Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 6, Volume 6 | Page 17

INDUSTRY NEWS BOOK READING HABITS 2016 A growing share of Americans are reading e-books on tablets and smartphones rather than dedicated e-readers, but print books remain much more popular than books in digital formats Among the main findings of a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,520 American adults conducted March 7-April 4, 2016, the survey showed that even through reading books in print editions remains at the center of the bookreading landscape as a whole, over the past five years the “e-book landscape” has reflected a distinct shift. A FEW MORE INTERESTING STATISTICS THE SHARE OF AMERICANS Rather than using dedicated e-readers, more and more Americans have begun to read their books on multipurpose devices like smartphones and tablet computers. Since 2011, the share of e-book reader apps on tablets has more than tripled, and the number of readers on phones has more than doubled. However, the share who read on e-book reading devices has not changed. Smartphones now play a prominent role in the e-reading habits of certain demographic groups, like non-whites and those who have not attended college. WHO READ IN ORDER TO The share of Americans who have read a book in the last year remains largely unchanged since 2012; Americans still read more print books than either e-books or listen to audio books. TO KEEP UP WITH CURRENT RESEARCH A SPECIFIC TOPIC OF INTEREST HAS INCREASED IN RECENT YEARS OLDER AND YOUNGER ADULTS ARE EQUALLY LIKELY TO READ FOR PLEASURE OR EVENTS; YOUNGER ADULTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO READ FOR WORK OR SCHOOL, OR TO RESEARCH A TOPIC OF INTEREST ABOUT ONE-IN-FIVE AMERICANS UNDER THE AGE OF 50 HAVE USED A CELLPHONE TO READ EBOOKS NEARLY FOUR-IN-TEN AMERICANS READ PRINT BOOKS EXCLUSIVELY; JUST 6% ARE DIGITAL-ONLY BOOK READERS WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE PAGE 9 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016