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.