Worth 1000 Words?: The Influence of Image Versus Text Content on the Book Selection Process

Following the rise of the electronic book, how readers interact with books and ebooks to choose what to read, has been a growing topic of interest in human-computer interaction. This paper presents a three-step investigation into book selection processes in bookstores, that includes observations and interviews. We examine differences between reader behaviour in two broad types of books: text-focussed and image-rich. The findings reveal that users examine common facets of the different types of book in different ways, and that the selection processes for the two types follow different sequences. While similarities and common factors exist, user behaviour is fundamentally different. Previews of digital books can benefit from this insight to create different presentations to glimpse text-focussed or image-rich ebooks.