Thursday, March 6, 2008

Poll results

Here are the results from a recent poll I conducted.

Question: Which sources do you consult the most when deciding what books to read?

Answers:

  • Blogs (17 votes)
  • Friends (15 votes)
  • Award lists (10 votes)
  • Libraries (9 votes)
  • Word of mouth (8 votes)
  • Reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (7 votes)
  • Reviews in professional journals (7 votes)
  • The blurb on the book's dust jacket (7 votes)
  • Your book club (5 votes)
  • Bookstores: independent stores (4 votes)
  • Reviews on Goodreads or LibraryThing (4 votes)
  • Reviews in newspapers or magazines (4 votes)
  • Bookstores: chain stores (3 votes)
  • Conferences (3 votes)
  • Websites: other than those listed above (2 votes)
  • Your kids (2 votes)
  • Your parents (2 votes)
  • Other (2 votes)
  • All of the above (0 votes)
Although this is a very small sample, it made me curious. Are blogs that influential? Does everyone read blog reviews or are they mainly read by other bloggers? I set up a poll on the sidebar that doesn't answer either question, but does ask if you're a blogger yourself.

And, continuing on this tangent for a moment... if blogs are really that powerful... that is to say, if more people consult them more than any other form of marketing or word of mouth... then that is really intriguing. And if it is true, do you think publishers are aware of this trend?

2 comments:

  1. With the blog thing, I think you're seeing the magic of self-selection... Obviously the people who responded were blog readers, and many of them were probably bloggers as well. I think if you cut out the bloggers/blog-readers, "friends" would definitely win the day at any age level! (I cannot explain any other way the returning popularity of Rosemary Sutcliff's Arthurian novels at a local parochial school...)

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  2. Lisa- I think mostly bloggers voted in my poll too... and so there was clearly self-section. But, I also keep being surprised at how often I hear blog reviews mentioned in the real world.

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