Reader research · format and belonging
Why physical books still matter for Christian women readers.
The clearest public evidence points toward a strong place for paper: women read print widely, Christian women form an important religious-book audience, and printed books continue to reach far more adults than any single digital format.
Our evidence-led decision
The Spark Unfolding will offer a digital pathway, a print-and-digital pathway, and organization packages that can place the same book into many hands. This design honors tactile reading, immediate access, accessibility, travel, reflection, and gathering.
What the published statistics establish
| Population and year | Finding | Meaning for this book club |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. women, 2025 | 68% read a print book, 33% read an e-book, and 27% listened to an audiobook during the prior year. | Print reached about twice as many women as either digital format. |
| Female readers, calculated from Pew 2025 | Approximately 87% of women who read a book in any format had read print. | Paper remains deeply present in women’s reading lives. This is a calculated use measure, rather than an exclusive-preference measure. |
| U.S. women, 2008 | 85% said they preferred printed books. | The strongest direct women-specific preference result favors paper, with age of evidence considered. |
| Practicing Christians, 2015 | 35% preferred Christian nonfiction and 18% preferred Christian fiction; 34% named spiritual growth as their primary reason for reading. | Faith-centered reading often serves formation, reflection, and lived practice. |
| Women and religious books, 2005 | 50% of women had read a religious or spiritual book within two years, compared with about one-third of men. | Women have long formed a central audience for religious-book publishing. |
The careful conclusion
A current national survey reporting one exact percentage for Christian women who prefer physical books has not appeared in the public evidence reviewed here. The overlapping findings support a high-confidence conclusion that a majority of Christian women readers will value a printed option. The Book Club will gather its own member format selections over time, allowing future packages to rest upon direct audience evidence.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, survey of 8,046 U.S. adults conducted October 6–16, 2025
- Random House and Zogby poll on printed-book preference, 2008
- Barna Group, The State of Books and Reading in a Digital World, 2015
- Barna Group, Religious Books Attract a Diverse Audience Dominated by Women and Boomers, 2005