Autumn days are getting shorter and colder, and Instagram is slowly filling up with photos of blankets, a book and a mug of hot tea. On this occasion, we decided to reach for the data and check who reads the most, where we draw inspiration from, and which books stir up the most emotions this autumn?
Who reads books?
One in five internet users admitted (19%) that they did not read a single book last year. Reading more than 20 of them was declared by 5% of respondents. Among that 5% there are more women than men, people aged 25-44, those with higher education and earning over PLN 6,000 net (about EUR 1,400), as well as village residents. The latter, however, also dominate when it comes to not reading, so a strong polarisation is visible in this group.
Services promoting books
Among the services promoting readership, lubimyczytac.pl stands out decisively, recording 8.4 million visits to the site in September. That is almost three times as many as the next most popular services – ksiazki.onet.pl and ksiazki.wp.pl. Lubimyczytac.pl has a stable group of fans and users, as evidenced by the site's traffic sources. 24% are direct visits, and 68% are visits from the Google search engine, where the most popular phrases are "lubimy czytać" and "lubimy czytac".
Book sales vs. social media discussions
Looking at the 10 best-selling books over the past month on empik.com and juxtaposing them with the number of discussions about them in social media, we can notice that there is no direct relationship between internet users' engagement in discussion and sales. "Macierewicz i jego tajemnice", ranked 7th in terms of sales, is still the most actively commented on. The second title arousing the most emotions is Stephen King's "It", whose popularity was probably influenced by the recent cinema premiere. The third most widely discussed book is Volume 5 of the Millennium Saga, "The Man Who Chased His Shadow", which also holds 1st place on the Empik list. The list also includes a book that has not yet had its premiere but is already available for pre-order and is already being discussed – "The Witch" by Camilla Läckberg.
The report is based on the results of a CAWI survey carried out on a representative group of 2,110 internet users in January 2017, as well as data from the Similarweb and Sentione systems.
Terms from the article
Social Media — Social media. Platforms that enable users to create, publish, comment on and share content and build communities. For a brand, they are an organic, advertising, service and analytical channel.
Why it matters: It combines reach, dialogue and sales in one place: the brand speaks, listens and responds where its audience spends time. It is also a service channel and the first front of a crisis.
When it is used: Constantly: organic content, paid campaigns, handling inquiries, opinion monitoring and collaborations with creators.
What omitting it risks: Absence from social media hands the narrative to others: the brand is talked about anyway — just without its voice.
