Book discovery happens through a mixture of deliberate searches, familiar authors, personal recommendations, physical browsing, and media exposure. The available figures below compare UK discovery routes measured in 2020 with Canadian consumer and borrower findings from 2023 and 2024. Because the studies measure different populations and periods, the percentages should be read as separate snapshots rather than a single combined market total.
Table of contents
- Browsing and search
- Authors and series
- Recommendations and reviews
- Social, email, and media
- Retail and library browsing
- Intent, demand, and bestseller lists
Browsing and search
Browsing and search are among the clearest book discovery channels because they can describe both accidental exposure and purposeful looking. In the UK, How are books being discovered? reported that seeing a book while browsing or searching accounted for 28% of print-book discoveries in 2020. The same route accounted for 23% of e-book discoveries and 20% of audiobook discoveries. These figures describe discovery by format, so they are not a measurement of all UK readers or a ranking of total book sales.
The format differences are useful. Browsing or searching was reported more often for print books than for e-books or audiobooks, while all three formats still had a substantial share tied to this route. A reader may encounter a physical cover, a digital store result, or an audiobook listing, but the source groups those experiences under the same browsing-or-searching discovery category.
Canadian findings from the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2024 offer a different view of the same broad behavior. Among Canadian book buyers, 19% became aware of purchased books through browsing or searching online or in person. Among Canadian book buyers who purchased online, 39% first found the book by searching for a particular title. The 19% measure covers awareness through online or in-person browsing or searching; the 39% measure is limited to online purchasers who searched for a particular title. They should not be treated as competing estimates.
| Discovery measure | Population and period | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing or searching | UK print-book discoveries, 2020 | 28% |
| Browsing or searching | UK e-book discoveries, 2020 | 23% |
| Browsing or searching | UK audiobook discoveries, 2020 | 20% |
| Browsing or searching online or in person | Canadian book buyers, 2024 | 19% |
| Searching for a particular title online | Canadian online book buyers, 2024 | 39% |
Together, these results distinguish open-ended discovery from title-led intent. The UK figures describe a route to discovering a book across three formats. The Canadian online figure describes people who already used a particular-title search. That makes it especially relevant to readers who know at least part of what they want, while the broader browsing measure includes more exploratory behavior.
Authors and series
Familiarity can be a powerful discovery channel. The UK study found that reading other books by the same author or in the same series accounted for 17% of print-book discoveries in 2020. The share was 33% for e-book discoveries and 21% for audiobook discoveries. In this comparison, the e-book figure was the highest, while the print figure was the lowest.
Following an author or series was a separate route in the same UK data. It accounted for 7% of print-book discoveries, 11% of e-book discoveries, and 11% of audiobook discoveries. Reading another work and actively following an author or series are therefore distinct measures, even though both reflect ongoing reader interest.
Canadian buyer data also recorded prior familiarity. Reading other books by the same author or illustrator was the awareness route for 20% of Canadian book buyers’ purchases in 2024. For Canadian borrowers, reading other books by the author or illustrator accounted for 24% of book awareness in 2023, as reported in Canadian book borrowers in 2024. The borrower figure is reported in a 2024 study but measures 2023, so its period is different from the buyer figure.
The contrast between formats in the UK data suggests that established author and series interest is not limited to physical shelves. It appears in print, digital reading, and listening, with the same-author-or-series route reaching 33% for e-books. The Canadian buyer and borrower figures also show that author or illustrator familiarity can operate in both purchase and borrowing contexts.
Recommendations and reviews
Recommendations and reviews were consistently important in the UK results. In 2020, they accounted for 19% of print-book discoveries and 19% of e-book discoveries. The share was higher for audiobooks, at 23%. The measure combines recommendations and reviews, so it does not separate personal word of mouth from written or published review coverage.
The Canadian Book Consumer Study 2024 found that recommendations or reviews were the awareness route for 19% of Canadian book buyers’ purchases. For Canadian borrowers, recommendations or reviews accounted for 19% of book awareness in the borrower study reported in 2024. The matching percentage across those two Canadian measures does not mean the groups are identical; one concerns buyers’ purchases and the other concerns borrowers’ awareness.
Across the supplied UK format figures, recommendations or reviews were higher for audiobooks than for print books or e-books. That difference is descriptive, not causal: the data reports the share associated with the channel but does not explain why the audiobook percentage was higher. It also does not establish whether the recommendation came from a person, a retailer, a publication, or another review setting.
For readers, this channel can be understood as social proof around a title. A recommendation or review may introduce a book that was not part of a reader’s original search. The measured percentages show that this route was present across every UK format and in both Canadian buyer and borrower findings, making it one of the most consistently reported discovery categories in the supplied studies.
Social, email, and media
The UK study grouped an advert, trailer, or email as a discovery route. In 2020, that category accounted for 3% of print-book discoveries, 8% of e-book discoveries, and 6% of audiobook discoveries. The digital formats therefore had larger shares than print within this measure, with e-books highest.
Screen and audio adaptations were another route. A film, TV, or radio adaptation accounted for 5% of UK print-book discoveries and 5% of e-book discoveries. For audiobooks, the share was 10%. The audiobook result was twice the print and e-book percentages in the supplied UK comparison, although the study does not state why.
Author interviews or events accounted for 4% of UK print-book discoveries and 4% of e-book discoveries in 2020. The figure was 7% for audiobooks. These results place author-facing media and events below recommendations or reviews in each format, while still showing a measurable relationship with discovery.
Canadian platform-use figures add context about where book consumers spend time online. In 2024, Facebook was used by 66% of Canadian book consumers, making it their most-used listed social platform. YouTube was used by 65%, and Instagram by 46%. These are usage figures, not percentages saying that each platform directly caused a book discovery.
Book-specific online social networks or communities were visited by 58% of Canadian book buyers in 2024. The same type of community was visited by 58% of Canadian book borrowers in the borrower findings. Community use is therefore widespread in both groups, but the supplied figures do not quantify how many purchases or loans came directly from a community post or discussion.
Retail and library browsing
Physical retail remains visible in the UK discovery data. A book seen in a shop window accounted for 6% of print-book discoveries in 2020. The share was 1% for e-books and 4% for audiobooks. The format difference is intuitive as a description of the measured route: shop-window exposure is most directly associated with a physical book, while the study still recorded some discovery of digital formats through that setting.
Canadian bookstore visitation figures show that browsing can happen online as well as in person. In a typical month in 2024, 79% of Canadian book buyers visited a bookstore online, while 71% visited a bookstore in person. These percentages describe visits, not the percentage of buyers who discovered a particular purchased book during those visits.
Among Canadian book buyers who purchased in person, 53% first saw the book on a main shelf. This is a more specific in-store measure than general bookstore visitation. It indicates the importance of the main shelf for that subgroup, but it should not be generalized to all Canadian book buyers or to online purchases.
Library browsing also appears in the Canadian borrower findings. Browsing a genre or subject area accounted for 44% of Canadian borrowers’ book awareness in 2023, as reported in the 2024 borrower study. Among Canadian borrowers, 20% visited a library to discover a new book, author, or illustrator in 2024. The first figure measures an awareness route; the second measures a discovery visit, so they capture related but different behaviors.
Intent, demand, and bestseller lists
Some discovery routes begin with a reader’s existing intention. In the UK, a recipient’s request accounted for 9% of print-book discoveries in 2020, 2% of e-book discoveries, and 4% of audiobook discoveries. A reader having read the book before accounted for 7% of print-book discoveries, 6% of e-book discoveries, and 9% of audiobook discoveries.
These figures describe two forms of known demand: a request from the intended recipient and prior experience with the book. Neither is the same as a recommendation or review. A request can identify a desired title before a purchase, while having read the book before records a repeat relationship with the title.
Bestseller lists accounted for 6% of UK print-book discoveries and 6% of e-book discoveries in 2020. The share was 8% for audiobooks. In the same format comparison, bestseller lists were lower than browsing or searching, prior-author or series reading, and recommendations or reviews. They nevertheless represented a distinct list-based path across all three formats.
Canadian borrower findings show how purposeful discovery can be even more specific. A specific book search accounted for 35% of Canadian borrowers’ book awareness in 2023, as reported in 2024. Browsing books by an author or illustrator accounted for 29% of Canadian borrowers’ book awareness. These measures describe awareness among borrowers and should be kept separate from the 39% title-search figure for Canadian online buyers in 2024.
Taken together, the available statistics describe a layered discovery journey. A reader may search for a title, browse a genre, recognize an author, encounter a recommendation, notice a main-shelf placement, or use a bestseller list. The studies measure those routes in different countries, groups, formats, and periods: UK format discoveries in 2020, Canadian buyer behavior in 2024, and Canadian borrower findings measured in 2023 or 2024. That scope makes the figures useful for comparing channel types, while limiting any claim that one percentage represents all readers everywhere.