-do-they-buy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who buys books and what do they buy? - Build Book Buzz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While looking for information on how people decide what books to buy, I found a helpful PowerPoint presentation from Bowker that summarizes research from the first quarter of 2011. 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