Do Filipinos read?

The results of the National Book Development Board Readership Survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations in May of this year were released to the public a few months ago, but it might be worth returning to them to find out whether and what Filipinos are reading.

There is bad news and there is good news.

The bad news is that the readership of books, newspapers, magazines, and comics has gone down. 94% of Filipinos read these materials in 2003, but only 88% do in 2012.

When it comes to the reading of books, 90% read books in 2003, but only 80% do in 2012.

The good news, however, is that those reading books daily rose from 9% in 2003 to 12% in 2012. That means that there may be fewer book readers, but they are more avid readers now.

Since the word “books” includes textbooks or schoolbooks, the survey inquired about the reading of non-schoolbooks. The results brought even more bad news. 24% of readers read non-schoolbooks in 2003, but only 8% do in 2012.

The good news, however, is that only 33% of these readers read a few times a year in 2003, but 37% of them do in 2012. Therefore, the number of occasional readers has risen.

Another piece of good news is that only 9% of these readers read for enjoyment in 2003, but 16% do in 2012.

It may not be scientifically correct to draw conclusions from these data, but tentative guesses may be made.

Is it possible that readers are looking for enjoyable books that they can read every day? Although the survey discovered that most readers read for information and knowledge (83% of readers in 2012), the growing number of readers reading for fun should encourage writers and publishers to produce fun books.

In what language should these fun books, as well as books for information and knowledge, be written and published?

The survey definitely showed that Tagalog/Filipino (the two languages were separately counted, but I have combined their figures) is the preferred language of those reading non-schoolbooks.

A full 56% of all readers of non-school books prefer to read Tagalog/Filipino books, and even 41% of those who prefer to read English books actually read Tagalog/Filipino books.

Of course, 97% of those reading Tagalog/Filipino books prefer to read in Tagalog/Filipino, but what is surprising is that 83% of those reading English books would like to read Tagalog/Filipino books.

You just have to go to any bookstore (except those specializing in romances) to realize that there is a mismatch between what readers buy and what writers write. To be more precise, there is a mismatch between what some writers write or what some publishers sell and what most readers want to read. There are some writers (such as Bob Ong) and some publishers that produce Tagalog/Filipino books. These writers and publishers endure the snobbery of English teachers all the way to the bank.

There is also a mismatch between what bookstores sell and what book buyers buy. The survey showed that 88% of readers prefer to buy books written solely or partly by Filipinos. If you go to a Philippine bookstore (except for a couple), you will find that 88% of bookshelves are filled with books solely by non-Filipinos.

What about electronic books? How popular are they in the Philippines? According to the survey, not popular at all. Only 7% of those that read books read them in electronic form. Filipinos have not yet hopped on the international bandwagon as far as ebooks are concerned. (Amazon.com claims that it sells more ebooks than printed books.)

What books are being read? As expected, the Bible in various translations is the most read book in the Philippines. Romances and cookbooks come next.

Finally, a piece of really good news is the survey’s finding that “the more frequently one watches television, reads newspapers, listens to the radio, watches movies, or uses the Internet, the higher the likelihood of reading non-schoolbooks.” This may appear to defy common sense, but in fact, the more media and computer literate a person is, the more likely it is that s/he will read and buy books. Media and the Web are allies, not enemies of books.

REMINDER for non-winners of the National Book Award: If you go to a bookstore and look at the covers of foreign books, you will see labels such as “Finalist, Booker Prize” or “Short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize.” Foreign authors and publishers are proud to be finalists of a major book award. Needless to say, winners are even more proud, but there is nothing to be ashamed of about being a finalist and not a winner. After all, even movies are advertised as “Nominated for an Academy Award.”

When deliberating whether a certain book should be nominated for a National Book Award even if it stands no chance of winning (for instance, if there are strong objections from some of the judges, making it mathematically impossible to get a majority during the final judging), judges often lean towards giving the nomination. It is better to honor a book as a finalist rather than to ignore it completely. Being a finalist but not a winner is having a half-full glass.