| A consumer survey examining the
children's and teenager's book markets was conducted by Bruno & Ridgeway for
PW and BookExpo America in June. A nationally representative sample was randomly
surveyed by telephone. In the case of teens, a portion of the sample was
interviewed at mails across the country. The sample interviewed consisted of 400 adults who had purchased a children's book within the past three months and 100 teen book buyers in two age categories, younger teen (ages 12-14)and older teens(ages 15-17) ,who had bought a book in the past three months. Of the adult sample, 62%of the children's book purchasers were female, 38% male. The sample covered a full range of age groups; 22% were 18-19 years old, 28% were 30-44 years old and 50% were 45 years old and older. Most were married (79%); 21% were single, divorced or widowed. The teen sample included 53 girls and 47 boys. Fifty-seven were in the 12-14 age range, 43 in the 15-17 age range. Twenty-four teens were interviewed by telephone and 76 were interviewed in shopping malls across the country. To shed some light on the children's and teen book market, PW and BookExpo America examined consumer trends among children's and teenage book buyers. The survey evaluated what kinds of children's and teenage books consumers choose, how they choose them and where they go to buy them. The findings paint a positive picture of America's younger generations of readers and point optimistically toward a future country of book lovers. Judging from responses, adults who buy children's books believe that books play an important role in a child's development. Consequently, the majority children's book buyers take seriously the process of choosing books for children. For their part, teens feel that "reading is cool" and "makes you smarter". An analysis of these attitudes and an examination of the book-buying habits of children's and teen book consumers could be useful in helping publishers, promoters and booksellers provide more appealing products and services. |