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(1) THE ENTHUSIASTS

All those informants who had seen more than one of the books were asked if any particular book was preferred. Evidence given above indicates that individual books have satisfied no particular pressing desire for knowledge. It might, therefore, be expected that a considerable proportion of the population would not express preferences. In fact, 48% of those who had seen more than one book indicated a preference for one of the six books and 52% of these informants gave no preference.

As those who expressed preference had not seen all the books but only two or more of them, the frequencies of the actual preferences given are necessarily biased in favour of those books which had more frequently been seen. In order to eliminate this bias the percentages have been weighted so as to give the result that would have been obtained had each book had an equal chance of being considered for preference. Both the weighted and the unweighted results are shown below.

It will be noted that weighting does not alter the order in which the books rank in so far as the numbers expressing preferences for them are concerned, those books that are seen more frequently being also more frequently preferred. However, the weighted results show that Bomber Command and Combined Operations were preferred by almost equal proportions, when their chances for being considered for preference are equalised, although Bomber Command was more frequently seen. Front Line is undoubtedly the favourite, and the Battle of Egypt and Coastal Command are rather less frequently preferred than others.

In the table below the percentages for each book of total sales and of total books seen are compared with the percentages of preferences.

In the proportions they form of sales and of books seen Front Line and Bomber Command are about equal, but among the group of people who had seen more than one book and gave preferences Front Line is much more frequently preferred. In this connection it should be noted that Bomber Command was published a year before Front Line which was the first of the other books to be published (the rest following at closer intervals during the next six months), and it is possible that there is a tendency to give the more recently read book as a preference although the earlier one might have been liked as much at the time when it was read. Also Bomber Command was unobtainable from March 1943 onwards. (Copies of Bomber Command Continues were still available)

Battle of Egypt and Combined Operations form equal proportions of the books seen though Battle of Egypt sold more copies. However, Combined Operations is considerably higher among the preferences. Battle of Egypt is third in sales, fourth or fifth in “books seen” and last in preferences. Its high position in sales may be due to the fact that it cost less than the other books.

Analysis by Sex

(49% of the men and 46% of the women who had seen more than one book expressed preferences. More of the men than of the women had seen more than one book.)

This analysis shows two marked differences. Front Line is more frequently preferred by women. It will be remembered a relatively high proportion of women said that the chief thing they learnt from the books was “the way the British people faced it”. On the other hand men more frequently preferred Combined Operations and “the way the Services work together” was the reply given by a high proportion of men to the question “What was the chief thing you got from the books?” These results it should be noted are not influenced by the proportions of men and women who had seen the different books, for the percentages are weighted as described above. The differences between the preferences of men and women are of particular interest when it is remembered that women are under-represented in the present audience. The results suggest that more books of the Front Line type might be a way of attracting more women readers.

The numbers expressing preferences are not sufficient to permit of detailed analysis by region, occupation and other groups. However, it may be said that Front Line appeals rather more frequently to the lower economic groups and Combined Operations to the upper economic group and those with higher education.

The proportions expressing preference should not be taken as a complete indication of popularity. As has been pointed out, only 39% of the sample had seen more than one book and were, therefore, asked to indicate preferences. Further, only half of these, or about one fifth of the total sample, were, in fact, able to indicate such preferences. The preferences quoted above express, therefore, only the opinion of section of the population which is relatively well acquainted with the books. Those informants with preferences were asked: “What struck you particularly about it?” The answers are compared in Table 40 with the answers to a similar question of all those who had seen any books.

Some of those who had seen books gave more than one reason for liking them and so the percentages in the first column add to more than 100. However, those giving reasons for preferences for particular books gave only one reason each and, therefore, the percentage in the second column add to 100. This difference should be noted in comparing the two sets of results.

Of the section expressing preferences a high proportion said they were particularly interested because their relatives were involved in the events described in the books preferred. Also the answer “Adventurous, exciting presentation” comes up rather more frequently as a reason for particular preference than as a reason for liking the books in general.

The group of “enthusiasts” expressing preferences are spread fairly evenly amongst those sections of the population which had seen more than one book, but it will be remembered that there were sharp variations in the proportions of the various groups in the population which had seen more than one book.

A few interesting differences were found in the appeals made to this special “enthusiastic” group by the different books which they preferred.

The special appeal of the technical explanations of Combined Operations and the family interests of Front Line are clear.

Results for East of Malta. West of Suez and the Battle of Egypt are subject to wide margins of error, the numbers preferring these books being small.

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(2) THE GENERAL AUDIENCE

The appeal the books made to the wider audience, of which the “enthusiasts” are a section, has been dealt with broadly in the section on Reception. It now remains to deal with the separate books and to show how they we re received by their audiences.

In the table below the sales figures and the estimated number of persons in the population seeing the different books are shown again. The third column shows the average number of persons seeing one copy.

The averages given are subject to a margin of error of + or - about .3

The peculiarity of the Coastal Command figures has already been noted in discussing the audience and the proportions saying they bought the books. This book accounts for the same proportion, 18%, of the books seen and the books “bought”, but only for 13% of the total sales figure * Consequently the (estimated) average number of persons seeing one copy is inordinately high. This cannot be explained. It is shown below that the number of persons per copy is likely to be a good indication of the comparative popularity of different books. But in the case of Coastal Command other evidence does not bear this out. The book ranks third for being seen. It will be remembered that rather a low proportion of the “enthusiastic” group gave this book as a preference, and it will be seen later that the proportion saying they read this book “all through” is about average.

There is some indication that copies of Front Line and Bomber Command were seen by more people than copies of East of Malta and the Battle of Egypt. It will be remembered that the last two books were less frequently preferred by the group of “enthusiasts” who expressed preferences. However, the differences are not much larger than could be accounted for by the errors of random sampling. The factor of date of publication might also have some influence here. There has been more time during which the books published earlier on could have been seen and passed from hand to hand. In view of this the figure for the most recent book, Combined Operations is relatively high.

With these reservations in mind it may be argued that the number of persons seeing each copy is a better indication of the popularity of individual books than the crude sales figures. The more people who see a copy the greater interest it may be supposed the book has. It must be remembered that the characteristics (occupation, age, etc.) of the people who buy the books will probably influence the number of persons seeing each copy. The reader who works and spends part of the day with many others is likely to bring more people into contact with the books than the reader who has a more restricted orbit. It follows that the size of the total audience may be influenced by the extent to which those making initial contact with the publication are daily members of large or small groups. The total audience if these arguments are accepted, may, therefore, be expected to reflect both public interest and the occupation and other characteristics of those who are initially attracted to the books.

The proportions of those interviewed who saw the different books are given in Table 45.

The two most popular books, Front Line and Bomber Command, were thus seen by about a third of the adult civilian population. Nearly as many saw Coastal Command , and many more saw this book than East of Malta, West of Suez which sold about as many copies. The latter seems to be the least popular of the six books.

Analysis by Sex

All books were seen more frequently by men than by women, however, it is noteworthy that men show very much bigger proportions seeing Combined Operations and Bomber Command than do women, and that nearly as many of the women as of the men saw Front Line . It will be remembered that amongst the “enthusiasts” who gave preferences, Front Line was more frequently preferred by women and Combined Operations by men.

Of those aged over 65, 21% saw Front Line against only 14% who saw Bomber Command. Otherwise analysis by age groups shows only small differences.

Analyses by Economic Group and Education

In the upper economic group and amongst those with university education the proportions seeing Bomber Command are high in relation to the proportions seeing Front Line . The difference in the proportions of different groups seeing Front Line is rather less than is the case with other books.

It may also be noted that the differences in the proportions seeing Combined Operations and Battle of Egypt are marked in the upper economic group and the university group although about the same proportions of the whole sample saw these two books.

Thus Combined Operations and Bomber Command are relatively more popular among men, upper economic group and those with higher education, and also as shown in Table 48, amongst those with professional and managerial jobs.

Front Line is popular amongst all groups, but particularly so amongst women, the lower economic group and those with elementary education only. It is shown also by Table 48 that this book is relatively more popular amongst housewives.

Analysis by Occupation

It is clear that Front Line and Bomber Command have the most widespread audiences These books were the most popular of the six investigated amongst all sections of the population with the exception of agricultural workers. Amongst this latter group, which forms only a small part of the population, Front Line was not particularly popular.

Coastal Command was also popular with all groups, and particularly so with the managerial and professional group.

East of Malta, West of Suez was the book with the smallest audience in all groups.

It will be seen that a relatively high proportion of the retired and unoccupied group, which consists largely of old age pensioners, saw The Battle of Egypt. This book cost only 7d. The others cost from 1/- to 2/-.

The Battle of Egypt was also particularly popular in Scotland as Table 49 shows.

Regional differences in some cases reflect the subject matter of the books. Front Line as might be expected, being particularly popular in London, and Coastal Command in the South West which has longstanding seafaring traditions.

Analysis by Region

Apart from the differences mentioned above the audiences for individual books are spread fairly evenly over the country. It will be remembered that in Wales a relatively low proportion saw any of the books.

Analysis by Size of Town

Analysis of the audience for the books by town size shows only small differences, with the exception that a relatively high proportion, 55% of those living in rural areas did not see any books. However, there are some differences in the frequencies with which individual books were seen in towns of different sizes.

In towns of medium size Coastal Command was the most popular book. It may be noted that this group of towns includes a number of coastal towns and river mouth ports - Aberdeen, Tynemouth, Newcastle, Gateshead, Hull, Cardiff and Southampton. The group of small towns includes fewer ports.

Front Line is particularly popular in large towns, possibly because these have experienced more severe bombing.

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EXTENT TO WHICH BOOKS WERE READ

Informants were asked with regard to each book “How much did you see?”, and were asked to say whether they read the books all through, read part of them or only looked at the pictures.

There is not much difference in the proportions who read the different books, but Front line , Bomber Command and Combined Operations gained rather more attention than others.

Analysis by sex

Clearly women, even when they see books, are much less assiduous readers than men. Table 53 shows the proportions of men and women who only looked at the pictures, which shows this difference more sharply.

Analyses made by economic group and by education show that in the middle and upper economic groups and among the more highly educated, higher proportions of those who saw the books read them all through.

The numbers seeing individual books in different regions and occupation groups are not sufficiently large to give reliable results for these groups.

WHAT CONCLUSION MIGHT BE DRAWN FROM THESE PREFERENCES ?

The first section of this report showed that certain groups in the population were not represented fully in the audience for M.O.I. publications. A study of the individual books which these groups preferred, as reflected in the proportions of the groups which saw them, might be expected to throw some light on why the audience for M.O.I books is weighted against certain sections.

(1). Women, and in particular housewives, are under represented in the audience. The section on Preferences shows that Front Line was most popular with women, and housewives. On the other hand, men preferred Bomber Command and gave large audiences to Combined Operations. whilst women gave small audience to Combined Operations . The conclusion might be drawn that if it is desired to increase the numbers of women who see these books, then Front Line should be the model rather than Bomber Command , or Combined Operations . Alternatively, more books of the Front Line sort should be issued in addition to the usual output. Table 36 showed the differences in the appeal made by the books to men and women and those differences should be considered as an additional indication of the needs the books must satisfy if they are to reach special groups.

2. The lower economic groups and those with elementary education only were under represented in the audience. Front Line seemed to appeal especially to these groups whilst Bomber Command and Combined Operations made a much larger appeal to the upper groups in both categories.

3. Besides Front Line , which seemed to meet the needs of groups to which other books did not make sufficient appeal, Coastal Command appealed though in lesser measure , to all groups. East of Malta, West of Suez , on the other hand, was least popular amongst all groups. A detailed study of these three books should, therefore , yield valuable indications as to the factors which make for a wide general appeal.