Stats You Need to Know When Writing Your Next E-book

By Inspiringly

You plan a new book or want to support your service by creating an insightful e-book? Check some book reading and book publishing stats before you go ahead with your e-book.

More than a quarter of American adults, or 26 percent, say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the last 12 months, according to a report by Pew Research. It means these people have not read a book in print, electronic or audio form, so it is not about the book format but the very intention to ever read a book.

Some 37 percent of all adults with a high school degree or less are not reading books in any format during a period of 12 months. Only 7 percent of college graduates report they have not read a single book in the past year. Nonetheless, you should be aware that higher educated respondents are more likely to provide misleading information about their book reading habits.

Americans who have not attended college are also least likely to own smartphones, which in turn affects their e-book reading stats on mobile devices. College-graduated adults own most of these devices and use them to read e-books at a varied rate.

Obviously, Americans with annual household incomes of $30,000 report the lowest book-reading rate at 33 percent. Nonetheless, a quarter of people with household income between $30,000 and $75,000 have not read a book in any form over a year, and 17 percent of those having income over $75,000 a year do not read books in any form.

Older Americans read less with 28 percent of adults aged 50 and older reporting they have not read a book in the past year. This rate stands at 20 percent among those aged under 50.

A global study by research firm GFK finds that 60 percent of those who have access to the Internet are reading books on a daily or weekly basis.

The highest percentage of "daily" book readers is in China, according to the survey.

A somewhat surprising finding is that Netherlands and South Korea occupy the first place for percentage of online consumers who say they never read books. You should bear in mind that the survey covers the online populations, so there might be higher overall percentages in other countries.

According to the stats, women are more likely to read books on a regular basis compared to men.​

The largest markets publish more books as expected.

China is the country that publishes most books and the United States follow, according to a report by Bookstr. The United Kingdom comes third when book publishing is concerned.

World countries that publish the most books. Red is for higher number of books published while countries and regions highlighted in grey do not publish books at all.

All in all, the above statistics are not quite alarming, especially bearing in mind that reading on mobile devices is constantly growing.

Nonetheless, you should carefully research you target audience and their reading habits and preferences before starting a book or an e-book. You may well find that your potential readers prefer one book format to another or that they prefer plain video or audio to books.

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