How do people consume novels How does it affect the purchase decision - Dissertation Example

How Best Seller Lists, Media And Top s Influence The Sale Of A Novel And Perception? Human beings have been fascinated by stories from time immemorial. Huge stories and epics prevailed among us long before the invention of paper and other printing materials. Novels are the latest form of registering our modern day stories. This study explores how modern novels are looked upon by the current readers and analyzes what kindles them to buy a novel. Our research proves media plays a significant role in making any novel a grand success. Like any business, every novel requires substantial marketing to make it a grand success. Introduction Nearly 63,000 book publishers are found worldwide (Poynter, 2008). They generate revenue of over $27.94 billion annually. Millions of books are sold worldwide out of which most of them are novels. Surveys from various fields indicate the reading habits are dwindling among customers of all age constantly. The internet and smart phones take up the time allotted for reading in most people’s life. But, these tools are also used to influence the people to buy latest books and novels, no matter how costly they are. E-Books are increasing in sales equivalent to printed books and novels play a substantial role in e-book industry too (Kelly, 2011). One in three e-book published is some sort of novel or a story. All the bestseller novels are available in the e-book format within a few days of being published. Devices like Kindle, designed specifically to read e-books sell equivalent to latest mobile phones. There is hardly any smart phone without an app to embed the e-book reading facility in them. Rationale for the Study What do people expect in a novel is a question which cannot be answered by any expert critic. Harry Potter sells millions of copies along with ’50 Shades of Grey’ selling over 40 billion copies even in the most traditional countries. The classical novels written by great writers like the Charles Dickens and Jane Austin sell heavily on one side while the modern novels top the lists too. Both crime novels and philosophy novels sell equivalently well. Though the publishing industry is very huge, there are no substantial studies carried about what determines the sales of a good book. Publishers blindly go behind the authors who give a bestseller, no matter what they write. Analyzing what determines the consumer perception in buying a novel will help us get a better insight on the reading habits of the customers. It is important to study this at this point of time because, it will help us guide the future generation to read the best of the best. The latest technology had made possible reading anything and everything with the help of finger swipes easily. Helping them select proper books or novels is important. Literature Review Students usually start with reading comics and the detective stories, which serve as an extension of their fairy tale stories. The heroes depicted in such stories are more or less equivalent to the olden day prince, capable of slaying all the evil tin the world no matter how many obstacles are placed on their way. As they enter into teenage, classics and romantic novels get introduced to them. Classic novels were written at a period when the moral values stressed in the story had a great influence on the reader. Most of the classic writers like Jane Austen depicted a rosy world in their novels, quite different from the original one. The two main characters in the novel, usually the hero and the heroine will have completely opposite traits, but will fall in love eventually. The works of such authors represented the changing mentalities of women during the feminist era. The modern women and the general readers were able to identify themselves with the changing mentality of the youth through the characters of these novels (Leah, 2003, pp. 87-89). Reading such novels help them dream a lot about their future. Most of such novels have happy endings make the teenagers approach their future with lots of positive thoughts. Enriched reading will help increase the confidence of a person by improving his knowledge and vocabulary (Rousseau, 2004, pp. 34-36). This will help them in impressing others be it work or, friends group or their heartthrobs easily. But sadly, most youngsters do not get the chance to read such novels these days. They are bombarded by science fictions and crime novels instead. Classic novels act as mirrored representations of the various time frames they were written (Schultz, 1997). If the modern youth refrain completely from reading such major classics, neither we nor our future youth will be able to savour the greatness of our modern day novels. We would be able to cherish it only if we realize the beauty for those classic novels and give importance to learning it (Doody, 1996, pp. 23-25). The modern day youth should be given a chance to read at least a few of such novels through their curriculum. The modern day novels also depict nearly the same. The various political issues, war related news and the hidden fantasies of people are portrayed by various writers. When the experiences of humans are written in words, then the words come to life in the minds of the writer (Ballaster 1992, pp.123- 125). Novels are a great way to express oneself. Several people find a great release when they pen down the trauma and sufferings in the form of novels or biographies (Hunter, 1990, pp. 15 -21). Novels give us a chance to look at the world through other people’s eyes. It is a great way to understand the culture of another nation and the perspective of other people (Mentz, 2006, pp. 34-37). Hence many great political leaders starting from Hitler pen down their views in the form of novel to reach a wide variety of audience. The interests of the people change with their varying age and different responsibilities they take up in life. Reading gives them the much required solace (Panagiotis, 2005, pp. 76-77). People start to switch towards political, crime and philosophical novels eventually as they grow old. Their age and the experiences in life influence their choice of books in every stage of their life. But, external media also plays an important role in making them select or reject a particular novel. Purchasing a novel is similar to going to a movie. We get influenced by the trailers, the start authors and numerous other factors concerned with it, apart from the plot of the novel. But, again only quality novels last for a long time, no matter how much money is invested in making vague novels famous. Thesis statement The best seller lists, media and top author names influence the sale of a novel and customer perception to a substantial level. Objectives of the Study The determine the level of influence of media on novel sales To analyze how the best seller lists help in making the author famous To measure the link between the customer perception about a novel and its position in the best seller list Rationale of Qualitative Research Nearly 100 vivid readers or more precisely book purchasers were selected. They were shortlisted from the frequent buyer list of famous book selling website amazon.com. These customers have purchased books worth $20 in the past three month’s time and have continued to do so for the past two years frequently. They were asked to fill in a small survey form for a small discount on their next purchase. The online form took nearly 10 minutes for them to complete. The questions directed to them checked what they expected in a novel, why they purchase it and the level of influence of other external factors in their selection. Results Obtained Conclusions Drawn Conclusions drawn Most people expect an interesting tone in the novel, rather than melodrama or precise facts. Just like TV programs, they expect novels to bring them to the edge of the seat, and have a happy ending most of the time. Certain customers expect language skills as well as good philosophy. Surprisingly mostly foreign authors are sought for anything spiritual or philosophical e.g. Paulo Coelho. The major factor kindling them to buy a novel is its marketing strategy. They are kindled to buy a novel if its advertised frequently in all the places they see like search engines, books stores, railway stations, smart phones etc. The latest trend in the publishing industry is to create a trailer for the upcoming novel and release it in YouTube or spread it as a viral video. This also attracts many customers to buy the novel. Next is the reviews written by critics in various famous book review websites and newspapers. Nearly 90% of the customers purchase a book only if their favourite critic or many other people recommend it. The sale of the books depends directly on the number of positive reviews posted about it. Both marketing and the critics review are critical in determining the first two weeks sale of the novel, which determines it is a bestseller or not. Once the novel reaches the bestseller list, its sales doubles or triples almost instantly. Many others are kindled to buy it just because it is a bestseller. Once, an author has one or two bestseller to his or her credit, it is showcased to an unbelievable extent by their marketing companies making the majority of the readers purchase their new novels. Most readers have a loyalty towards certain authors. They purchase the novels of their favourite authors, immediately after its release. Only authors who are able to captivate their readers in their first book are able to build this loyal list. Adding one or two bestsellers to their profile is important for any author to achieve this place. No matter how talented a writer is, efficient marketing plays a great role in the taking the novel to the mainstream readers initially. Recommendations The survey states the influence of media and bestseller lists plus the marketing strategies are very high in determining the customer perception of readers. The publishing field has also fallen prey to effective marketing and advertising like any other field in the world. Though intellectuals still select books based on their interest, the novel sales, where mostly commoners are the customers is heavily shaded by effective marketing. Our in depth analysis states bestseller lists are created most of the time by first time writers and sometimes even by huge writers. They self-purchase the books and bribe the critics to create a false market for the books in the early stage. They create attractive trailers and publish the most interesting chapter of the novel in huge websites to lure customers to buy the particular book. The publishing houses spend massive amount for marketing their productions in the first few days. Just because a book reaches a bestseller list doesn’t mean it is a great book. The quality of the novel is easily determined and marked by thousands of readers through websites like Amazon. So, unworthy novels, with efficient marketing do not have much chance to last long, even if it is written by a famous author. The readers should not trust the reviews blindly. They should just use it to a certain extent to study the pulse of one or more people. The same goes for bestseller lists and the marketing strategies too. Conclusion Buying a good book is no great task. It is the duty of regular readers to introduce good novels to many others, in this age where the reading practice is dwindling rapidly. They can only do it by developing their skill to purchase the best books available in the market. This skill should be obtained in time with good research. No person should allow their interest to be tainted by the media trend and the bestseller lists. It is a common habit among many to say they have read every bestseller list in the market. This trend should change and eminent readers should understand they are the backbone behind the bestseller list, not some critics or vigorous marketing strategy. References 1. Ballaster, R., 1992, ‘Seductive Forms: Womens Amatory Fiction from 1684 to 1740’, Clarendon Press. 2. Doody,1996, ‘The True Story of the Novel’, Rutgers University Press. 3. Hunter, J.P., 1990, ‘Before Novels: The Cultural Contexts of Eighteenth-Century English Fiction’, New York. 4. Kelly, M., 2011, ‘New Statistics Model for Book Industry Shows Trade Ebook Sales Grew Over 1,000 Percent’, Library Journal, Retrieved 25th January, 2013 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/891561-264/new_statistics_model_for_book.html.csp 5. Leah, P., 2003, ‘The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel: From Richardson to George Eliot’, Cambridge University Press, London. 6. Mentz, S., 2006, ‘Romance for sale in early modern England: the rise of prose fiction’. 7. Poynter, D., 2008, ‘Statistics’, Dan Poynters Parapublishing.com, Retrieved 25th January, 2013 from http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm. 8. Panagiotis, 2005, Amphoteroglossia: A Poetics of the Twelfth-Century Medieval Greek Novel, Harvard University Press. 9. Rousseau, G., 2004, ‘Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature Culture and Sensibility’, Macmillan 10. Schultz, L., 1997, Flowing against the traditional stream: consciousness in Tillie Olsens Tell Me a Riddle. Survey Questions Name: Age: 1. Why do you purchase a New Novel? (Can select more than one option) Because it had good review It was written by my favourite author It was advertised attractively 2. Have you ever felt mislead by marketing or reviews Sometimes Many times Once in a while 3. Do you prefer to buy the books in the bestseller lists? Yes No 4. How did you purchase the first novel of your favourite author? Simply purchased it because the title was attractive Purchased it because it was in the best seller list Purchased it because of good review Purchased it because it was marketed well 5. How do you think media influences you in purchasing a novel? Great Influence Influences to a certain level No Influence Read More