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Cover of On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021

On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021

August 3, 2021

BookNet Canada today released a new study about the interest of Canadian readers in diverse literature. On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021 updates the 2018 Demand for Diversity report and asks:

  • How do Canadian readers define “diversity”?
  • What type of diversity do they want to see?
  • What do they think about industry efforts to diversify books and the publishing workforce?

Key takeaways

Who is reading more diverse books?

  • These readers were 44 or younger (57%) and were more likely than the average reader to belong to non-dominant identity groups.
  • Those who read more diverse books read more than the general reader. They read more prose/non-fiction and short stories.
  • They were more likely to have bought from places that share their values.
  • Those who read more diverse books think that diversity in books means books about perspectives, opinions, or stories that are different from their own. They were more likely to say they wanted to see more of that in their books than are all readers or readers who belong to a non-dominant identity.
  • They agreed the most strongly that libraries, bookstores/retailers should have and that publishers should publish more books by a greater variety of authors.

How do you reach people who read more diversely?

  • Reach them online. For readers who increased the amount of diverse books they read last year: online browsing and online search were ranked higher than for all other groups.
  • This group also discovered books from a wider variety of places than all readers.
  • This group was more likely to buy online and borrow books than the average reader.

What are the behaviours of readers who belong to a non-dominant identity?

  • Readers who belong to a non-dominant identity were mostly 44 or younger (62%).
  • They listened to more audiobooks and read more ebooks than all readers. They read fewer novels but more comics/graphic novels, textbooks, and poetry than the average reader.
  • They were more likely to choose their book’s format based on availability and price and they were more likely to have read a diverse book in the last year.
  • This group was slightly more likely to buy online or download or stream for free than the average reader.
  • They did not completely agree with readers in general when it comes to what makes a book “diverse” and they were more likely to think that the book industry has done too much when it comes to its response to calls for diversity.

What readers want

When asked about what readers, in general, wanted to see more of in the books they read, the top five ranking topics were:

  • Mental health challenges (46%)
  • Multi-cultural or immigrant experiences (46%)
  • Working class (45%)
  • Across ages or multi-generational (44%)
  • Rural or urban area living (42%)

The list changes when we switch the focus to the responses on just the readers who read more diverse books.

  • Across ages or multi-generational (58%)
  • Migrant or non-resident status (57%)
  • Neurodiverse/neurodivergent (55%)
  • Larger body size (52%)
  • Unconventional appearance (51%)

Of note, 86% of readers agree with the statement “Libraries should have more books by a greater variety of authors”, the same was true for a similar statement but focused on bookstores or retailers (85%), and on publishers (86%).

Some background information:

  • The study’s survey was fielded in January 2021 to 1,306 English-speaking Canadians over the age of 18, located throughout Canada, and representative of the Canadian population based on age, gender, and geographical region.
  • The term “non-dominant identity” serves as an umbrella to include one or more of Blackness, Indigeneity, gender, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity, class, family structure, age, religion, language, or other identities that are generally poorly represented or not advantaged.

The full report is available from the BookNet Canada website.

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