With New Gadgets Come New Readers as Electronic Publishing Increases

With the rise of Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, the amount of people carrying around hard-copy books appears to be dwindling. New gadgets are allowing more and more readers, from students to quintessential book lovers, to adapt to e-books and forgo paper pages in favor of touch screens.

In October 2012, 3D Issue released an infographic, titled “The Digital Publishing Explosion,” that highlights the extent to which electronic publications has affected readership in recent years. Citing OpenUniversities.com, the infographic claims that the average e-book reader reads up to twenty-four books a year in comparison to the print-only reader, who reads an average of fifteen books a year.

According to the Pew Research Center, in December 2011, 17 percent of American adults claimed to have read an e-book. By February 2012, that percentage had jumped to 21 percent. Mobile technology is affecting not just how we read our books, but how we go about our daily lives, from checking email to reading the news. According the same infographic by 3D Issue, at least 23 percent of U.S. adults get their news from two or more mobile devices.

The growing trend of reading e-books as opposed to print copies is the result of technological advancement in user-friendly portable tablets. With the rise of such technology, publishers have increasingly turned to e-books as the way forward.

The shift toward e-books and other types of electronic publications is largely due to the target audience of avid readers, according to Pew Research Center. Pew states that e-book readers are “also more likely than others to have bought their most recent book, rather than borrowed it, and they are more likely than others to say they prefer to purchase books in general, often starting their search online.”

While the internet has increased the availability of books and publications, it has also had negative effects on the print industry. With a decrease in revenue, Borders bookstores across the country, for instance, have shut their doors for good. Some analysts claim this is because Borders was too late in the game when it came to taking advantage of the rising e-book industry. Although the current U.S. economic crisis has also taken a toll generally, many bookstores across the country are facing a similar situation as the threat of dwindling revenue looms.

The use of the internet for everyday reading has also had similar effects on newspapers. For example, New Orleans’s only city newspaper, the Times-Picayune, which is also the largest daily paper in the state of Louisiana, ended its seven-days-a-week printing schedule in September 2012, cutting back to print editions only three days a week while expanding its digital format.

Tadween Publishing would like to remind readers that we, too, have taken note of the rising popularity of e-books, and our forthcoming publications, “Mediating the Arab Uprisings” and “Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections,” will be available both electronically and in print. Order your copies today!