Recently, the Goodreads team has conducted a survey to understand book discovery and usage trends. The findings show that 37% of users use their mobile phones to read books.
Goodreads did not invite everyone to participate in the survey. Instead, they asked only those who have recently read two famous books, including:
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The report, which is available on SlideShare as a presentation, is worth analyzing from the start to the last slide. Here are some key findings of the survey:
- As much as 37% of the Goodreads survey respondents read e-books on their mobile phones.
- Around 13% of survey respondents say that mobile phone is the only device they use to read e-books.
This is noteworthy given that for many readers, mobile phones are a secondary or emergency reading device. The image below shows situations when people reach for a mobile phone to read books:
Image source: ebookfriendly
There have been many studies suggesting the significant influence of technology on our reading habits. With the rise of mobile devices like cell phones, e-readers, and tablets, it’s no wonder why more and more people are reading books digitally.
The three top reasons are:
- Digital reading is more convenient.
- You get easy access to a large library of books for free or at nominal costs.
- Readers can personalize their reading experience by using e-readers, as these devices allow customizing the font size, background color, and line spacing to make reading more comfortable and enjoyable.
It looks like e-reading is the future of reading books in the age of technology. Now, there is much evidence that contradicts this. For example, according to McKinsey, total sales of print books are increasing, given that Gen Z prefers print books over e-books.
In our opinion, there will be almost equal demand for e-books and print books. None of them is going to become obsolete and will stay forever.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.
