Americans on average read 12 books a year, but that average is skewed by a smaller number who read much more than 12 books, as the median number of books read by American adults is four. Are those books likely to be traditional print books, or an eBook?
The Kindle e-reader was launched ten years ago, but reading on tablets, smartphones and e-readers have yet to put print books to pasture. In fact, print books remain far more popular than e-books as about 40% of Americans read print books exclusively while just 6% are digital-only book readers. Over the past few years, print books have been taking back market share from e-books and the growth of e-books has leveled off and may be in decline. Last year sales of print books increased by 3% while the sales of e-books declined.
Here’s a chart on the topic from the Pew Research Center:
A few other interesting facts about reading books:
- Younger people are more likely to have read a book in the past year vs. those over age 65
- Women tend to read more books than men, as they average 15 books a year to the 9 books a year averaged by males.
- The average and mean number of books read per year increase with education level attained
- Also – reading e-books close to bedtime may interfere with sleep. More on this later . . .
The Pew Study: http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/09/01/book-reading-2016/
Real books are the best!
I think readability and comprehension is better from real books vs e-books, at least as far as it seems from academia and students textbook reading. Something to do with the formatting and the way the info is displayed in e-book version vs regular book. I’ll have to find the data for you.