Reading in Ukraine. Part 3

Most popular modern Ukrainian authors

For Ukrainians, Lina Kostenko is the best-known author from among contemporary Ukrainian writers. This is one of the findings of a study carried out across the whole of Ukraine and titled “Ukrainian Reading Publishing Data 2018”. The study was published by the Chytomo cultural and publishing project in conjunction with the GUTENBERGZ digital publishing house and in co-operation with the Razumkov Centre sociological service.

When answering the open-ended question “Which contemporary Ukrainian writers do you know of?” 10% of the respondents named Lina Kostenko. Serhii Zhadan ranked second, with 7%; Yuriy Andrukhovych and Oksana Zabuzhko came third and fourth (with a slight difference in the number of mentions: 4.7% and 4.3%, respectively), and Vasil’ Shkliar was fifth, named by 3.9% of the respondents. None of Luko Dashvar, Iren Rozdobudko or Irena Karpa were among the top five; it’s worth noting that in a 2014 study of 2014, Ms Karpa was among the top five.

Lina Kostenko has been at the top of the ratings of Ukrainian writers for many years.

However, knowing about does not equate to reading: only about half of the respondents had actually read the books of the authors which they named. 5.8% of the respondents had read Lina Kostenko’s books and 3.9% Serhii Zhadan’s books. Oksana Zabuzhko outperformed Yurii Andrukhovych in terms of readers (2.6% versus 2.4%), respectively, and Vasil’ Shkliar (with 2.2%) was ousted from the top five by Luko Dashvar: her works had been read by 2.3% of the respondents.

In total, 145 names of contemporary Ukrainian writers were given during the survey. 14% of the respondents could not name even a single Ukrainian writer, and 13.8% responded “I find it difficult to answer” to this question. 9.9% did not respond at all.

16% of Ukrainians have not read a single book by a Ukrainian author of our times.

Vasyl Stus, Oles Buzyna, Vsevolod Nestayko, Yurii Pokalchuk, Vasyl Barka, Anatolii Dimarov, Natalia Zabila, Pavel Zagrebelnyi and others were named among contemporary Ukrainian writers.

1.9% of Ukrainians named literary classics of Ukraine.

Electronic books

21% of respondents said that they download free books. The majority of respondents (64%) use the Internet on a daily basis, and 16% use it a few times a week. We assume that the number of readers using the Internet as the key source of books will increase.

Residents of big cities use the Internet more often than residents of medium-sized/small towns and villages. Students and pupils are the most active Internet users, this source is used least frequently by pensioners; essentially, younger groups of respondents show stronger preference towards this source. Respondents with academic degrees use the Internet more often than respondents who completed specialised secondary/secondary education programmes. Financial status is also an important factor: people with lower incomes use the Internet less frequently than wealthier respondents. People who speak Russian at home use the Internet more often than Ukrainian-speaking respondents, due to the concentration of the Russian-speaking population in big cities where the Internet is more actively used.

The vast majority of respondents who read electronic books (92%) download those for free, only 8% make one-time purchases on specialised websites and 3% use an online subscription. Only 15% of respondents who read electronic books (or listen to audio-books) use digital content subscriptions (books, music, movies); more than 52% of those mention Apple/Google Music.

Of those who read electronic books (or listen to audio-books) within the past year 52% had downloaded between one and five books, only 18% % had downloaded between six and ten, 8% between 10 and 25, 4% between 25 and 50, and 4% more than 50 (7% hadn’t downloaded any).

The answers to question “How many electronic books have you bought within the past year (or read in a paid subscription format)?” give the following results: 78% of respondents who read/listen to electronic/audio books said none; 12% between one and five books , 2% between six and ten, 1% between 10 and 25, 0.8% between 25 and 50 and 0.3% more than 50.

Summary

Watching television is given as the most popular leisure activity, followed by mass media (including Internet) and social media activities.  

Respondents most commonly prefer social media and the Internet, blogs, forums (read daily by 34% and 27% respectively). Printed books are read on a daily basis by only 8%, and few times a week by 16%, 4% read еlectronic books and 11% listen to audio-books. Printed books are never read by 36% of respondents, and 65% of respondents never read еlectronic books or listen to audio books.

Respondents with higher education levels read books more often; reading frequency is also influenced by financial status. Women read more printed books than men. Younger groups of respondents show more preference towards printed books.

37% of respondents hadn’t read any printed books within the past year, 36% between one and five books, 14% between six and ten books, 6% between 10 and 25 books, 4% between 25 and 50 books, and only 2% more than 50 books. 56% of respondents hadn’t read within the past year any printed books published by a Ukrainian company, 26% between one and five books, 6% between six and ten books, 3% between 10 and 25 books, 1% between 25 and 50 books and only 0.4% more than 50 books.

Having analysed the answers to questions regarding the printed books purchased and read within the past year, we can divide respondents into four groups: 1) people who didn’t read or purchase printed books within the past year (35%); 2) those who read but didn’t purchase printed books (25%); 3) didn’t read but purchased printed books (2%); and 4) those who read and purchased printed books (38%).

The majority of respondents use devices enabling them to read books in electronic formats: smartphones (70%), laptops/PCs (61%), tablets (27%), and e-readers (7%). However, electronic and audio-books are read/listened to daily only by 4% of respondents, with 11% doing so a few times a week. 65% of respondents never read/listen to electronic or audio-books. The most popular device used to read electronic books is the smartphone. The vast majority of people who read electronic books download those for free, only 8% make one-time purchases on specialised websites and 3% use an online subscription.

Respondents who don’t read or listen to printed, electronic books or audio-books most commonly explain that with lack of need or desire. Only 11% of them give unaffordable prices as the key reason, 7% say it is due to a lack of good, interesting and useful books to read.

25% of respondents spend one to two hours a day reading books, while 23% spend between half an hour and an hour daily reading.

Only 15% of respondents find extra time for reading, more people (26%) read books whenever possible, during breaks or simultaneously with other activities, other 23% answered “Both”. Extra time is more frequently contributed by students (25%), housewives (21%) and pensioners (20%).

The percentage of readers who prefer books in Russian (28%) is slightly higher than those who prefer books in Ukrainian (24%). Usually readers the pick language the given book was written in (33%). For 12% of readers language is of no importance.

Selection of book language is characterised with some peculiarities depending on different social and demographic factors. In particular, younger respondents prefer books written in Ukrainian. The vast majority of respondents from western Ukraine prefer books written in Ukrainian, while respondents from southern and eastern Ukraine mostly prefer books written in Russian. Residents of central regions almost equally share their preferences for books written in Ukrainian and Russian, and the majority of respondents from these regions feel comfortable with both languages. Respondents who speak Ukrainian at home are almost equally divided into those who feel more comfortable with Ukrainian and those who are happy with any language. The situation is different with the Russian-speaking respondents: two-thirds answer that they feel more comfortable with books written in Russian and one third have no specific preference. The majority of bilingual respondents (i.e. both languages spoken at home) say that that both languages are acceptable.

The most popular genres among the Ukrainian readers are modern crime fiction and classics. But different genres are selected by women and men:  women prefer classics and love stories (genres picked by women within the past year); men have a strong preference towards modern crime fiction and fantasy. Love stories are the least popular among male readers (read by only 4% of men). Other distinctions related to genre popularity can be identified and depend on various indicators, but none are that significant.

Analysing the answers to question “Books of which genres did you purchase within the past year?”, we found that 38% of readers didn’t purchase any. Books of different genres were 2.5 to 3.5 times more frequently purchased than read. But substantially higher is the proportion of purchased books for children/teenagers (read by 22% of readers and purchased by 17%) and textbooks and manuals (24% and 14% respectively).

Readers were asked about texts they would like to read but still hadn’t due to lack of publications worth their attention. 30% mentioned the absence of such texts; texts of different genres identified as preferable by readers were mentioned three to four times less often than books of these genres actually read.

Analysing the answers to question “Where did you get the books you read within the past year?”, we found that 35% of respondents purchased books, 29% borrowed from their friends, 21% downloaded free of charge, 16% had books from a home library, 15% borrowed from a public library and 4% from school library. People who prefer to read books in Ukrainian more frequently purchase books and less often download them than readers of books written in Russian. between one and five books, 14% between six and ten books, 6% between 10 and 25 books, 4% between 25 and 50 books, and only 2% more than 50 books.

60% of respondents hadn’t bought any printed book within the past year, 29% had purchased between one and five books, 7% between six and ten books, 3% between 10 and 25 books, 1% between 25 and 50 books and only 0.2% more than 50 books. 68% of respondents hadn’t bought any printed book published by a Ukrainian company within the past year, 22% had purchased between one and five books, 4% between six and ten books, 2% between 10 and 25 books, 0.3% between 25 and 50 books and only 0.1% more than 50 books.

The average price of the last purchased book was 135 UAH.

Urban residents purchase books more often than respondents from villages. Respondents with higher education levels more often purchase books. Women tend to buy more printed books than men.   

The final decision on book selection is mostly influenced by the friends’ recommendations (46% of readers). 26% say the author is a decisive factor, 24% say it is the summary provided, 19% price, 13% language, 13% quality of the text or translation, 12% feedback in social media and bookshop websites, 12% cover design / general visual presentation of the book, 12% seller’s recommendations, 11% reviews in media (conventional and online), 10% quality of printing and paper, 10% reviews on book websites, 5% publishing company, and 5% TV and radio presentations.

Of those who purchased at least one book within the past year, 39% purchased books as presents (16% of all respondents).

Books are most commonly purchased in small local bookstores, at markets and in large retail networks.