Sometimes I receive things that are so important, I put aside other things I was going to write about, and I put the word out on the new topic. This is one of those times.

When I received a note with the subjectline: National Women's Books Study Launched Today - I hesitated opening it. It seemed too focused on the two most important topics I write about: books and women. Could it be spam, I wondered?

It wasn't spam. It was a press release discussing the eWomenPublishing Network and Content Connections partnering to launch a national, comprehensive study "on the reading, recommending and book buying habits of women. The study also investigate the factors that can help more women become successful, published authors."

According to the press release, "over the past 52 weeks, fewer than 15 percent of the books on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list were authored by women. Industry experts estimate that nearly 70 percent of non-fiction books are purchased by women."

I'm very familiar with these stats. Over at WME Books, we study this quite a bit. That's why our focus is on women authors and leadership. We don't post on it enough on the Aha! blog, but it's part of everything we do and talk about.

How familiar were you with this information? What will you do with it? I hope you'll share it.

"Women and Books 2007 National Study" is a survey available online from March 8th, International Women's Day, through Mother's Day, May 13th. The press release says, "The survey focuses on non-fiction books that female readers buy for themselves, give to others, and receive from family,  friends and professional associates. It also explores the factors that influence women's decisions to buy, give or read a book."

All participants will receive a copy of the report - free. And they will be entered into a drawing to win one of twenty $100 specialty retail gift certificates. Results will be announced during Book Expo - in NYC, May 31st-June 3rd. (we hope to be there)

Those of you with blogs, please pass this along to your readers. Use it to understand your women customers better. Women are readers - and business professionals and Moms and sisters and colleagues... communicating, through books, is something we all do almost as a matter of fact. Shouldn't the rest of us be encouraging women to be writers, also? This study will show us how.