 |
| Seeing your book here is every author's dream |
I found these statistically-based facts pretty bodacious and plan to implement them in marketing my books. I'm sure you will too.
Greg was reporting on a survey conducted by the Penguin Random House consumer insights team, which polled 40k + readers about how they make their literary choices.
Since I'm a just-give-me-the-bottom-line girl, I'll omit most of the actual numbers and sum up the conclusions (but if you're a detail hound, you're welcome to hop over to the WordServe Water Cooler and wallow in statistics to your heart's delight).
Get a load of these facts; some may raise your eyebrows:
1. The vast majority of people polled said they were most influenced by recommendations from people they knew in choosing books to buy. (Deb: No surprise there, right?)
2. The largest percentage (70%) said they mostly discover books on Goodreads (women more likely than men) (Deb: REALLY????); about half said it was from print media reviews (men more likely than women) and/or Facebook, about a third said from author interviews/appearances/blog reviews and only a handful said from print ads and Twitter.
3. The older the reader, the less they are influenced by blogs and social media as a way to discover books; they depend more on friends, print reviews, and ads. (Deb: So it's important to know the age of your readers so you can aim at the right targets, right?)
4. In descending order, people tend to pick a book based on: subject, because of a good book review, at a friends's recommendation, reading an excerpt, an online review, at the recommendation of a sales person, the publisher's reputation, seeing an ad, referred by media/personality, and needing a book for school or work.
Interesting, huh?
No, more than that ... informing. Enlightening. Empowering.
And don't we need all of THAT we can get in marketing our books, whether we're self-published, partnership published, or traditionally published?
