EReaders Read More

by Jack Loechner, Sep 30, 2011, 6:15 AM

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The results of The Harris Poll in July, 2011 show 15% of Americans uses an e-Reader device, up from 8% a year ago. Also, among those who do not have an e-Reader, 15% say they are likely to get an e-Reader device in the next six months.

Consumers Use of EReader (% of All adults)
Use?	Total 2010	Total 2011	Region
			East	Midwest	South	West
Yes	8%	15%	19%	9%	14%	20%
No	92	85	81	91	86	80
Source: Harris Interactive, September 2011 (Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding)

While some lament the introduction of the e-Reader as a death knell for books, the opposite is true, says the report. First, those who have e-Readers do, in fact, read more. Overall, 16% of Americans read between 11 and 20 books a year with one in five reading 21 or more books in a year. But, among those who have an eReader, 32% read 11-20 books a year and over one-quarter read 21 or more books in an average year.

Books Read In A Year (All adults; % of Respondents by Group)
			e-Reader		Generation
Read	Total 2010	Total 2011	Use	Does not use	Echo Boomers (18-34)	Gen. X (35-65)	Baby Boomers (47-65)	Matures (66+)
0	9%	15%	8%	18%	13%	19%	17%	12%
1-2	14	14	7	15	9	15	18	11
3-5	20	20	14	21	23	17	20	17
6-10	16	15	18	15	17	14	14	16
11-20	21	16	32	13	20	14	14	15
21+	19	20	27	19	19	20	17	29
Source: Harris Interactive, September 2011 (Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding)

E-Reader users are also more likely to buy books. One-third of Americans say they have not purchased any books in the past year compared to only 6% of e-Reader users who say the same. One in ten Americans purchased between 11 and 20 books in the past year. Again, e-Reader users are more likely to have bought, or downloaded books, as 17% purchased between 11 and 20 .

Books Purchased In Past Year (% of All adults)
Books Purchased			e-Reader
	Total 2010	Total 2011	Use	Do Not Use
0	21%	32%	6%	36%
1-2	17	17	12	18
3-5	22	17	20	17
6-10	17	15	28	13
11-20	11	10	17	9
21+	12	9	17	8
Source: Harris Interactive, September 2011 (Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding)

One of the criticisms of e-Readers is that people who have them may download more books than they would traditionally purchase, but read at the same levels. So far this criticism is not holding true at all.

Half of both e-Reader users and non-users say they read the same amount as they did six months ago. However, while 24% of non e-Reader users say they are reading less than they did before, over one-third of e-Reader users say they are reading more compared to just 16% of non-users.

Change In Reading Habits (% of All adults)
Reading Habit	Total 2010	Total 2011	e-Reader
			Uses	Does not use
Read the same amount as before	49	51	50	51
Read less than before.	23	21	8	24
Read more than before.	21	19	36	16
Purchase more books now, but do not read them as readily as before.	4	3	4	3
Not at all sure	4	6	2	6
Source: Harris Interactive, September 2011 (Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding)

In conclusion, the report observes that E-Readers are definitely here to stay and this means the publishing world needs to learn to change with the times. There will always be a place for books in hard cover or paperback. But, there must also be a place for reading devices as well. Readers are quickly catching on to this wave as have the booksellers. This is a huge transition time for publishing companies.

Regardless of how they are reading it, says the report, there are types of books people like to read. Among those who say they read at least one book in an average year, three-quarters say they read both fiction (76%) and non-fiction (76%) but certain types of books rise to the top in both categories.

Types Of Books Read (% of Adults who read at least one book in average year)
Type of Book	Total	Generation				Gender
		Echo Boomers (18-34)	Gen. X (35-46)	Baby Boomers (47-65)	Matures (66+)	Male	Female
Fiction (Net)	76%	79%	73%	73%	77%	67%	83%
Mystery, Thriller and Crime	47	41	46	49	57	36	57
Science Fiction	25	26	29	26	16	32	19
Literature	23	36	22	16	14	23	23
Romance	23	21	24	20	28	4	38
Graphic Novels	10	14	11	8	8	11	9
Chick-Lit	8	12	10	4	4	3	12
Westerns	5	4	6	6	7	5	6
Other Fiction	33	37	33	27	36	27	37
Non-Fiction (Net)	76	68	82	81	73	78	74
Biographies	29	24	30	29	37	31	27
History	27	24	24	27	36	37	19
Religious and Spirituality	24	19	28	27	22	19	28
Self-help	18	13	25	21	13	15	20
True Crime	13	13	19	14	5	8	17
Current Affairs	12	12	10	15	11	15	10
Political	11	11	12	10	13	17	7
Business	10	10	12	11	7	15	6
Other non-fiction	26	32	30	21	22	27	26
Source: Harris Interactive, September 2011 (Multiple responses accepted)

Please visit Harris Interactive here for more information.

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0 comments on "EReaders Read More".

1. Kimberly Conon from Luminosity Marketing
   

   commented on: September 30, 2011 at 11:56 a.m.

   Love this research--there's so much potential for targeting readers of ebooks and it's excellent to review the different ways this opportunity is being quantified. We put together a few thoughts on this issue a couple months ago--you can check it out here: http://luminositymarketing.com/blog/?p=4630

   Kimberly Conon, Luminosity Marketing

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