Book Buying Analysis 2017

Last year I loved reading the analysis on the year’s book buying that Rachel over at Confessions of a Book Geek put together. I found it really interesting to lay it all out, see how much was spent at each shop and what the average price per book was. I liked it so much so, I decided to keep track of my own book buying habits in 2017.

I kept all my receipts, and even wrote out little notes for books bought online. At the start of this year I attempted to throw them all into a spreadsheet and do some magic calculations. Turns out I’m rubbish at that, and my abysmal attempt offended my accountant partner so much he took my receipts and did it all for me!

I have four main book suppliers: Wordery, Waterstones, Oxfam bookshops, and a local comic book shop called Page 45. Other bookshops I spent my hard-earned money at this year was another local called Five Leaves Bookshop, Scarthin Books in Cromford, and Troutmark Books in Cardiff. So let’s break it down:

Wordery:
Total number of books bought: 6
Total cost: £47.44
Average price per book: £7.91

Waterstones:
Total number of books bought: 7
Total cost: £69.93
Average price per book: £9.99

Oxfam:
Total number of books bought: 14
Total cost: £33.36
Average price per book: £2.38

Page 45:
Total number of books bought: 10
Total cost: £107.89
Average price per book: £10.79

Five Leaves:
Total number of books bought: 3
Total cost: £29.93
Average price per book: £9.98

Scarthin:
Total number of books bought: 3
Total cost: £19.97
Average price per book: £6.66

Troutmark:
Total number of books bought: 1
Total cost: £2.50
Average price per book: £2.50

If that wasn’t bad enough, when we put it all together, it looks worse:

2017 Totals:
Total number of books bought: 46
Total cost: £322.52
Average price per book: £7.01

Let’s make this information more aesthetically pleasing–and less number-y–by looking at it in graph form:

Taking it monthly, January was by far my most active book-buying month, with 11 books bought and £92.84 spent. The other months don’t compare, with all of them remaining between 2 and 8 books bought, and never breaching £40.00 spent. And by the end of the year I’d stopped completely, buying no books in November or December! So, er, can I blame the worst of it on a post-Christmas, new-year frenzy?

Spreading the load, overall my average monthly spend was £26.88, which doesn’t sound so bad. I’m going to focus on that number.

With all the prices in one place, it’s a bit hard to comprehend how I spent so much. But it’s also easy to see how I managed it. I bought the highest number of 14 books from Oxfam, but only spent £33 there in the whole year. Whereas I bought half as many books from Waterstones, but managed to spend almost £70! The priciest place, unsurprisingly, was Page 45, with an average cost of just under £11 per book. As an independent bookshop selling comics and graphic novels, the cost of their books are generally on the higher end of the scale anyway. Pair that with the fact I get a little giddy every time I step foot in there and rarely leave without buying something and it’s easy to see why that shop alone counts for an entire third of my yearly spend.

I don’t really have any take away from this, other than the fact it was interesting to see it all broken down this way. I’ve realised I favour buying books I genuinely want from more reputable and ethical places over the thrill of a bargain, and I find myself grateful that I’m in a position to do that.

I have yet to spend a penny on books in 2018, but now I’m in the habit, I’m sure I’ll find myself squirrelling away my receipts to do all of this again next year!