Back in 2010, a survey of book buying behaviour in the US returned the following figures:
| Author reputation | 52% |
| Personal recommendation | 49% |
| Price | 45% |
| Book Reviews | 37% |
| Cover/Blurb | 22% |
| Advertising | 14% |
A more recent survey (2018) conducted by BookNet Canada returned these figures:
| Familiarity with the author | 35.5% |
| Read a synopsis | 25.8% |
| Familiarity with the series | 17.2% |
| Cover design | 6.9% |
| Awards and bestseller stickers/badges | 6.5% |
| Saw an ad for the book | 4.7% |
| Author or celebrity endorsement | 3.1% |
Of course, it’s risky comparing two different surveys with different methodologies, etc., but a couple of things stand out for me. Price – an important consideration at the dawn of the ebook era – seems to have vanished as a purchasing consideration, while author familiarity/reputation is still key. As BookNet Canada note:
To the chagrin of debut authors everywhere, the most influential factor is a pre-existing familiarity with an author, with 35.5% of Canadian readers identifying it as the most important influence on their decision to read or listen to a book. Though this isn’t to say that readers have to be familiar with the author based on previous books published — the author can be a celebrity, a social media guru, a politician, or be featured in the news. There are many ways to establish familiarity with potential readers.