e-Reader Ownership Doubles as One in Six Americans Reports Having One

As major print book retailers dismantle, the growth of e-Reader popularity climbs

After 26 years, the entire chain of Borders bookstores began shutting down.

In addition to debt, the book retailer had issues keeping up with a changing industry.

An industry we are now seeing grow quite quickly, with the popularity and acceptance of digital reading products like e-Readers and eBooks.

According to Harris Interactive, one in six Americans (15%) use an e-Reader device. This number is up from 8% a year ago. Another one in six Americans plan to get an e-Reader within the next six months.

Owners of e-Readers read more

Nearly one-third (32%) of e-Reader owners read 11-20 books per year and over one-quarter (27%) read 21 or more books.

Perhaps the convenience level of e-Readers gets people to read more because the associated numbers are higher than those from non-owners. For instance, 16% of Americas who don’t own an e-Reader reported reading 11-20 books per year and 20% reported reading 21 or more. Therefore, twice as many e-Reader owners read 11-20 books each year.

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e-Reader owners buy more books

This statistic was quite surprising. According to Harris Interactive, “One-third of Americans (32%) say they have not purchased any books in the past year compared to only 6% of e-Reader users who say the same.”

In the past year, 34% of e-Reader users purchased between at least 11 books, opposed to 19% of non-users who reported the same. It’s easy to see that e-Reader users are purchasing more, and reading more, than traditional print book readers.

The Harris Poll involved 2,183 adults who were surveyed online between July 11 and July 18, 2011.

As the popularity of e-Readers grows, so does the opportunity for publishers to offer more content through this desirable medium.

Do you think e-Readers are here to stay? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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