The 2013 historical fiction survey ran from October 16 to November 11 and reached 2440 participants from different parts of the world.
From the World of Historical Fiction is the initial summary of survey results. The data sheds light on preferences and habits of readers and offers interesting insights to writers and others in the publishing world. Click here to access the full 23-page report.
Stay tuned for further insights as I assemble responses regarding favourite authors – more than 5000 entries to collate – and favourite blogs/online sites as well as the deeper analysis that comes from cross-tabulation of results. Best way to ‘stay tuned’ is to follow A Writer of History (see the left side column for the place to provide your email).
I am very grateful for the support of Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Society, and to a number of bloggers, authors and others in the reading community who contributed ideas and publicity for this year’s survey.
I look forward to your feedback.
33 Responses
Magnificent! Well done Mary for all your hard work. Well presented information … lots to reflect on. Alexander.
I’ll be interested in your reflections, Alexander. Thanks for your encouragement.
You’re doing a real service to writers of historical fiction, Mary. I look forward to delving into the details of the survey. Thanks!
Thanks, Carol. I think there are some fascinating results to be explored further. As you peruse, if you have any ideas on angles to explore please let me know.
Thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to compile all the information. 🙂
You’re welcome, Lori. I hope it was insightful to you as an author.
Thanks so much Mary for all your hard work and dedication. What I took out of this is to avoid using the term “Thriller” for a Historical Novel.
What other word would you use, Rachel?
Thought of you this morning, Mary, when I read the Wall Street Journal lead article about what they term “The WWI Book Barrage” Big news! ! Your book is very cutting edge and great timing for your publication. Quite a lot of interest in your time period and, of course, the great war – the war to end all wars. . I am looking forward to meditating on the results of your survey. Thanks for all your hard work on our behalf.
Thanks for bringing that article to my attention, Judith. And for your encouraging words. Best wishes for your writing. If you’ve read Unravelled I’d love to hear what you think 🙂
Reblogged this on Ah, this world of writing…yes and commented:
This is a fantastic read….
Many thanks, Judy.
Really interesting Mary, thanks for all the hard work.
Margaret
Very well done and nicely presented! This info will be useful in defining the most likely audience for my own novel. Thanks so much.
Great to hear that you’re defining an audience, Sherry. I did some thinking on that when I released Unravelled. Of course, the challenge is to act on the analysis!
What a fascinating piece of analysis – thank you! I’m glad that I’m not doing too badly in terms of potential reader demographics 🙂
What demographic are you targeting, Nicky?
Thanks for this resource! Very interesting finds!
My pleasure, Ashlee. More information to follow.
Very interesting, Mary–I tweeted this (@vbholmes) as you’ve compiled a lot of useful information that will be of interest to others. Many thanks for sharing your work.
You’re welcome! And thanks for the tweet!
Thank you for doing this, Mary. I shared it with several of my writer’s groups. As an indie-published author (and otherwise), I find it interesting that readers don’t really care HOW a book is published, as long as the quality is good. That’s good to hear. 🙂 Bobbi A. Chukran, author of Lone Star Death.
I’m so pleased to know that you shared the survey and thanks for stopping by. I’ll have some further posts when I have time for more analysis.
Mary, your work here has brought fresh insights. It confirms some ideas but also surprises with others. A compelling document! Well done!
Many thanks, Jeanette!
This report is very interesting! Thank you!
Mary, your survey is interesting, informative and very professionally done. I used to teach statistics to psychology students (who didn’t want to know about it!) and found your analysis to be excellent.
I am posting a link to it in my newsletter Bobbing Around http://wp.me/P3Xihq-1
You are welcome to send me a 200 word promo item about your book.
bob at bobswriting.com
🙂
Bob
many than for your interest, Bob and for spreading the word. I’m intrigued to see your role as professional grandfather! What an excellent concept.
I consider all kids to be my grandbabies. Hundreds have sent me cries for help, and somehow my words often ease their pain and steer them onto a better path in life. And I am a passionate conservationist because I want a future for them.