New Survey Conducted by HarperCollins Consumer
Insight for Avon Books
Exposes Why Romance Readers Are "Super Readers"
San Antonio, TX (July 23, 2014) - Today, Avon Books, an imprint of
HarperCollins Publishers, held its fourth annual "Digital Day" author seminar at
the annual Romance Writers of America (RWA) national convention. Held solely
for authors published by Avon and its affiliate imprints, publisher Liate
Stehlik and a wide range of HarperCollins executives host Digital Day in order
to share deep industry insight with their authors. The event promotes
transparency between authors, their publishing house, and readers. To that end,
the HarperCollins Consumer Insight team held an exclusive presentation,
unveiling survey results which reveal the bookish habits of discerning Romance
readers.
The survey was intended as a deep dive into the reading habits of engaged
genre enthusiasts, and was conducted in May 2014 at the RT Booklovers convention
in New Orleans. More than 100 Romance lovers were polled.
"It's no secret that Romance readers are some of the most engaged consumers
in the publishing community," says Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Chief Digital Officer
of HarperCollins Publishers. "When your reader base is this mobilized, you want
to make sure you are actively working to satisfy their interests and engage
their interests. HarperCollins and Avon Books agreed that one of our primary
ongoing goals is to invest in consumer outreach and research to make sure we are
publishing to the heart of the Romance market."
Liate Stehlik, SVP and Publisher of William Morrow and Avon Books, agrees.
"The results of our consumer insight survey underscore that Romance reading is
about emotion; the survey shows that ‘passion' transcends what lies between the
covers. These readers are engaged, way above the norm, with their favorite
authors and with one another." She continues, "It's a powerful, highly
interconnected community, which we've definitely seen with our own ‘Avon
Addicts' (Avon's publisher-supported Romance super reader community)."
"When asked why Romance is so popular," Stehlik adds, "One of the women our
research team spoke with said simply, ‘Women do love words.' That,
combined with the telling fact that they read, on average, more than 116 books a
year, shows why we believe these readers are so important, and are at the core
of everything we do at Avon."
Key survey results include:
"Super Readers": Romance "Super Readers" read more than 116 books
per year, on average!
One surveyant claimed to read 1,000 titles per year.
38% of people surveyed confirmed reading more than 100 Romance books per
year.
Bookworms galore: As opposed to the typical reader, who spends
2.5 hours a week reading, typical Romance readers spend 10 hours a week buried
in a book.
Half of them spend even
more time than that.
Escapism: The main reason for reading Romance.
94% read Romance to help them relax/escape from the daily grind.
In comparison, only 66% of women who participated in previous
HarperCollins consumer insight surveys conducted across a wider scale of
non-genre-specific readers, claimed that they read solely for escapism.
It's not about mindless escapism: 72% of those surveyed look for Romance
books that challenge them to think. (In comparison to 48% reported in a previous
survey.)
A Book for Every Reader:
Physical books are here to stay: 24% feel that Romance eBooks will never
take the place of physical books.
Different things for different people: 43% disagree with this.
Word-of-mouth influencers: 86% of the committed Romance readers
queried said that they enjoy discussing books with others. Typically, this
number only trends as high as 27% of female general readership.
Words of Love: What key terms most describe Romance novels?
Fun; Escape; Exciting; Happy; Relaxing; Hot; Sexy
Loyal: Once a Romance reader discovers an author, they want to
collect all their books - 65%
like to have every book written by a favorite Romance author.
Author Agents: "Super readers" want to build a relationship with
favorite authors.
90% regularly visit author websites for updates and information;
84% subscribe to newsletters and social media updates from favored
authors.
From Their Lips to Our Ears: Top Takeaways for Authors:
Tell engaged consumers about forthcoming content early! (62% like to
know about upcoming titles before the general populace)
Create shareable content - 85% want to share news about authors with
friends.
Be authentic, revealing and consistent on social media - make a
commitment to build a lasting relation with Super Readers.
sounds pretty accurate (Denise Holcomb 8:59pm July 23, 2014)
I knew there was a lot to Romance novels, but it takes the fun out of reading, when you post all of those statistics!! Getting my hands on a good Romance novel is much more interesting and enjoyable - no offense!! (Peggy Roberson 10:53am July 24, 2014)
I certainly fit this category (Diane Sallans 11:21am July 28, 2014)
Engaged readers makes sense for the romance genre. We are passionate about life and books enhance the time in and out of the home. (Alyson Widen 6:09pm July 31, 2014)
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