Welcome to part two of the mini blog series featuring results from the Canadian Book Consumer survey. In part one, we shared insights about Canadian book buyers — from most popular formats and subjects to preferred channels to complete a purchase, and more. In this instalment, we’ll take a deep dive into why and how Canadians acquire books — from awareness and discoverability to the reasons why Canadians decide to read, buy, or borrow specific books.
[Clip]
When we asked readers how they generally became aware of books they read or listen to, 38% said awareness was created at a bookstore or retailer, 30% from an author, 25% from a bestseller list, and 25% from the public library.
How readers became aware of books they read
[Clip]
In 2020, buyers on average bought 1.8 print books, 0.9 ebooks, and 0.3 audiobooks in the prior month.
When we look at the average of books bought by format, we see that
print buyers buy, on average, a higher number of print books (2.3) than ebooks (0.5) and audiobooks (0.2);
ebook buyers bought an average of 2.7 ebooks in the prior month, compared with 1.2 print books and 0.6 audiobooks; and
audiobook buyers bought, on average, 2.2 audiobooks, 1.7 print books, and 1.6 ebooks in the prior month.
When making their purchase, about eight in ten buyers only bought a book(s) (79%). However, 21% bought additional non-book items with their book(s) purchase, mostly groceries, then clothing, toys, or games. And, about a quarter of people said they add books to their online cart to get free shipping (27%), and about a third of people sometimes do so (38%).
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
