Word-of-Mouth Top Book-Buying Decision

Among African-American consumers, 33% buy five to 10 books a year and they generally decide what to buy through word-of-mouth, according to an online survey of 1,285 African-American consumers.

The African-American Culture Study was conducted by Global Market Insite Inc. (GMI), a market intelligence solutions firm based in Bellevue, Wash. It surveyed book-buying habits in 2007. According to Jensen Gadley, PR specialist for GMI, the questionnaire was sent via e-mail to The African-American Voice, the firm's African-American specialty panel.

The survey also asked respondents to select possible reasons why more African-American—authored books have not gained large mainstream readership. More than 60% indicated that African-American titles were narrowly marketed only “to an African-American audience,” and 35% indicated that “most African-American authored books don’t appeal to a mainstream audience.”

The majority of respondents, 52%, said that the last book they read was not written by an African-American author, while 40% said their last book had been by an African-American. And despite the continued popularity of street lit/urban fiction, more than 50% of respondents said that themes of sex and drugs do not appeal to them. “I was surprised by many of the findings,” said Gadley, who noted that pigeonholing seems to “play a role in why many African-American—authored books don’t hit it big.”

The study also looks at economics, social status and interracial dating in the black community. The full results are available at The African-American Voice website.

How Respondents Pick Books

Genre of Last Book Read