The team at Shelton Interactive did it again – we got out of the office and hits the streets to talk directly to you, the reader, about what you think about the publishing industry. This episode has a new twist – besides just getting the scoop on what people are reading and why, we also asked about e-readers and holiday gift giving habits. Check out what people had to say:

In this episode we hit up Congress Ave, right in the heart of downtown. We asked Austinites to share what they are reading, where they heard about the books, where they purchased them, and if their holiday gift exchanges included any good reads – whether it be of the print or e-reader format.

Here are some of the raw stats from our interviews:

Reader on the Street title: The Story of Success
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Format: Print
Discovered: Browsing online
Point of purchase: Amazon
Credit for purchase: Browsing
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of Mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? No
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No

Reader on the Street title: Too Big to Know
Author: David Weinberger
Publisher: Basic Books
Format: Print
Discovered: NPR
Point of purchase: Amazon
Credit for purchase: Unknown
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of Mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? No, kept them all to himself
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No, I prefer actual books

Reader on the Street title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Discovered: Word of mouth
Point of purchase: Barnes and Noble
Credit for purchase: Unknown
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? No
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? Yes, I gave my Dad a Kindle Fire

Reader on the Street title: Black
Author: Ted Dekker
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Discovered: Wife got it for him
Point of purchase: Unknown, it was a gift.
Credit for purchase: Wife
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? Recieved a Barnes and Noble gift card
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No

Reader on the Street title: The Fountainhead
Author: Ayn Rand
Publisher: Plume; Centennial Edition, November, 1994
Discovered: Found it at a coffee shop
Point of purchase: N/A, found it.
Credit for purchase: Just thought it looked interesting, so he picked it up and began reading.
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? Yes, he received a book about different beers, and a National Geographic book.
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No

Reader on the Street title: The Book of Flying
Author: Keith Miller
Publisher: Riverhead Trade, January 2005
Discovered: Her sister recommended it
Point of purchase: Bought on Amazon
Credit for purchase: Recommendation
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of mouth, email, maybe Facebook
Get/give any books for the holidays? Yes, got a book by Steven Hawking
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No

Reader on the Street title: This is Your Brain on Music
Author: Daniel J. Levitin
Publisher: Plume/Penguin, August, 2007
Discovered: Found while browsing at Half Price Books
Point of purchase: Bought online
Credit for purchase: Just thought it looked interesting
Preferred method for recommending books: Word of mouth
Get/give any books for the holidays? No
Get/give an e-reader for the holidays? No, but wishes she did!

This week’s takeaway:  There was a wide variety of ways that these readers discovered their current reading selection. Some found while browsing online or in stores like Half Price Books, a few from word of mouth or family recommendations, while another man heard about his book from NPR. Print books and offline chatter dominated as the preferred method of reading and sharing, the same as in our last episode. As for the holidays, most of our readers gave or received books as gifts, but nobody received e-readers.

How does this line up with your reading habits? Are you in the same boat as these readers who are still loyal to print books over digital?

Leave a comment below! We would love to hear from you.