2010 has seen a great deal of statistics and trends being released about digital media and publishing. We’ve read with great interest the developments in reader habits and behaviour as digital publishing surges.
What is interesting aside from the figures of growth is that digital reading has made us enjoy reading again. Amazon, reported that customers buy 3.3 times as many books after buying a Kindle. Whether this figure is enhanced in the early days due to the novelty factor of readers having a new gadget is not known, only time will tell. Another finding published on Fast Company seems to complement this figure by finding that 40% of ebook reader owners read more than they did prior to their purchase. So why?….
Ease of purchase
Purchasing books through traditional bookstores is not the most convenient way for most people. The ease of access and checkout process of online bookstores make purchasing a 2 minute task and one that can be done when and where suits the purchaser.
Anytime, anywhere
Reading now fits in with the busy person’s lifestyle. They no longer have to wait to get home or settle on the train to resume the reading of their current book. It’s now easy to take out their iPad or ebook reader during that unexpected spare ten minutes.
But….not faster!
When evaluating options in today’s fast moving world ‘speed’ is nearly always up there as one of the most important factors. So it may be somewhat surprising to many to learn that studies have shown that reading on the iPad is not faster. An article on PC World reported on a study by the Nielsen Norman Group found that reading on an electronic tablet was up to 10.7% slower than reading a printed book. Interesting that it seems the whole reading experience is therefore more important.
Multitasking future
A fifth of all media is now consumed at the same time as another form of communication, according to research compiled by Ofcom. The report from the FT quotes Dan Cryan, analyst at Screen Digest as saying “[Multitasking] has become quite a distinct phenomenon because there was obviously a certain need or desire to do this before, when the tools weren’t there,” said Mr Cryan. “But now we have a new, more efficient and more effective way of doing it.”
