Survey finds how many books an average person reads a year

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DO YOU JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER? NEW RESEARCH REVEALED THAT 57% OF AMERICANS HAVE BOUGHT OR READ A BOOK BASED SOLELY ON ITS COVER.

THE SURVEY OF 2,000 U.S. ADULTS FOUND THAT TO THAT SAME TUNE, 80% ADMIT THEY’VE AVOIDED A BOOK BECAUSE OF ITS OUTWARD APPEARANCE.

RESPONDENTS HAVE BEEN DETERRED BY COVERS BECAUSE THEY LOOKED TOO PLAIN (61%), USED A TITLE FONT THAT WASN’T LIKABLE (56%), FEATURED ART THAT DIDN’T MATCH THE GENRE (52%) OR EVEN USED THE MOVIE POSTER OF THE BOOK’S FILM ADAPTATION.

CONDUCTED BY ONEPOLL ON BEHALF OF THRIFTBOOKS, RESULTS SHOWED THAT INTERESTINGLY, TWO-THIRDS (67%) ADMIT THEY ONLY READ BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN ADAPTED INTO MOVIES OR TV SHOWS.

THE AVERAGE AMERICAN READS EIGHT BOOKS PER MONTH, TOTALING ALMOST 100 BOOKS EACH YEAR.

AND FOR THOSE WHO USED THE COVER AS THEIR DECIDING FACTOR, A WHOPPING 96% SAID THAT BOOK LARGELY MET THEIR EXPECTATIONS.

BOOKS WITH THE BEST COVERS

• “Misery” by Stephen King
• “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling
• The “Twilight” series
• “Fifty Shades of Gray” by E. L. James
• Books by Danielle Steel
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve
• “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
• “Ball Four” by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
• “Goals” by Brian Tracy
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
• “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
• “Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree

– The average respondent reads 8.28 books a month x 12 months = 99.36 books a year

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by ThriftBooks between Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).