Survey of children's book market offers good news to publishers and booksellers
A consumer survey examining the children's and teenage book markets was conducted by Bruno &Ridgeway for PW and BookExpo America in June. A nationally representative sample was randomly surveyed by telephone. In the case of teens, a portion of the sample was interviewed at malls across the country.
The sample interviewed consisted of 400 adults who had purchased a children's book within the past three months and 100 teen book buyers in two age categories, younger teens (ages 12-14) and older teens (ages 15-17), who had bought a book in the past three months.
Of the adult sample, 62% of the children's book purchasers were female, 38% male. The sample covered a full range of age groups; 22% were 18-29 years old, 28% were 30-44 years old, and 50% were 45 years old and older. Most were married (79%); 21% were single, divorced or widowed. The adult sample was statistically weighted to give equal representation to men and women.
The teen sample included 53 girls and 47 boys. Fifty-seven were in the 12-14 age range, 43 in the 15-17 age range. Twenty-four teens were interviewed by telephone and 76 were interviewed in shopping malls across the country.
To shed some light on the children's and teen book market, PW and BookExpo America examined consumer trends among children's and teenage book buyers. The survey evaluated what kinds of children's and teenage books consumers choose, how they choose them and where they go to buy them. The findings paint a positive picture of America's younger generations of readers and point optimistically toward a future country of book lovers.
Judging from responses, adults who buy children's books believe that books play an important role in a child's development. Consequently, the majority of children's book buyers take seriously the process of choosing books for children. For their part, teens feel that "reading is cool" and "makes you smarter." An analysis of these attitudes and an examination of the book-buying habits of children's and teen book consumers could be useful in helping publishers, promoters and booksellers provide more appealing products and services.
Children's Book Consumers
The survey of 400 adults who buy books for children (their own as well as grandchildren, young relatives and friends' children) found that they purchased an average of 18 books per consumer over the last year. Over half (58%) of those surveyed said that they had purchased a children's book within the past month, and 17% had purchased a book in the past week. Adults purchased books for boys slightly more than they did for girls: 55% vs. 45%.
The adult purchasers of children's books in the survey were predominately female: 62% vs. 38% male. Women also tended, on average, to purchase more children's books than men: 20 books per year compared to 14 for men. Purchasers were spread across all age groups, were mostly married (79%) and were highly educated; two-thirds (66%) had some college education, and as many as 21% had a postgraduate degree. The households tended to be above average in income, with a median income of $46,477 and one-third (34%) earning more than $60,000.
The survey indicated that adult book buyers purchase books they believe will influence a child's intellectual and moral development. Three-quarters (75%) of book purchasers said it is important that the books they purchase be ones that "the child will keep for a long time." This plus the durability issue helps explain why over half of the respondents (60%) chose to buy hardcover books for children under the age of six, as well as why classics remain perennial favorites.
Accordingly, the price d s not appear to be as important as a book's staying power. Just over half (52%) of the children's book purchasers strongly agreed that "it is worth paying a high price for a children's book." Similarly, less than a quarter (22%) of respondents agreed with the statement "I think children's books in general are priced too high".
What to Choose?
The survey shows that adults buy more fiction for children than nonfiction (72% vs. 28%). But fiction titles are not chosen merely for entertainment value. Nearly half (47%) of all books purchased for children were chosen "strictly for educational purposes."
This indicates that adults view books as tools to teach children about values, even when buying fiction. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents agreed with the statement "I try to choose books for children that teach them about what's right or wrong."
More proof that people consider books to play an important role in a child's development is evident in statements indicating that adults often prefer to purchase books over toys as gifts for children. Almost two-thirds (62%) of respondents agreed strongly that they "like to give other people's children books as presents rather than toys." In fact, 43% of the sample said that the last book they purchased was intended as a gift.
Research shows that adults are very concerned when it comes to selecting the right book for a child and often look for guidance when making their selection. Therefore, awards such as the Newbery and Caldecott medals and favorable reviews and recommendations by librarians and educators are significant influences. Two-thirds (67%) agreed that a "book being recommended by a teacher or librarian" is highly important in their purchasing decisions.
More than half (58%) of the respondents said that the age recommendations listed on book covers are highly influential when deciding which book to purchase. Age recommendations assure the consumer that a book is appropriate and thus more likely to be enjoyed by the child. Another major factor in choosing a book is its illustrations, which was cited by 50% of our respondents as being highly important in deciding which children's book to buy.
Naturally, children often have a great influence on which books are bought for them. More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said that a child influenced their last children's book purchase. It follows that if a child sees a book with a familiar character or appealing image, he or she is likely to ask for it. This influence can lead to impulse purchasing, which, according to the survey, often occurs. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the sample said that their most recent children's book purchase was made on impulse. In addition, the last time respondents bought a children's book, nearly three out of 10 (29%) said they also bought an adult book for themselves or for another adult.
The inverse also appears to be true; when children's book buyers are shopping for books for themselves, they often buy a children's book on impulse. The study shows that 40% of children's book buyers agreed with the statement "When I shop for books, I am very likely to buy other children's books that I hadn't planned on buying." Retailers could encourage these impulse buys by, for example, offering a discount on children's books when an adult book is being purchased.
What may explain such impulse buying is that children often accompany their parents on shopping trips, and parents frequently respond on the spot to a child's request for a specific book. It would make sense then for publishers and bookstores to spend time and effort on creating book jackets and displays that appeal to children themselves. It would also be to the publisher's advantage to advertise on television programming and in print publications directed at children. (Of course, since advertising in those media is often prohibitively expensive, this is not a viable option for many children's book publishers.) However, the more creative publishers can get with marketing children's titles, the better.
Other factors shown to influence a consumer's purchase include a child's request (68%), books the adult read as a child (64%) and books recommended by another parent or friend (58%).
Respondents mentioned purchasing a disparate range of titles within the last three months, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Richard Scarry's Bedtime Stories, Anne of Green Gables, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, My Brother Sam Is Dead, Power Rangers books, and Little House in the Big Woods.
Preferred Places of Purchase
Bookstore chains are the preferred sources for both children's and adult book purchases, with Barnes &Noble (16%) and Borders (7%) mentioned the most frequently. When adults are looking specifically for children's books, our research shows that consumers are inclined to patronize mass merchandise outlets such as Target and Wal-Mart (21%) as well as utilize school book fairs or clubs (7%).
What draws children's book purchasers to a store? Our survey confirms that child-friendly sections are attractive. Seven out of 10 (69%) respondents said they "appreciate having special places in the store so that children themselves can look through books." This is important since four out of 10 (39%) said they shop for children's books with children, a figure that increases to 49% among frequent book buyers.
In-store promotions, story hours, book discussion groups and author signings also pull traffic into bookstores. Over the last three months, more than one-third (35%) of respondents attended a bookstore event directed at the children's market, more than one-quarter (27%) attended a story hour, 11% went to a book discussion group and 8% went to an author signing. Not only do events such as these provide an excellent opportunity to promote new books, they provide publicity opportunities for the local media. Promotional activities encourage children to request books, which motivates adults to buy.Story hours underline the importance of reading, and a large number of respondents (82%) said that reading is something they do with their children at home. Almost all of the respondents (99%) agreed strongly with such statements as "It's the parent's responsibility to introduce the joy of reading to their children" and "It's important to read aloud to young children at bedtime."
Bedtime, of course, is the most popular reading time (60%), a statistic that supports the popularity of bedtime stories like Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are. Other reading aloud times mentioned include the afternoon or after school (11%) or in the morning (6%). Publishers and booksellers could increase sales by exploring ways to encourage family reading rituals.
The Teen Book Market
Teens represent a vital target market for book publishers. Not only do numerous teens enjoy reading but many also have sizable disposable incomes that could be spent on books. For this reason, teen book-buying trends warrant special consideration. Also, because what's "in" with teens is often unique to their age group, it is important to follow their current reading preferences and habits.
While PW's teen survey was not as extensive as the children's book-buying survey, it yielded some interesting and useful information. Keep in mind that, as criteria for participating in the survey, all the teens had read a book in the last three months. Therefore, it is likely that our sample was much more book-oriented than a typical sample.
Most encouraging was the finding that an overwhelming majority of the teens surveyed think reading is a lot of fun, is cool and is something that makes them feel smarter than people who don't read. Also impressive was the range of subjects that teens are interested in reading about, from the latest rock star biography to The Hot Zone to War and Peace.
The teen book-buying market is fairly large with real growth potential. Not only d s this market possess future spending power, it also has current control over dollars. The teen book buyers in our sample indicated that their total disposable income over a three-month period averages $600. Disposable income was virtually the same for females and males, teen girls averaging $52.62 and teen boys averaging $52.81. Moreover, nearly one-quarter (23%) of the 15-17 year old age group surveyed spends $100 or more each week.
How do teens spend their disposable income? It's no surprise that teens spend their money on food, clothing and entertainment. What might come as a surprise is that, on average, the teens in our survey spend 10% of their disposable income on books. Teen boys tend to spend more on books than girls, $69.21 vs. $41.92 over a three-month period. This discrepancy might reflect boys' tendency to prefer hardcover books (36% of boys said they purchase a hardcover most often, compared to only 15% of girls). Paperbacks, however, are the format of choice: 79% of teens said they most often purchase paperbacks rather than hardcovers.
The extent to which teens buy books with their own money is impressive. Most (72%) 15-to-17-year-old book buyers said that on their last book purchase they spent their own money rather than money from their parents. Fewer younger teens (44%) said they spent their own money on the last book they bought, which is understandable considering that younger teens usually have less of their "own" money.
Older teens also tend to spend more on individual books than younger teens, the last book they bought averaging between $10-$11, compared with an average for younger teens of $7-$8.
The money that teen book buyers spend on reading backs up their statements that they value reading and people who read. Three-quarters (78%) of our teen respondents agreed strongly with the statement "Reading a book is a cool thing to do." Even more (86%) agreed with the statement "I enjoy reading because it's fun."
Older teens demonstrated particularly strong feelings about reading, with 72% agreeing "a lot" with the statement that reading is fun. When asked whether the last book they purchased was "for fun" or "for school," almost three-quarters (72%) said they bought the last book for fun (note that the research was conducted in May and June, when school workloads were likely fairly light). And 66% of teens agreed strongly with the statement "I think kids who read a lot are smarter."
Based on their most recent purchase (again, bear in mind that the survey was not held during the better part of the academic school year), our study found that teens choose fiction titles (57%) slightly more than nonfiction, a figure that did not vary by gender or by age. Broadly speaking, teens like mysteries (50%), science fiction/fantasy (41%), books about celebrities and athletes (36%) and how-to books (26%).
The study also showed that teens buy titles by authors they've read before as well as series titles, with 75% of teens agreeing with the statement "I like reading books that are part of a series." This was made clear in some of the teens' verbatim explanations, in which they specifically mentioned that they have purchased and want to purchase series or other books by the same authors. Authors cited include Stephen King, R.L. Stine, V.C. Andrews and Mary Higgins Clark; series that were mentioned include the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Heir to the Empire.
Below is a sample of what teens said when asked for the title of the last book they bought and why they wanted it. Their answers reflect a wide variety of tastes.
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul was a popular choice; one 12-year-old girl explained, "Because of all the teenage stories, it's nice to know that other people share the same interests." Another 12-year-old bought Bridge to Terabithia saying, "My teacher read it to the class and I wanted to have it so I could read it myself." A 16-year-old girl bought Elie Wiesel's Night because "it was sad and interesting and of importance." And a 13-year-old girl mentioned Where the Red Fern Grows, "because it has a broad range of emotions. I like books that will make me feel emotions. A good author can do that."
When asked "What book do you think you will buy next?" titles mentioned included The Hero and the Crown, The Courtney Love Story, The Guinness Book of World Records, The Last of the Mohicans, The Hobbit and a title from the Goosebumps series.
Why Teens Buy What They Do
What are a teenager's primary influences when selecting a book to purchase? A surprising 51% of older teens indicated that their parents play some role in what they buy. When asked why he wanted a certain book, one teen answered, "Because my mother suggested that I would probably enjoy reading it." For younger teens, parental influence is stronger; 77% of younger teens said that their parents have some influence over what books they purchase. A friend's recommendations and a book's front or back cover are also key factors in deciding what book to purchase. Nearly four out of 10 (39%) of teenagers said the book they bought last was recommended by a friend.
Movies and, to some extent, television also have an effect on book purchases among teens. Nearly one-third of respondents said that a movie might have influenced their last book purchase, with no statistical difference between boys and girls. Over half of the teens surveyed said they had seen a specific movie that made them "want to buy the book." Some of the movies mentioned were Titanic, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Client, Men in Black, Contact and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It's interesting to note that teenage boys are more likely than girls to be influenced by television (28% vs. 10%), and teen girls more likely than boys to be influenced by a book's author or a friend's recommendation (55% vs. 19%). Librarians proved to be much less of an influence among teens than with children; they were mentioned as an influence by only 15% of teens.
As with adults, most teens make their book purchases at bookstore chains. Three-quarters (76%) of all teen book buyers surveyed had bought a book at a chain bookstore in the past three months, with Barnes &Noble and Waldenbooks mentioned most frequently (39% each), followed by B. Dalton (26%) and Borders (26%).
The second most popular source of books for both boy and girl teens is actually at school, a fact that holds true for younger and older teens. However, younger teens, aged 12-14, buy more books at school book fairs than older teens. They also more often buy books at discount mass merchandise stores such as Costco and Kmart. A possible reason is that younger teens are more likely than their older siblings to accompany their parents on shopping trips to these destinations. Older teens are more likely to shop for books with their friends or on their own.
Shopping for books in the main part of the bookstore starts as young as age 12. Many teens indicated in our survey that by the time they're 12 they no longer look in the YA section at all and consider YA books to be too young for teens. Teen girls are more likely than boys to shop in the YA section (52% vs. 36%).
Booksellers looking to increase teen traffic might consider creating a special section for customers in their teens and 20s. This section would be best placed far away from the children's section, since most teens wouldn't go near a children's department, considering it too "babyish." The new section could contain a mix of older YA titles, books by adult authors with teen appeal, and books on sports, celebrity biographies and other subjects that are popular with that age group.
It's interesting to note that a high percentage of teens -- nearly six out of 10 -- plan their book purchasing rather than buy on impulse. This may be because they're searching for a specific title, the next book in a series or a title recommended by a friend or parent. For older teens, it's also possible that they tend to plan their purchases because they're often spending their own money.
All in all, the teen book-buying survey presents an encouraging picture of teenage readers. Not only are teens reading a lot, but they feel that reading is important and cool and that books provide enough fun for them to spend a good percentage of their own money on.
Judging by the responses presented in these two book-buying surveys, people of all ages believe that reading is an important and necessary tool for creating a smarter future generation of adults. The young people questioned in our survey spend a good portion of their time reading for enjoyment and consider reading and books an important part of their lives. Given these findings, and the reasonable assumption that these young people will grow up to be committed adult readers, the future d s indeed look bright for the publishing and bookselling communities.
