Reader Survey Results

As promised on Tuesday, today’s post is all about the results of the reader survey I posted. It was only up for a couple of days so the amount of people polled isn’t huge, but enough to give  an idea of what readers out there are thinking.

# of people who took the survey: 53

# of questions: 10

1. Do you own an e-reader?

Yes No

62.3% – yes

37.7% – no

2. How often do you buy books?

Once a month Two – four times a month Five + times a month

Other (please specify)

Once a month was the most popular response at 46.5%

There were a couple of “other” responses such as “when things come out” and “only once a year but I by several at the same time”

3. How often do you download free books?

Once a month Two – four times a month Five + times a month Never, I don’t own an ereader

Other (please specify)

There was a two way tie on this questions 26% for both once a month and never and 24% for 2-4 times and 5+ times a month

This actually surprised me. I thought more people would take advantage of the freebies. Perhaps they don’t know of sites like Pixels of Ink or they think because something is free it must not be any good?

4. Do you read books by indie (self-published) authors?

Yes No

I was super happy to see that yes won out at 84% for this question. Thanks for giving us a chance!

5. What is the most you’re willing to pay for an indie published book?

$0.99 $1.99 $2.99 $3.99 $4.99 $5.99 $9.99

Other (please specify)

$2.99 won out with 22% but it was very closely followed by $4.99 & $5.99 both at 20%. Surprisingly, the third highest was $9.99 at 14%.  A popular “other” answer was that it depends on the book.

6. How do you choose the books you read?

By the cover By the back cover blurb/synopsis Based on recommendations Based on reviews Based on enjoyment of prior books by the same author

Other (please specify)

The two most popular responses were “based on recommendations” (73.6%) and a tie  with “by the back cover blurb/synopsis” and “based on enjoyment of prior books by same author” both at 60.4%. That means, authors, get people talking about your books, get more than one out there and work HARD on that blurb!

7. What is your biggest pet peeve about traditionally published books?

There were many answers for this, by PRICE by far was the most popular closely followed by the amount of time between books in a series and the flood of genres.

8. What is your biggest pet peeve about indie published books?

*sigh* I knew what the response to this question was going to be and yet it still hurts to see it.  The biggest pet peeve in indie book is LACK OF EDITING.  I think readers should keep in mind that nothing’s perfect, BUT they do deserve the best product an author can put out.  Yes you can find mistakes in traditionally published books (in fact, it seems more common then it used to be), but they are minimal comparatively. Don’t skimp on the editing indie authors!

There were also a couple complaints of the lack of ease at finding print versions of indie books.

9. Do you prefer to read series or stand alone books?

Series Stand alone Don’t care

People don’t seem to care if what they read is part of a series or a stand alone book  (67.9%)

10. Do you rate or review books when you’re done?

Yes No Sometimes

People only rate and review books sometimes (47.2%). Hey readers, it would totally help us authors if you were able to do that more regularly. We won’t push, but more reviews often equals more sales which equals more money we have in our pockets to put towards future book covers and editing! 

All in all I find the results to be quite interesting. Some of them were expected but there were a few here and there that surprised me (like the person who said they’ve paid up to $14.99 for an indie book!).  I hope other indie authors find this information helpful in their pricing and other aspects of their writing and promoting!