The SCBWI-NY Winter Conference has come and, too quickly, gone. I had a grand time roaming the city, but had even more fun sharing viral marketing and promotional information with my fellow SCBWI members. For me, the most interesting part of gathering that data was the “wee little survey” results. I had hoped I might get 25 – 30 of you to respond. After all, the idea for the On Reading and Books questionnaire was rather last minute on my part. But, over 120 of you responded and that is just incredible! Before I share the results, I must say “Thank You” to all who participated.
To the Brothers Cook, the Brothers Gephart, the Sisters Peek, the Siblings Minns, the Sanger Duo and Freckles McYoungest – Huge Hugs and Thanks.
The families Brown, Stilphen, Johnson and Mattson also took part and the Lovely Alexis Ceule didn’t just rope in her kids but other kids as well. Kudos to you all.
To Dan Schwabauer and his OYAN (One Year Adventure Novel) students – applause and love. I’m humbled by your willingness to help a virtual stranger. I could tell when word of the survey spread among you because the user tally jumped and respondents skewed older. Thank you for taking the time and showing your love of books and reading. You’re wonderful.
To Mrs. Sanger and the 5th grade kids from Staunton, Virginia, not to mention the computer teacher who brought down the firewalls long enough to let the kids take the survey and the other 5th grade teachers who agreed it could be fun and let their students take part – Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your kids were honest, endearing and fun. What joy when I saw them hit the graphs.
Now, to share with you what you taught me, and at least 300 other writers, authors and illustrators, in New York.
- The majority of you came from Elementary School (Hello, Staunton) at 44% but 33% of you are in High School and 6% of you old Out Of School folks couldn’t help yourselves and gave an opinion too. 12% were in Middle School and 5% in College.
- A joyful 81% of you talk with your friends about books (often or sometimes).
- Likewise, the majority of you (71.5% most often, sometimes) learn about books from your friends. You also take advise on what to read from your parents (64%). Huh? Well, that’s what you said! And a good portion (65%) of you browse the shelves on your own and take your own advice. Good for you. *remember you could choose more than one answer here*
- Most of you, most often, get the books you read from Public (57%) and School (43%) libraries. That’s just plain cool. The discount stores – Walmart, Target, Costco – aren’t as powerful as I thought. Only 13% of you go there “most often” to get your books.
- When asked if you would like to chat with Authors/Illustrators, only 9% of you said “No” and an interesting 20% of you said you “Already Do.”
- Most of you wanted to chat with authors and illustrators on their websites, but connecting on Facebook and Blogs were close runners up. Not surprisingly, MySpace was a distant last. Guess nobody goes there anymore.
- You were very honest when asked if chatting with authors might cause you to read more of their books. 25% of you said “Yes” and a whopping 65% of you said “Maybe.” I love that “Maybe.” I got the sense that knowing an author wouldn’t be enough for you. That author would need to write well and produce a great story. You’ve got high standards.
- Likewise, someone else’s opinion, like the winning of an award, wouldn’t necessarily sway you either. Only 20% of you felt you’d be more likely to read an award-winning book. Seems you all have varied and interesting tastes.
- Lastly, you knew I was grateful for you time. I really and truly was, and am. If any of you would like a more thorough accounting of the survey – graphs, numbers, etc. – don’t hesitate to ask me. There was no personal information collected so I don’t mind sharing. It is your data after all.
I hope I haven’t missed anyone with my heartfelt “Thanks.” Please know I appreciate your help. Since I didn’t collect emails or links from participants I can’t make sure. If you stumbled upon the survey and took it, WOW, you’re awesome. More love to come later in the week.
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