Booksellers failing to reach British South Asian readers, survey finds

New research shows half of British South Asian readers would never visit a high-street bookshop.
by: Benedicte Page

Books by South Asian and British South Asian writers such as Aravind Adiga, Kamila Shamsie, Monica Ali and Hanif Kureishi may be high-profile fixtures in Waterstone's, but half of British South Asian readers never go into high-street bookshops to buy their own reading, a survey has revealed.


The first survey of the reading and book-buying habits of British South Asians has been conducted by the DSC South Asian Literature festival through researchers Book Marketing Limited.

The research suggests that Britons with Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage – around 6% of the population – are far less likely to go to the high-street chains or supermarkets than white British readers, and won't always find the fiction they want to read if they get there.

BML said that, while 71% of respondents identifying themselves as white British would go to Waterstone's for a new book, only 51% of South Asian bookbuyers felt the same way. Just 22% of South Asians buy books in supermarkets, compared with 50% of white British readers. But independent bookshops seem to be serving the South Asian community better, with an equal number (43%) buying books there.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (89%) said there were hindrances to buying the books they were interested in, with comments like "not easy to find in bookshops, even when they are available" and "bookshops don't stock them". Only 3% of respondents said they thought booksellers were doing a "very good" job, with nearly a third saying they were instead "poor" or "fairly poor".

The group also said books with South Asian themes and influences were underrepresented, and that they wanted more titles, including literary fiction, spiritual books and autobiographies.

"The answer may be that the industry is not doing enough to attract South Asian readers. There is a need to have more books geared towards the South Asian community, and publishers are perhaps missing out on an untapped market," said Tom Tivnan, features editor of industry magazine the Bookseller, which sponsored the survey.

The survey received responses from 1,881 people, of whom 238 identified themselves as Asian/British Asian.


from: Guardian