The Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, in cooperation with the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus, conducted an operational survey of visitors to the 31st Minsk International Book Fair on March 14, 2024. 355 visitors to the fair were interviewed using the CAPI method (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing is an information system for personal online interviewing, in which the interviewer uses a tablet or mobile phone, and the data is entered into an electronic database in real time with an automated processing system). During the survey, the most promising options for promoting the event were identified, opinions and assessments on the organization of the exhibition were studied, as well as the reading preferences of its visitors.
The results of the study showed that the respondents primarily mentioned the opportunity to learn about new books (47.6%), purchase books at a low (publishing) price (39.2%) and get information about existing publishing houses (31.0%) as motives for visiting a book fair. Significant aspects for the survey participants are visiting the special program of the fair (19.7%), as well as buying books as a gift and the opportunity to meet with friends (13.0%), the chance to meet with a specific author, sign a book (11.0%).
The absolute majority of the survey participants (93.8%) plan to purchase books during the fair. Half of the respondents are going to buy fiction books (52.7%), almost one in four (24.5%) plans to spend money on historical ones, and almost a fifth of the fair's visitors are going to buy popular science literature (18.9%) and books for children and teenagers (17.2%). Visitors also expressed a desire to purchase educational (9.9%), psychological (9.6%), journalistic (6.8%) and religious (5.4%) books at the exhibition.
When buying new books, 67.3% of the survey participants prefer to rely on their reading experience and taste. Visitors to the exhibition are also guided by the recommendations of friends, relatives and colleagues (26.5%), the popularity of the book itself (16.1%), the opinion of book bloggers and critics (14.9%), the design of the book (14.1%), its cost (12.4%), the advice of teachers (5.9%) and sales consultants in the bookstore (5.6%).
The absolute majority of the survey participants (87.0%) prefer books in print format, e-books are chosen by only 6.8% of respondents, audiobooks 2.8%.
The participants of the exhibition named A. Pushkin, M. Bulgakov, as well as F. Dostoevsky. Among the works were noted "The Master and Margarita", "War and Peace", "Eugene Onegin", "Crime and Punishment". The respondents also indicated the Bible. It is worth noting that the visitors of the event could not immediately recall A.S. Pushkin's books. The three most popular Belarusian authors were headed by V. Korotkevich, V. Bykov and Y. Kolas. I. Shamyakin and Y. Kupala take next positions. Among the most interesting works, respondents noted "Kalasy pad siarpom tvaim", "Dzikaje paliavannie karalia Staha", "Novaja ziamlia", "Liudzi na balocie" and "Serca na daloni".
Almost every second visitor received information about the fair from friends, relatives, as well as colleagues at work and studies (46.5%). Advertising of the event via the Internet turned out to be effective in 2024: visitors learned about it through websites and portals (29.4%), social networks and messengers (10.9%). Somewhat less frequently, respondents learned about the exhibition through outdoor advertising (6.9%), directly from publishing houses (6.3%), as well as from the print press (5.6%).
When answering the question "How many times have you already visited the Minsk International Book Fair?" 43.9% of the survey participants noted that they visit it regularly, one in four (27.6%) indicated that they had been to several exhibitions, but 28.5% of respondents were at the exhibition for the first time.
