At the ‘Great Glebe Garage Sale in Ottawa’s Glebe neighborhood. Image – Getty: Paul McKinnon
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Buying ‘3.6 New Books a Month Last Year’
The 13th edition of BookNet Canada’s annual Canadian Book Consumer Study 2024 looks at “Canadian book consumers as book buyers, book borrowers, as well as other profiles,” and one of its most interesting data points shows a strong preference for new-book buying over borrowing books from a library.
BookNet Canada is a support agency for the English-language Canadian book industry and its new report on the market’s contours in 2024 is available here (PDF).
In terms of methodology, the 2024 edition of this survey was fielded quarterly in March, June, September, and December 2024. The study contains data from 4,212 Canadians, 2,045 of whom were considered book buyers. Several notes for clarification:
- “The survey was fielded online through an external provider, to that provider’s consumer panel of nearly 2 million Canadians [Canada, all told, has a populatio of some 40.1 million];
- “The survey was limited to those with Internet access who were able and wanted to participate in our panel in exchange for non-monetary incentives as offered by our survey partner (for example, loyalty reward ‘point’ programs);
- “Respondents were English-speaking Canadians, 18 years of age or older, located throughout Canada, and representative of the Canadian population based on age, gender, and geographical region. Selective sampling was based on demographic results from Statistics Canada;
- “There’s a margin of error of ±3 percentage points at the 95-percent confidence level, meaning that statistics for this group could fluctuate about 3 percent in either direction if the survey was fielded to the entire Canadian population: and
- “The data is unweighted.”
The new-vs-used-book point that surfaces here is interesting, not least because in some international book markets, used-book activity is a growing part of sale, something that may be connected to perceived economic difficulties in the near and mid-term future among consumers. At least in this snapshot from 2024, it appears that many Canadians are bucking that trend.
Out of all Canadians surveyed for this study, 49 percent said they bought new books and 27 percent said they borrowed books from the library in 2024, in a given month.
‘Across all purchases tracked in 2024,” the study authors write, “Canadian book-buyers bought an average of 3.6 new books a month last year—two print books, one ebook, and 0.5 audiobooks.
“Meanwhile, English-speaking Canadian book-borrowers borrowed an average of 5.0 books per month from the public library in 2024—3.5 print books, 0.9 ebooks, and 0.5 audiobooks.”
The data indicates to the researchers in this study that when compared to all Canadians, book buyers and borrowers were more likely to:
- Live in a city or urban area by 51 percent of buyers and 50 percent of borrowers vs. 48 percent of all Canadians;
- Have a college or university degree by 51 percent of buyers and 52 percent of borrowers vs 49 percent of all Canadians;
- Have a graduate or professional degree by 26 percent of buyers and 26 percent of borrowers vs 19 percent of all Canadians; and
- Be employed full time by 49 percent of buyers and 41 percent of borrowers vs. 35 percent of all Canadians.
More Points in English-Language Canadian Book Consumption
In discussion on book-buying in English-language Canada in 2024, the BookNet analysis reports, “All told, 20 percent of Canadians said they bought used books in 2024, at an average of 3.2 print books per month.
“A total 14 percent of Canadians reported borrowing books from someone they know, at an average of 2.8 books per month—2.1 print books; 0.4 ebooks; and 0.2 audiobooks.
“Another 18 percent of Canadians said they received books as a gift in 2024, totalling an average of 2.1 books per mont—1.5 print books, 0.3 ebooks, and 0.2 audiobooks.
“Overall, 19 perent of Canadians responding also received books free of charge, including free downloads, for an average of 3.8 books per month—1.4 print books, 1.9 ebooks, and 0.6 audiobooks.”
And when it comes to formats purchased, “Similar to past years,” the study team writes, “the majority of purchases were for print books at 49-percent paperback and 26-percent hardcover.
In 2024, they disclose, 15 percent of books purchased by book buyers were ebooks and 6 percent were audiobooks.
Pricing and Book Buying in 2024 Canada
“While 90 percent of Canadians who said they bought new books also said they looked for sales, promotions, and coupons when they shop for books, most of them said they paid full price for the books they purchased in 2024, by at least 60 percent.
“This percentage is comparable to 2023 (61 percent) which was the highest it had been in the last five years, up from 55 percent in 2022, 56 percent in 2021, and 55 percent in 2020.
Much more from the 2o24 study from BookNet is available here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Canadian market is here, more on industry statistics is here, and more on bookselling in the international publishing industry is here.
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