This is the final update from the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2024!
In past posts, we’ve looked at the book buying and book borrowing habits of Canadians in 2024. In this post we dive into book prices — how much Canadian book buyers are willing to pay, how Canadian book buyers are spending, and the value they attribute to books.
The Canadian Book Consumer survey has been active since 2012, and is our annual survey of Canadians and Canadian book consumers. In it, we survey Canadians quarterly about their book buying, borrowing, and other book-related behaviours. In 2024, we surveyed a total of 4,212 Canadians — 49% bought new books, 27% borrowed books from the library, 20% of Canadians bought used books, and 19% of Canadians also received books for free.
If you’re interested in the numbers behind the graphs below, you can find our source data here.
Let’s get in to book pricing.
Most people paid full price for the books they purchased in 2024
In 2024, over half of Canadians buying new books spent between $1 and $49 on books in a given month (53%). Shown in the graph below, this percentage is down from 59% of new book buyers in 2023.
While 90% of Canadians who bought new books looked for sales, promotions, and coupons when they shop for books, most of them paid full price for the books they purchased in 2024, at 60%. This percentage is comparable to 2023 (61%) which was the highest it had been in the last five years — up from 55% in 2022, 56% in 2021, and 55% in 2020. The graph below shows this change in purchasing for Canadians over time.
Format by format, full price purchases were most likely to be paperbacks (65%) or hardcovers (62%), rather than ebooks (47%) or audiobooks (40%), shown in the graph below.
In 2024, Canadians who bought new books spent an average of:
$22.57 for a hardcover book
$17.34 for a paperback book
$13.69 for an ebook
$13.40 for an audiobook
The average price paid by these Canadian book buyers in 2024 has increased 7% for hardcovers, 4% for paperbacks, 13% for ebooks, and has decreased 1% for audiobooks since 2019. However, average prices paid by consumers have decreased 7% for hardcovers, 11% for paperbacks, 7% for ebooks, and 12% for audiobooks year over year from 2023 to 2024, shown in the graph below.
Even with these fluctuations in average prices, almost half of Canadians buying new books rated their value for money as excellent (47%), while 38% rated it as good, 13% as fair, and 2% as poor. Value for money varies format by format, shown in the graph below. Ebooks had the highest rating of value for money, with 54% rating them as excellent.
Almost as many Canadians buying new books in 2024 chose books within their budget (47%) as had no limitations or restrictions on what or how many books they bought (48%), and the rest were unsure (5%).
The majority of Canadians who bought new books compared book prices before making a purchase in 2024 (84%). And 19% of new book buyers compared the price in multiple places when deciding whether or not to buy or borrow books — this percentage is the same as in 2023 but has increased from 18% in 2022 and 17% in 2021 and 2020. In 2024, 15% of Canadians buying new books decided to buy a book because it was on special offer or had a low price. Another 9% of Canadians bought the new book, rather than borrowed, because it was cheap.
Book prices were also a factor for Canadians who bought new when deciding where to make their purchase. In 2024, these book buyers chose to shop at one location over another because:
The book was at a good price/offer/promo — 28%
There was cheap/free delivery — 19%
They have a loyalty card/account/subscription — 11%
Overall, 70% of Canadians who bought a new book participated in book-related rewards or loyalty programs in 2024.
Most book purchases by Canadians buying new books in 2024 were spontaneous to some degree (61%), with 39% being planned purchases:
25% had planned to buy a particular book, but not necessarily at that specific time
18% were not planning to buy a book at that specific time, it was an impulse purchase
16% were planning to buy a book at that specific time, but had not planned to buy a particular book
These percentages are relatively stable over time, with 39% of new book purchases in 2023 being planned, 36% in 2022, 39% in 2021, 37% in 2020, and 35% in 2019.
These buyers of new books paid attention to book prices in other ways, too:
71% preferred to pay for a bundle of content more so than buying one single item
69% added books to their online cart to get free shipping
51% bought whichever book was least expensive, regardless of its format (print book, ebook, or audiobook)
In 2024, 26% of new book buyers also bought books secondhand, and 32% also borrowed books from the library.
Book borrowers looked for sales and promotions on books they bought
Some of the top reasons why book borrowers borrowed books from the library instead of buying them were related to book prices. In 2024:
52% borrowed books to save money
45% borrowed books because they didn’t want to spend money on them
24% borrowed books because it’s a habit to borrow instead of buy
23% borrowed books because it was expensive to buy
When deciding whether to buy or borrow a book, 44% of Canadian book borrowers checked to see if it was available at their local library in 2024. Another 14% compared the price of the book in multiple places — down from 20% in 2023, but up from 11% in 2022, 11% in 2021, and 10% in 2020. Overall, 84% of Canadian book borrowers compared book prices in some capacity before making a purchase in 2024.
Roughly half of Canadian book borrowers bought new books in 2024 (51%) and 27% bought secondhand books.
Most borrowers who bought new books or secondhand books spent between $1 and $49 on their book purchases in a given month (56% on used books; 40% on new books). The graph below compares book spending for these two groups of book borrowers.
Overall, all Canadian book borrowers also had frugal book buying habits:
84% looked for sales, promotions, and coupons when they shopped for books
63% preferred to pay for a bundle of content more so than buying one single item
64% added books to their online cart to get free shipping
80% bought whichever book was least expensive, regardless of its format (print book, ebook, or audiobook)
When buying books, more than half of book borrowers chose books within their budget (53%), while 42% had no limitations or restrictions on what or how many books they bought, and 5% were unsure.
And a significant 60% of book borrowers participated in book-related reward and loyalty programs — down from 63% in 2023, but up from 52% in 2022, 55% in 2021, and 21% in 2020.
That’s a wrap on our dive in to the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2024 but you can download a copy of the study to read or share with colleagues at the link!
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Mélanie Ritchot joins us this episode to talk about the Indigenous Editors Circle and how it's influenced her approach to editing.