Pew stats: Libraries, their patrons and e-books

According to Pew, a majority of e-book borrowers report that they are heavy readers in all formats, including books they've purchased and books lent to them. In addition, E-book borrowers report that they have read an average of 29 books in the past year, compared with 23 books for readers who do not borrow e-books from a library. Even more interesting is the fact that the median (midpoint) figures for books reportedly read by e-book borrowers were 20 in the past year and 12 by non-borrowers.

Surprisingly, the broader public, not just e-book readers, is generally not aware that they can borrow e-books from libraries with 62% of readers ages 16 and older not knowing if their library offered that service. Twenty-two percent stated that they were aware that their library does lend out e-books, while 14% report that they know their library does not lend out e-books.  According to Pew, more than three-quarters of the nation’s public libraries lend e-books.

When asked their opinion about the selection of ebooks offered by their libraries, two-thirds of library patrons report the selection is good at their library: Thirty-two percent of e-book borrowers report the selection at their library is “good,” 18% say it is “very good,” and 16% say it is “excellent.” Twenty-three percent say the selection is only “fair,” 4% say it is “poor,” and 8% say they don’t know.

Patrons want more information about borrowing ebooks if their library were to offer resources available that made accessing ebooks possible with 46% of those who do not currently borrow e-books from libraries reporting that they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to borrow an e-reading device that came loaded with a book they wanted to read. Thirty-two percent of those who do not currently borrow e-books say they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to take a library class on how to download e-books onto handheld devices. Thirty-two percent of those who do not currently borrow e-books say they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to take a course at a library in how to use an e-reader or tablet computer. Demographics included in this statistics includes African-Americans, Hispanics, and those who live in lower-income households.

Libraries = Recommendations!  Library patrons are reported to be more than twice as likely to have purchased their most recent book than to have borrowed it from the library.  Many of these purchases were made after borrowing the ebook: 48% say they had bought their most recent book; 24% borrowed it from a friend; 14% borrowed it from the library; and 13% got it another way. Fifty-five percent of the e-book readers who also had library cards said they preferred to buy their e-books and 36% said they preferred to borrow them from any source—friends or libraries. Some 46% of library card holders said they prefer to purchase print books they want to read and 45% said they preferred to borrow print books.  Thirty-three percent of E-book borrowers report that they generally prefer to buy e-books and 57% say they generally prefer to borrow them. In addition, 71% of e-book borrowers say they get book recommendations from online bookstores and websites; 39% say they get recommendations from the staff at bookstores they visit; and 42% say they get recommendations from librarians. When looking for an ebook 47% of those who borrow e-books from libraries say they first look at online bookstores and websites and 41% say they start at their public library.

Let's read!

Everybody's doing it? Pew stats: A third of Americans Now Own Tablets

According to the recent info from the Pew Internet & American Life Project,  34% of adults in the United States  own a tablet computer, like an iPad, Samsung Galaxy or Amazon Kindle Fire, compared with a year ago when only 18% owned tablets. 

According to Pew, demographic groups more likely to own tablets include individuals living in households earning at least $75,000 per year (56%), adults ages 35-44 (49%) and college graduates (49%).

Second to smartphones,  tablets are the second-most popular mobile e-reading device in the country.  As stated by Research Analyst Kathryn Zickuhr said. "With smartphones, for instance, we’ve seen a very strong correlation with age where most younger adults own smartphones, regardless of income level. But when it comes to tablets, adults in their thirties and forties are now significantly more likely than any other age group to own this device."

With so many tablets in the hands of the readers you are trying to reach, it's time to put your book into those hands. Contact us, we'd love to work with you!  Enter our summer reading contest! It's free and gives you a chance to "strut your literary stuff"!

Goodread: Ten Million Strong!

Yesterday Goodreads announced that it now has 10 million members! Initally taking four and a half years to reach 5 million members, in only 15 months it has doubled that number. According to Goodreads, six books are added on Goodreads per second.

Since it's humble "livingroom beginning", the vibrant Goodreads community and company has continued to blossom, consisting of a team of 30, officing in San Francisco.  The group has launched an array of new products, including a successful Recommendations Engine.

Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. Their 10,000,000 members who have added more than 350,000,000 books to their shelves. Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more.

More good news:  the Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books. Authors are invited to advertise their books to the Goodreads 10,000,000 reader community, list book giveaways, lead question and answer discussion groups and participate in discussion about your books on your profile.

The Author Program is designed for people with published books, or who are in the process of publishing a book. It's best if your work is on a bookseller's website, such as Amazon.com or BN.com, but they will accept any author who has published a book. This includes authors from other countries as well as authors who are self-published (such as through Barnes & Noble pubit! or services like Lulu). If your book is self-published and is not yet in the Goodreads database, it can be manually added by visting their site www.goodreads.com.

Get the word out! Ten million readers are waiting to hear from you!

bbpco celebrates "read an ebook week" with 50% off!

bbpco., an indie publishinghouse is proud to be part of Read An Ebook Week, we’re offering Soul Powerful, Everyday Life Lessons for half off at this link:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/112676.  Be sure you enter the sale code REW50 to enjoy the reward!  So hurry, the celebration ends March 10, 2012!

bbpco., an indie publishinghouse

Go Green! Read An Ebook!

Big news for bbpco!

Awesome news for bbpco!  This month marks the official publication date for our new kindle title, Soul Powerful, Everyday Life Lessons for Uncovering and Recovering Your Greatness Within.  Look for us in the Amazon.com kindle bookstore!  Or click here and we will take you directly to the title page!

Keep writing!

Room To Grow!

It's a great big world for indie authors! 

According to Fast Company Magazine (May 2011), Amazon sells more ebooks than paper books.  Since arriving on the scene in November 2007, Kindle book sales have surpassed hardcover books sales, six months later, Kindle books then outsold paperback books. 

As mentioned in an Amazon annoucement, for every 100 print and paper books Amazon has sold, it has also sold 105 ebooks.  As stated by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, Amazon customers are "choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined that it would happen this quickly".

Amazon buyers are buying Kindle books at a rate three times faster than paper books during the same period, representing a huge change in reading habits. 

Make sure you're putting your works out there, put yourself among the number of authors being read electronically!

Join the ebook movement! Let your voice be ... read!

Big gains on the ebook front! 

According to figures released today by BookStats, the joint AAP, BISG program developed to create an analysis of industrywide sales, total book publishing revenue rose 3.1% in 2010 to $27.9 billion and posted a two-year growth of 5.6%, this gain was due almost entirely to increases in digital products which offset the decline in all print formats. 

Ebook sales across all catagories rose 38.9% in 2010 to $1.62 billion.  Within the trade segment, ebook sales soared 1,274.1% to $878 million in the 2008-2010 period $203% in 2010 compared to 2009). 

According to BookStats, regular ebook (text only) sales rose 201% last year to $863.7 million and enhanced ebook sales increased 255.1% to $14.3 million. Unit sales of ebooks rose 215.5% in 2010 to 111.9 million.

Isn't it time that you got yourself into the market?  What's stopping you?

Keep writing!  Stay Independent!