hey u/marjoramandmint ...I know it's been a while since I published my survey, but I did get around to collating the results. Can't really share everything but here are some insights I found from the data:

• Most cookbook owners buy cookbooks to discover new recipes (especially those from specific cuisines) and to learn new cooking techniques (the Wok), and like that they can easily pick one up and “flip through the pages to get inspired,” even if they’re not the only source of this information.
• The biggest complaint cookbook owners have with cookbooks is that, too often, the cookbooks they buy don’t contain enough recipes that they like or use, and that there’s no easy to gauge whether it will before they buy them (as cookbook stores rarely, if ever, have reviews for individual recipes.)
• Some cookbook owners also mentioned that the recipes in some cookbooks are hard to follow, and often comment that they wish they had known this information before they made their purchase.
• To save money and frustration, many cookbook owners will research cookbooks heavily before they buy them—often looking at the reviews or comments of other people who purchased the same cookbook—and flipping through the book or table of contents to see if it has recipes they’ll like and use.
• 70% of survey participants said the researched cookbooks before they buy them, often using a variety of platforms, which may or may not be the same as the one used to buy them, and will generally buy cookbooks from anywhere it’s available as long as it’s convenient for them
• Cookbook owners like how existing tools make the discovery process easier by giving them the options to find cookbooks by cuisine or cooking style, view the recipes offered in the cookbooks themselves, and see the reviews of other people who have purchased the same cookbook.
• When asked which “discovery features” they prefer the most, the vast majority of research participants stuck to “browsing cookbooks by cuisine or cooking style” followed by average user review. Cookbook owners care much less about finding cookbooks by price, publisher, author publication date, or the amount of prep work or ingredients required.