Reaching Australian readers: Testing behavioural strategies to increase recreational reading explores which behavioural strategies are most effective at increasing recreational reading rates among Australians.

This report, a collaboration between Creative Australia, Australia Reads and BehaviourWorks Australia, builds on Understanding Australian readers, a 2025 study examining Australians’ attitudes and behaviours around reading. 

^{Photo: Maja Baska}

Key findings 

• Strategies to increase reading are most effective when they: capture attention; feel relevant to that person; prompt reflection on how reading fits in their life; and make them feel confident about finding and reading books.
• The more that the strategy made someone consider how reading fit into their life, captured their attention and felt relevant to someone like them, the more effective it was.
• The more a strategy made people feel confident to read and made reading feel achievable in their lives, the more effective it was.
• To increase intentions to find/get books, the most effective strategies were those that communicated that book recommendations can come from anywhere.
• To increase likelihood of starting and continuing to read, strategies that promoted intentionally finding time to read or rediscovering the comfort of reading were most effective.
• Baseline intentions strongly shaped how people responded – individuals who already had planned to find books and read in the next three months had a stronger positive response to all the strategies.
• Practical, low-effort tactics resonated – people responded best to clear and concrete steps; how to use library apps; how to discover books that match interests; and, how to use pockets of time to meet reading goals.
• Strategies that reduce friction, such as curated recommendations aligned to personal interests, or simple tools that help readers intentionally integrate reading into daily routines, tended to be more effective.

Watch the webinar

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