TeleRead reading survey: SF, award-winning lit, thrillers, classics among your faves—and fiction in general
By Robert Nagle
A few weeks ago TeleRead asked readers to take a five-question, muti-choice reading survey using the Survey Gizmo service. 161 anonymous respondents took the survey in the first week of March 2008, and the results suggest that many favor SF, award-winning literature, thrillers and public domain classics—in fact, fiction in general.
How many books and e-books have you paid for in the last year?
- 20+ books/ebooks 40%
- 11-20 24%
- 5-10 21%
- 0-4 15%
If you have bought an e-book or digital text before, please indicate which type: (Choose one or more)
- fiction (75%)
- business or job-related topic (21%)
- technical/computer manual (19%)
- n/a; I have never bought an ebook (17%)
- something for a hobby (17%)
- something for research or school (17%)
Last year, novels/short stories/graphic novels/poetry/drama comprise what percent of the books you have read last year?
- 100% of my reading (10%)
- 90% of my reading (24%)
- 80% of my reading (15%)
- 70% of my reading (12%)
- 60% of my reading (8%)
- 50% of my reading (7%)
- 40% of my reading (5%)
- 30% of my reading (5%)
- 20% of my reading (4%)
- 10% of my reading (9%)
You have an hour to kill in the fiction section of a bookstore or library. Which kind of books would you spend most of your time browsing through (Choose Only 4!)
- sci fi/speculative fiction (76%)
- Award winners (Booker, Nobel, Natnl Bk Awrd,etc) (40%)
- mystery/thrillers (36-53%; unclear –see note)
- classic/public domain literature (33%)
- humor/satire (26%)
- Comic/Graphic Fiction (23%)
- Lit in translation/Literature not in English (14%)
- Children/Young Adult (11%)
- romance/erotica (11%)
- poetry/drama (9%)
**Mystery/Thrillers was accidentally included as two separate categories on this question. 36% chose the first instance of Mystery/Thrillers; 17% chose the second instance of Mystery/Thrillers. 53% assumes that people chose Mystery/Thriller only once. 36% assumes that people who chose mystery/thrillers chose both instances. Most likely, the general trend is for people to chose one of the two instances, but not both.
You have an hour to kill in the nonfiction section of a bookstore or library. Which kind of books would you spend most of your time browsing through (Choose Only 4!)
- Technical/computers (63%)
- General Science (41%)
- History (48%)
- Biography & Memoirs (28%)
- Criticism & Philosophy (22%)
- Cooking/Food and Wine (22%)
- Politics and Economics (19%)
- Business and Investing (18%)
- Entertainment/Movies/Music (18%)
- Religion/Spirituality (16%)
- Arts & Crafts (16%)
- Home & Garden (12%)
- Medicine and Nutrition (7%)
- Parenting and Relationships (2%)
Comments: Thanks to those who responded. This was interesting and insightful. Here were the biggest surprises to me:
- the huge number of people who bought 20+ books and ebooks per year offers some hope for publishing
- the median response for the percentage of reading which is fiction was more than 80%.
- 75% of TeleRead respondents said they have bought a fiction ebook before. That is significantly greater than those who bought an ebook for school or work.
- Sci fi predominates here (no surprise), but also interesting the high percentage of Award winners (a general category for “highbrow” readers) and classics/public domain.
- The “hour to kill” question indicates relative preference and might not indicate true taste in books. I suspect that inside a store people are more likely to browse through nonfiction titles than fiction. I have to wonder if sales figure for an online store like Amazon.com would indicate different preferences than the “time to kill” questions indicate.
One other thing I would have liked to ask is about educational background and geographic location (although our Google Analytics information gives us general information about that). I’m assuming that we have a high percentage of readers who come from an academic background, which may not be typical for Internet readers.
Later, we will have another brief survey on gadgets/technology/consumer habits. Once again, thanks for your feedback.
Popularity: 5% [?]
March 26th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Great survey! I can use this information to help with purchasing for ebooks at the library.