Trade 'excludes' 20m readers
25.03.09 | Benedicte Page
Publishers, retailers and librarians are missing out on a potential market of 20m consumers because the book world is too intimidating, according to research conducted by HarperCollins, the Trade Publishers Council and the National Year of Reading (NYR).
The research, to be published this week, looked at attitudes to books in the C2DE socio-economic group, characterised as lower income, non-professional families and estimated at 20m in size.
It found that in many such families, books were seen as alien and unattractive, while reading was considered an anti-social activity for people who, as one respondent said, "don’t know how to live".
Choosing a book in shops and libraries was also a major obstacle for many, the research found, with many of the codes and references setting out where books were located being off-putting for this segment of the population.
Commenting on the research, NYR project director Honor Wilson-Fletcher said: "These are good solid families who don’t have literacy problems but who just don’t read. They are one step away from book-buying - they do consume lots of leisure products and may have 2-300 DVDs in the house.
"But intentionally or otherwise, a lot of people involved in the book world are conveying the impression that reading is associated with a particular area of society and lifestyle."
Meanwhile the NYR’s end-of-year report, published today (24th March), reveals that the year succeeded in significantly upping the number of parents in its target market who read to their children every day.
Research commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) showed a 5% increase during the year in the number of parents in the C2DE group reading to their child every day, up from 15% in March 2008 to 20%. Fathers who read to their children are also reading more often (up from 19% to over 25%).
Meanwhile 7 out of 10 C2DE children are now library members, compared to fewer than 6 out of 10 at the beginning of the year. The research was based on 2,000 interviews with children and their parents.
Wilson-Fletcher said the results had been achieved predominantly through the national library membership initiative and campaigns like Bedtime Reading and Telling Tales. However she added that much remained to be done.
"Nine months of campaigning with a small budget has not changed overall habits," she said. "The fact is we’ve only just started, so it’s important to keep going [through the Reading for Life programme]."
Comments on this article
By Stephen E. Andrews
The problem with the book trade in this country stems from issues around class. The media encourages middle-brow readers to believe they are intellectuals because they buy literary prizewinners and 'hot' titles, when much of this buying is dishonest - one of the means by which people climb socially in Britain is by displaying that they are reading 'important' and 'serious' books, when the reality is that a huge number of the cosy 3 for 2 crowd are ultimately closed-minded, anti-intellectual and snobbish. I'll qualify this by saying that not everyone who likes these kind of books is to blame though, as many of these readers are making choices not informed by the media, but are deciding to buy on the basis of personal taste. One example of this is the way in which genre fiction - except Crime - is looked down upon as being fit only for children and functional illiterates (remember how no-one bought J.G. Ballard when he was still 'only' an SF writer, despite the fact he had always been championed by Greene and Amis?). The bedsheets never review genre or popular fiction (unless it is by authors with existing massive followings) and the cabal of critics who write for them are determined to ensure that everyone believes that the only books worth reading are traditional novels of class, character, social mores and family values. ...and we thought modernism had revealed that such antiquated modes were no longer dominant and that it was time for new and different approaches. These same critics also dislike any attempt to promote reading to sectors of society they perceive as un-PC - as I discovered when my book '100 Must Read Books For Men' was published. Surely men don't read different books to women! Surely we should read books because they'll appeal to everyone, as that is the mark of a good book! What did Kierkegaard say ? 'Subjectivity is truth', meaning that we need to celebrate diversity by allowing and encouraging people to read different things and that too much consensus is a bad thing. My friends at Waterstone's have recently introduced a 'Modern Women's Fiction' category showing that at least booksellers understand that we need to be unafraid to appeal to different markets. Only by weakening the canon by paying less attention to the newspaper critics will we encourage more people to read. Only by encouraging the likes of Open Book to stop being so safe by highlighting only established names will we sell more books to a wider range of people. My book went into a second printing within a few weeks, so I've done my bit to encourage a sector of the population deemed to be anything but book friendly. It's time for the media to start taking areas they are uncomfortable with seriously. Booksellers are doing what they can some of the time.25 Mar 09 10:00
By Pauline Rowson
Nothing seems to have changed then since I was a child! Now a published crime and thriller writer and the author of several business books, I come from a solid working-class household where books were for well-off and intellectual people, not for the likes of us. Fortunately, at about the age of seven, I was introduced to the local library by my friend's mother and discovered a marvellous world to which I could escape, and the sheer joy of reading. I was frowned upon at home for always having my nose in a book and told to get out in the fresh air and play. I resorted to reading my books with a torch under the bed covers. One of my crime novels was the first book my brother ever read (aged 48) and I managed to get my sister to start reading books a few years ago and she loves it. Libraries have a huge role to play in helping those less well off to discover books and to encourage people to try out different authors. As a reader and author I am a great supporter of libraries, and instead of cutting budgets we should be extending them, and getting sponsorship for libraries from publishers, businesses and private benefactors so that they can buy more books in any format, encourage diversity, and provide other community services. Libraries are at the heart of our communities, and should remain so if we really wish to encourage people to read.25 Mar 09 12:11
By Temporal
Aside from genre issues, isn't this study really a bit of a massive waste of time and resources just to reach the conclusion that some people just don't like reading? It seems obvious that ways around this are being investigated only because certain forces stand to increase their capital as opposed to widening literary participation or human experience. I've always loved reading but I accept that others don't. Can't we leave it at thatrather than forcing people to venture out of their comfort zone?25 Mar 09 12:24
By Tim Coates
This is a confusing article (sorry Benedicte!) on an important subject -- the first part seems to be about a report that has not yet been published, but upon which we are hearing some vested opinions-- and I would like to see the whole report and see what it actually says. The second is a completely different matter and is about the awaited report on the National Year of Reading, with some research from the Govt dept that sponsored it, that looks franks unlikely to be unspun; and a plea for more tax payers money. Again it would be helpful to see the actual report and read a neutral view about what it says. Upon these matters some very important decisions will hinge, and they are worth considered discussion.25 Mar 09 17:33
By Pete Nikolai
If the book industry wants to have a chance to grow, we’ve got to develop a completely different reputation—and the first step is to deserve it. We need to create destinations that provide relevant content in ways that are simple and intuitive so that people are confident they can show up and find what they need and want. How do we start? I suggest that we ask folks walking into our stores or libraries if they have been there before. If not, then explain that you are trying to make sure things are simple and intuitive and ask them to provide some feedback. If they agree then ask them to share what brought them in today and see how quickly they can find it—without asking for help. Is there signage (readable from the entrance) to guide them to the correct section? Is there additional signage to guide them to the correct section of shelves and then to the correct shelf? Did the topics or categories on the signs and on the book all make sense to somebody who does not use them every day? Do they speak to the reasons that people are walking in the door? http://is.gd/pef027 Mar 09 12:38
By Lord Snooty
Let's not forget that a sizeable chunk of the population are as thick as two short planks and wouldn't read a book if you gave it to them. Publishers shouldn't get too hung up on this.27 Mar 09 15:53
