The Eight Reasons Why Consumers Buy Books

In an article published on the Digital Book World blog, blogger Andrew Rhomberg reported on some observations made by Jellybooks about the reasons why people buy books and mentioned the eight reasons:

1. To be entertained - now.  Readers want to escape into imaginary worlds to do things that they would never do except between the pages of their latest guilty pleasure. These books are not read over a few days but over a few hours but unfortunately, are not books that are recommended to but a few within their circle.

2.  To be entertained in the future.  These are books that are stockpiled for future enjoyment using Kindle Countdowns, Bookbub and other price promotions. These treasures, bought or downloaded en masse, are often forgotten (hey, I'm guilty of it too!) and are generally not recommended to anyone.

3.  To be informed. Usually works of non-fiction, these books are purchased for a specific purpose or topic, are rarely completed. Think business books, we read enough to get what we need and move on to the next one.  Good for non-fiction, terrible for fiction.

4.  Obligated to Read.  These books are generally textbooks assigned for class work and/or are books purchased to enhance or build upon a skill. I am thinking that this would be the row upon row of Communication Theory books that I purchased during my days in Grad School!

5.  Social Pressure to Read.  Oh, the dreaded "everybody is reading it" but would you have read the book otherwise?  We may finish the book but not really get into it (no judgment, it just is what it is, right?).  We skip through the talking points in order to "keep up" in conversations about "the book".

6.  Reading the book makes us look smart.  Think Pulitzer Prize winners, books that you would never "hide the title" when reading the book in public. In fact, you want to be seen reading this book.  These are generally big physical books that feel good and look good in our hands as we read them riding mass transit or sitting on park benches. They are also books purchased in large numbers - and are sometimes never read.

7.  Purchased as a gift. Generally purchased around summer reading and Christmas seasons, books are always the perfect gift and this particular purchase is usually physical books rather than ebooks.

8.  Impulse purchases.  Deep discounts, author readings, seminars, whatever is going on at that time gets you all excited and the next thing you know, you're leaving the event with a bag full of whatever the speaker was selling.  Hey, again, no judgment, I've done it too!  And like other impulse buyers, most of my purchases, once the glow has faded, have gone unread.

So, there you have it.  Now, it's time for me to go read some of the books that I've stockpiled.

To read the complete article, go on over to Andrew's article at dbw.

Let's read something good!