How Readers Find Books
With so many books out there, how is a reader to choose? In this section, I’ll tackle this very conundrum.
Chart 23: Factors Influencing Book Selection
Main Insight: The most popular factor was book description, with 93% of respondents stating that it was one of the factors they considered when selecting a book.
Further Insight: The least popular factor was Imprint, with 15% of respondents considering the publisher when selecting a book.
Now let’s get more specific. In the following chart, I asked participants to rank the importance of factors: Cover, Author, Title, Book Description, and Imprint/Publisher in deciding what book to read next.
Chart 24: How Important are Each Factor?
Main Insight: Book description was the most crucial factor and imprint/publisher was the least important.
Quotes on the Importance of Factors
It’s Psychology, Duh!
One participant brought science into the rationale behind loving pretty covers.
Author Loyalty
This participant cut through the nonsense for this gem of a quote.
The book’s publisher is not important to these readers either. Pretty covers and description reign supreme!
Chart 25: Bookish Social Media Communities
Main Insight: 88% of respondents are on Bookstagram.
The Cultural Relevance of BookTok
These results may have been swayed by my platform, which is primarily on Instagram. If we go off hashtag use alone, there is a large difference.
On May 30, 2023, there were 90,686,405 posts on #Bookstagram compared to 142.6 billion views on #BookTok.
Anecdotally, I’ve seen that more people have heard of BookTok. I often describe myself as someone who is on the Instagram version of BookTok. Other online bookish communities don’t have the brand awareness that BookTok has.
Social Media’s Impact on Reach
Industry giants like Barnes & Noble are paying attention. B&N locations have shelves/tables for #BookTok bestsellers.²⁹
Review websites like Goodreads come in second place, with 55% of readers using them to find books. This is not surprising given that Goodreads has 125 million members.³⁰
Chart 26: How Readers Find Books
Main Insight: An overwhelming number of participants (99%) find books on social media.
Citations for this Section
Source 29:
Talbot, D. (2023, March 8). Impact of Social Media on Book Publishing Industry. WordsRated. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
Source 30:
Michelle. (2022, October 28). Goodreads: A platform for readers and authors. Digital Innovation and Transformation. Harvard University. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
