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When Jose Tano ’06 (Manila, Philippines) decided to research how a new author could get published for his honors thesis, he had no idea how difficult the task would be.
Starting this past summer, Tano and his thesis adviser Thomas Bruggink, professor of economics and business, retooled the thesis and researched variations on the subject. Tano revised his work to focus on book awards and is satisfied with the result.
“There were many people who said it was going to be impossible,” he says. “I mean, I thought it at one point too, but I enjoy doing the impossible.”
Tano is finishing his thesis on book awards’ impact on sales success, a topic with numerous available resources and statistics.
A mathematics-economics major, he shared his findings at the 20th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research April 6-8. He was among 40 Lafayette students whose research had been accepted for presentation there.
Tano researched 320 books from the Publisher’s Weekly top 30 best sellers lists from 1992 to 2002 and compared the results of books that won awards with those that did not. He says big-name authors, who are famous or coming off successful publications, nearly always fared better in the book market.
“The results were what I expected,” he says. “The awards actually didn’t have much of an impact on book sales. That seemed logical to me. People are more comfortable with an author that is established.”
What Tano didn’t expect, however, was how gender affects book sales.
“Women generally sell about 30 percent less books than males,” he says. “And that’s true even if the books are essentially the same. That was the one surprising thing in my research.”
Bruggink says Tano’s dedication to completing his thesis inspired faculty as well as other students.
“It’s common for students to drop an honors thesis before they start it or even after they are into it,” he says. “We were at the point where I may have expected that to happen, but he refused to give up on it. He really pushed.”
Tano credits Bruggink with encouraging his research and helping him through the rough spots.
“I’m not going to lie and say it was all me,” Tano says. “Professor Bruggink was behind me and we talked at length about different ways we could take the project. [It] means a lot for me; it has shown me that I can work through problems.”
Although he is an aspiring writer, Tano’s first priority after graduation is providing for his family in the Philippines.
“That’s my goal,” he says. “I want to make sure they are taken care of as well.”
Tano is a writing associate for the College Writing Program and a member of Calculus Cavalry. He also is a member of Pi Mu Epsilon, national mathematics honor society, and Omicron Delta Epsilon, national economics honor society. He works at Skillman Library and has been a personal tutor.