# Introduction n Ukraine books remain an important part of consumers' daily lives. The current bookstore landscape now includes Yakaboo, Ye Bookstore, BUKVA as well as smaller chains and independent bookstores, such as Bookovka.ua and other. How much do people spend on books per month? What types of books are they buying? What genres are they selecting? Consumer insights play main role in a publisher's strategies, from acquisitions to pricing and marketing campaigns. We would like to share highlights from book consumer demographics & buying behaviors review, compiled on the basis of the bookstore chain «Bukva» [«The Letter»] sales in February 2021. «Bukva» [«The Letter»] is a leader in the distribution market of cultural goods with a unique heritage and the legendary history (Bukva, 2021). «Bukva» -is a chain of Ukrainian modern bookstores (more then 22 bookstores in 11 cities -Kyiv, Vinnicya, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kherson, Khmelnitsky, Chernivtsi). »Bukva» offers customers a wide range of books. Customers can buy classical and contemporary fiction, business literature and popular science editions, children's books for any age category, stationery, bright leaflets and games. In «Bukva» customers will always find actual book novelties of various genres and trends, attractive new discounts and interesting special offers (Bukva, 2021). BUKVA.ua -one of the largest online bookstores in Ukraine. For regular customers operates discount program. Delivery of orders is carried out throughout Ukraine and abroad (Bukva, 2021). # II. # Research Background Statistics about book publishing in Ukraine are maintained by the state research institution, the Ivan Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine (Ivan Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine, 2021). According to its data, the number of new titles and reprints published during the 2021 can be characterized as follows (see Table 2.1): During the last ten years in Ukraine were done only 3 massive research surveys: a) Publishing and bookselling in Ukraine: Facts, Trends, Recommendations. Results of a survey carried out in 2012 It presents a summary of the study of the Ukrainian book sector and its main findings and conclusions, as well as two expert opinions on it. This is the first time that a study of book publishing and book distribution in Ukraine has been carried out on such a scale. The study is based on years of systematic collection of information by the Ukrainian Association of Book Publishers and Book Sellers (UABB), while the report was commissioned by the Publishers Forum for 2012 is not presented in all sections, as it had not been processed at the time of the Report's compilation). Authors: ? Survey methodology, data collection and report by Oleksandr Afonin; # b) Ukrainian Reading and Publishing Data 2018 The all-Ukrainian big project aimed to represent a state of the modern publishing market, readers' preferences and, by that, give the objective information that can influence forming the policy of both the cultural institutions and editorial office portfolios of publishers, as well as give a material to present the Ukrainian market abroad in an efficient visual format -infographic presentation. With the research as a basis, where reader's preferences and the state of the market 2018 was revealed, to create conditions for development of the publishing sphere against the background of the objective and actual data. Organizers: ? Gutenbergz, a digital publishing house, which unites the story and the interactivity, and creates wonderful stories for mobile devices, cross-platform solutions for the multi-media content, namely for the learning materials in a comfortable and effective format; ? Cultural and publishing project Chytomo, media about the book in all its forms and about reading as a springboard for self-education and realization; ? Razumkov Centre, the leading non-government analytical centre of Ukraine that conducts researches on the state policy, was established in 1994 (Gutenbergz, Cultural and publishing project Chytomo, Razumkov Centre, 2018). c) Publishing in Ukraine: a review of the sector. Final report 2020. This research was commissioned by the British Council and authored by Emma Shercliff. Emma is a publishing consultant with over 20 years of experience in the industry. She has worked for publishing houses in Paris, Melbourne, Abuja and London, and for the British Council in Nigeria and Iran. The results of this study should prove useful to both foreign partners as well as Ukrainian institutions, publishers, booksellers, authors, and other actors in this segment. This independent, external view of the field provides a much-needed challenge to entrenched perspectives, with solutions proffered arising from a welcome reconsideration of the challenges facing the sector to the benefit of both stand-alone projects and the broader publishing industry. Of particular note is the attention given in the study to the undergraduate community and instructors at industry-related university programmes-the wellspring of emerging publishers, managers, agents, mediators, authors, and literary critics soon poised to join the market (Shercliff, E. 2021). Also during 2018-2020 years there were published some statistic rewievs about Ukrainian book business: -Gerden, E. (2018 # Methodology The method design consisted of applying an paper form, with eleven statements, based on a 5-point Likert scale (with the options completely disagree = 1, disagree = 2, neutral = 3, agree = 4, and completely agree = 5). The form was applied between January 2021 to February 2021 for customers who visited bookshop «Bukva» [«The Letter»], address location: Ukraine, Kyiv, Arsenalna metro station, Slavy Square [Glory Square], 1, Underpass Arsenal, work time: from 10-00 till 20-00. The author's questionnaire statements were constructed experimentally and previously tested to detect the perception that the professionals had of the readers about the reading of the visualization. In the pilot study, the following questions were adopted: In total, the questionnaire was applied to 134 people, reaching a return rate of 25,37 %, with 34 responses. Ten were excluded due to incomplete questionnaire. In the end, we worked with 100 responses. In addition to statements and identity, we also asked about age, profession, and educational background. The items on age and training will be used to analyze the results to test the hypotheses. The average age of those who participated in the questionnaire is 40,8 years, 32 men and 68 women. - The population of the survey consists of persons aged from 13 to 71 who permanently live in Kyiv. Table 3.1 shows a part (without including answers on question «Which book genre You most often purchase») of respondents' answers recorded on a questionnaire form. # Results and Discussion Demographic Information about respondents can be seen on the Figure's 1-3. On a gender basis, women are the more avid book readers, per the study, being 36% more likely than men to have read a book in the prior 6 months (68% vs. 32%). Separately, the results show that the more highly educated the respondents, the more likely they are to have read a book, with a similar positive correlation evident with income. Due to results of questionnaire, 65% respondents have Master's degree, 22 % have bachelor degree, 12% have secondary education, 1% has a PhD degree. Usually education depends on age: all respondents older than 23 years have Master's degree. Over 80% of respondents have at least some college education, if not a degree. As we can see from the table, much book readers are 20-40 year old (52,6 %), less -13-20 year old (24,7 %), 40-60 year old (17,%%) and the smallest group consists of 60-71 year old respondents (5,2 %). Poll. Results show us that the largest pieces of the pie come from readers whose book-buying budged amounts to 30-50$ per once purchase (42%), 33% respondents ready to pay once for the book 50-20$, and only 25% are the richest -they can pay 50-100$ per book. So, respondents with a high financial level more often bought books than respondents with a low financial level. By answering on the following question «how often they purchase books», 35 % respondents pointed to four times per year, 34% respondents purchase books once per month, 22% once per year, 6% once per week and 3% respondents chose «no determinable» (Figure 6). Residents buy printed books (74%) slightly more often than e-books (12%). Both -printed and ebook buy only 14% residents (Figure 7). Answering the question how often they borrow books from a library, 14,1% of respondents answered that they visit library every month, 17,2% every year and 68,7% never used library services and resources (Figure 8). 13-20 years old 40-60 years old people more often than those from other groups bought borrowed books from a library. School and college students more often than others downloaded books for free, and also borrowed them from a school library. popularity of various genres differs significantly among different groups of respondents. In particular, the popularity of different genres among young and old respondents is quite different. The picture of fiction genre popularity looks this way (Figure 11): Adventure (20,1%), Fantasy (15%), Historical Fiction and Romance (13,9%), Detective & Mystery (13,3%), Dystopian (8,6%), Science Fiction (5,9%), Horror (5,6%), Children's Fiction (5,4%), Thriller (4,2%), Young Adult (3,7%). When answering the open-ended questions «Which life-changing books that shaped your thinking?» and «Which book you've recently read?» 6 times respondents named John Green, 4 times respondents named George Orwell, 3 times respondents named # Source: Author´s elaboration # Source: Author´s elaboration 1![Figure 1: Result of the questionnaire. Demographic Information about respondents. Gender.](image-2.png "Figure 1 :") 234![Figure 2: Result of the questionnaire. Demographic Information about respondents. Age.](image-3.png "Figure 2 :Figure 3 :Figure 4 :") 5![Figure 5: Result of the questionnaire. Statistical data about publishing preferses of respondents. Book shopping.](image-4.png "Figure 5 :") 6![Figure 6: Result of the questionnaire. Statistical data about publishing preferses of respondents. Frequency of book purchasing.](image-5.png "Figure 6 :Book") 7![Figure 7: Result of the questionnaire. Statistical data about publishing preferses of respondents. Paper book vs e-book.](image-6.png "Figure 7 :") 8![Figure 8:](image-7.png "Figure 8 :") 10![Figure 10: Result of the questionnaire. Statistical data about preferses of nonfiction genres.](image-8.png "Figure 10 :") 11![Figure 11: Result of the questionnaire. Statistical data about preferses of fiction genres.](image-9.png "Source: Author´s elaborationFigure 11 :") ![](image-10.png "") ![](image-11.png "") ![](image-12.png "") 21Types of Publications2021 Number of Titles, Publishing UnitsNumber of Copies, ThousandBooks and brochures26921679,4Dissertation Abstracts1360136,0Art books106270,0 31: Respondents' answers recorded on a questionnaire formHowMuchIdGender Female/ MaleAge EducationDo You Purchase Books At Online Or Ofline BookstoresHow Often Do You Purchase A BooksHow Often Do You Visit Your Local LibraryDo You Prefer Paper Books Or E-BooksMoney Per Are You Ready To Spend Book OnLife-Changing Book That Shaped Thinking YourBook, You've Recently ReadOneTime1F13Secondary schoolOflineNo determinable frequencyNever, reallyPaper books$5-20 DollarsDandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury«The Children» Glass Kristina OhlssonGray Matter:2F14Secondary schoolOflineFour times per yearNever, really E-books$5-20 DollarsThinking Stuff That Got by Me ToStephen KingCharlie GrayMastermind:3F14Secondary schoolOnline ; OflineOnce per yearNever, reallyPaper books$30-50 DollarsHow To Think Like Sherlock Holmes byMaria Konnikova, Arthur ConanMariaDoyleKonnikova4F14Secondary schoolOnlineOnce per yearYearlyPaper books$5-20 DollarsAt a High Price Mikhail KotsyubynskyCharlie and the Chocolate Factory by Dahl RoaldThe Subtle Artof Not Giving5F14Secondary schoolOnline ; OflineFour times per yearNever, reallyPaper books, e-books$5-20 DollarsLiving a Good a F*ck: A Counterintuitiv e Approach toArthur Conan DoyleLife by MarkManson6M14Secondary schoolOflineOnce per yearMonthlyPaper books$5-20 DollarsWarriors Erin HunterbyWarriors by Erin Hunter7M14Secondary schoolOflineOnce per yearNever, reallyE-books$5-20 DollarsThe Fault in by John Green Our StarsThe Fault in John Green Our Stars by8F15Secondary schoolOnline ; OflineNo determinable frequencyMonthlyPaper books$30-50 DollarsThe Prince Antoine Saint-Exupéry Little by deA Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole © 2021 Global Journals ## Source: Author´s elaboration V. ## Conclusion Based on the data and discussion above, the conclusions are as follows. Books are easy to access without leaving home. It's important fact considering coronavirus outbreak. The results of this study show, first, how COVID-19 has changed reading habits. The COVID-19 crisis forced Ukrainian bookstores and libraries to close across the country, which has ignited an online book-shopping. According to a our survey conducted in February 2021, 74% of respondents in Kyiv prefer printed books. During the quarantine, Kyiv bookstores acted as book delivery points. Readers still preferred to order books offline, in book delivery points. Second, Ukrainian libraries are still unpopular. Right now COVID-19 is the biggest challenge facing libraries today, but other problems await too. New tools of information technology have absolutely changed the role of library. But the Ukrainian government is not giving «desired priority» to their library industry while allocating funds. Third, most part of readers chose Russianlanguage books. Also they prefer foreign authors to Ukrainian authors. * About Company Bukva 2021 * Retail Pressures: Ukraine's Open-Air Bookselling Marketplaces Appear Headed for Closure. Publishing Perspectives EGerden 2018 * Ukraine Book Business After Lockdowns: An 'Almost Complete Collapse. Publishing Perspectives EGerden 2020 * Ukrainian Reading and Publishing Data CulturalGutenbergz ChytomoProject Razumkov Centre 2018 * Book publishing in Ukraine 2021 Ivan Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine. * LavinaMall 2021 * Reading in Ukrainian: The Resurgence of the Ukrainian Book Industry. Ukraine World International VRybak 2020 * Publishing in Ukraine: a review of the sector. Final report 2020 EShercliff 2021 * Book market of Ukraine. Sammit Books IStepurin 2019 * Publishing and Bookselling in Ukraine 2012