In October 2014, over 200 million blogs were registered on the platform Tumblr alone. In 2015, hundreds of book blogs in the blogosphere concentrated on literature and published reviews, cover designs, direct insights from publishers, author interviews, and competitions. Based on the research question ‘Do literature blogs have an influence on the buying decisions of readers?’ quantitative research was carried out in Germany at the beginning of 2016. The focus of the research was book blogs targeting readers of light fiction. A survey was sent to online portals, such as Lovelybooks, and thereby distributed to readers. Literature bloggers were also asked to participate by forwarding the survey to their followers. The survey gives insight into readers’ motivation to visit literature blogs. Furthermore, it highlights what kind of information readers want to find on such blogs, and how blogs can influence readers’ buying behaviour. The findings of the survey are compared with a model for buying decisions. The findings will be helpful for publishers, self-publishers, book trade, and bloggers. The most obvious limitation of the survey is the geographic limitation to Germany and its book market; however, the survey could easily be translated and extended to include other markets.
What is Different about Volunteers? A Study on Factors of Buying Decisions of Products with Recycled Content
