Belarusian publishers launched a survey to understand readers' needs. First results are already known

The survey plans to collect information about potential readers of Belarusian books and their priorities. There are only 20 short questions that will take no more than 5 minutes.

The survey results will be analyzed and published as an article. They will influence the strategic plans of publishers and, hopefully, help some to get more of the books they need, and others – a better understanding of reader needs, writes "Budzma".

Link to the survey

First results

Within a few days, nearly 250 responses were collected in the survey from Belarusian readers (not only in emigration, 12% — responses from Belarus).

"It is important to understand that the first results are the voices of our closest community: people who remain active participants in cultural processes and are loyal to Belarusian books. Our next task is to expand the circle of participants and obtain more diverse data. In the meantime, we can share interesting observations that are already emerging," says Illia Andreyeu, a representative of Gutenberg Publisher, which prepared the survey.

According to Illia Andreyeu, the surveyed group predictably turned out to be quite engaged in reading: more than half of the respondents read more than 12 books annually. For comparison:

12 books a year is a threshold that separates countries with a strong reading culture from those with average indicators.

However, another fact turned out to be unexpected: almost 45% of respondents still read less than this indicator. And here, perhaps, the issue is not with the readers.

To the question "What prevents you from buying / reading in Belarusian more often?" 47% of respondents cited "lack of necessary literature" as one of the main problems. And this is coming from people in a "warm" audience.

On the one hand, readers demonstrate trust in books and willingness to purchase publications. On the other hand, almost every second person does not find what they truly need. This is an important signal for both publishers and authors.

The linguistic aspect of reading also stands out. Belarusian readers in emigration use a four-language model:

— Belarusian language — an absolute priority, an unquestionable cultural value;

— original language — a marker of education and openness to global context;

— English — the main channel for accessing modern knowledge and non-fiction;

— Polish — the language of integration for most Belarusian migrants in Poland.

The Russian language, on the contrary, is recorded as peripheral: it is chosen only if there is no alternative.

To make the results more representative and useful for publishers, authors, and researchers, more respondents are needed.

— your answer truly matters.

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