Most American adults read a print book in the past year, even as e-reading continues to grow

PEW reporting:
The proportion of Americans who read e-books is growing, but few have completely replaced print books for electronic versions.
The percentage of adults who read an e-book in the past year has risen to 28%, up from 23% at the end of 2012. At the same time, about seven in ten Americans reported reading a book in print, up four percentage points after a slight dip in 2012, and 14% of adults listened to an audiobook.
Though e-books are rising in popularity, print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits. Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4% of readers are “e-book only.” Audiobook listeners have the most diverse reading habits overall, while fewer print readers consume books in other formats.

Overall, 76% of adults read a book in some format over the previous 12 months. The typical American adult read or listened to 5 books in the past year, and the average for all adults was 12 books.¹ Neither the mean nor median number of books read has changed significantly over the past few years.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2014/E-Reading-Update/Overview.aspx

E-Readers and Tablets Detrimental to Children’s Reading Says Study

A new study was just released earlier today that shows e-readers and tablets are detrimental to children’s reading habits. Out of all the children that have e-readers and tablets, fewer than half actually use the devices to read. What’s even more shocking is that the children who did use the electronic gadgets to read only engaged in reading for five minutes per day-far below the minimum recommendations for optimal brain development.
The research supports earlier studies that show electronic gadgets are inferior for reading as it pertains to comprehension and learning. Children also read slower when staring at screens than they do when reading a paper book, and they retain much less information from screens than they do from paper.
When children read with printed books on paper, they read an average of a half an hour at a time. Compared with five minutes on an E-reader, 30 minutes is far superior, and that amount of time creates an environment for enhanced learning. Children remember the information better shortly after reading, and they are also able to retain the information they learned longer.
The new study released today suggests that e-readers and tablets are highly detrimental to children’s reading habits, but parents are not likely to pay much attention. Studies have shown that parents let their children use screens for up to seven hours a day. This is far over the maximum two hours per day total screen time recommended for children ages 2 and over. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero hours of screen time for children under age 2.
http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/e-readers-and-tablets-detrimental-to-childrens-reading-says-study/

Aptara Releases Findings of its Third Annual Digital Publishing Survey

GoodEreading reports: As digital publishing gains a wider acceptance, companies like Aptara go into greater detail in gathering data on the influential reach of electronic books. Aptara, which bills itself as a “digital publishing solutions pioneer,” released its survey yesterday on the true scope of e-reading.
According to the data’s highlights, it comes as no surprise that Amazon is still leading the forefront of digital ebook distribution. One of the major surprises, though, was that many publishers are still not tapping into the wealth of their back list titles; this could be one of the reason more and more authors are attempting to regain control of the rights to their older—and often out of print—works in an effort to revitalize interest in the author and in the works by self-publishing them to electronic platforms. It’s confounding that many publishers are willing to overlook digital publishing’s reach by not posting these older titles to the existing digital retailers.
The forty-page document from Aptara, available from their site, details where the money is being spent in electronic publishing, as well as gives a clear indication of which platforms are doing the bulk of the business. As this is the third year that Aptara has produced this survey, the results are not only comprehensive, they are also markers of the flow of trends in the industry over time.
The introduction to this year’s survey had this to reveal:
“Though the eBook market is expanding exponentially, it is still young, with unpredictable dynamics and an immature infrastructure. For most publishers, this early-stage market reality results in production growing pains and business model challenges, often overshadowed by the allure of eBook sales figures. While one out of five eBook publishers generates more than 10% of their sales from eBooks, eBook production, promotion, distribution, and sales are still far from reaching their full potential. eBooks’ market opportunity is vast, particularly for the majority of publishers that are still eluded by production efficiencies and meaningful revenues. Publishers still see eBook formats, distribution channels, quality, and digital rights management (DRM) as serious challenges—but these concerns have gradually eased since our first survey—an encouraging sign that the eBook market is beginning to mature.”
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/aptara-releases-findings-of-its-third-annual-digital-publishing-survey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aptara-releases-findings-of-its-third-annual-digital-publishing-survey

Research project about changing reading practices

Uudet lukemisyhteisöt, uudet lukutavat

Tutkijat: Eliisa Vainikka, Raija Koli
Rahoitus: Helsingin Sanomain Säätiö
Aikataulu: 2010-2012

Tiivistelmä: Tutkimushankkeessa selvitetään lukemisen
muotojen, tekstien vastaanottamisen ja lukijoiden oman tuotannon
muuttumista uudeksi lukemiseksi, jota tarkastellaan siirtymänä
yksilöllisestä lukemisesta yhteisölliseen lukemisen ja kirjoittamisen
kulttuuriin.
Uutta lukemista kartoitetaan tuottamalla erilaisia aineistoja vuoden
1980 jälkeen syntyneiden nuorten aikuisten lukemistottumuksista,
mediamuotojen käyttötavoista ja niihin liittyvistä yhteisöllisyyden
muodoista.