Pew Research: Three-Quarters of Americans Have Read a Book in Last One Year -- 67% in Print Format; Use of Audiobooks Rising (pewresearch.org) 97
Americans are spreading their book consumption across several formats, and the use of audiobooks is rising, Pew Research said in a report published on Thursday. From the report: About three-quarters (74%) of Americans have read a book in the past 12 months in any format, a figure that has remained largely unchanged since 2012, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January. Print books remain the most popular format for reading, with 67% of Americans having read a print book in the past year.
And while shares of print and e-book readers are similar to those from a survey conducted in 2016, there has been a modest but statistically significant increase in the share of Americans who read audiobooks, from 14% to 18%. Overall, Americans read an average (mean) of 12 books per year, while the typical (median) American has read four books in the past 12 months. Each of these figures is largely unchanged since 2011, when the Center first began conducting the surveys of Americans' book reading habits.
Despite some growth in certain digital formats, it remains the case that relatively few Americans consume digital books (which include audiobooks and e-books) to the exclusion of print. Some 39% of Americans say they read only print books, while 29% read in these digital formats and also read print books. Just 7% of Americans say they only read books in digital formats and have not read any print books in the past 12 months. Some demographic groups are more likely than others to be digital-only book readers, but in general this behavior is relatively rare across a wide range of demographics. For example, 10% of 18- to 29-year-olds only read books in digital formats, compared with 5% of those ages 50-64 and 4% of those 65 and older.
And while shares of print and e-book readers are similar to those from a survey conducted in 2016, there has been a modest but statistically significant increase in the share of Americans who read audiobooks, from 14% to 18%. Overall, Americans read an average (mean) of 12 books per year, while the typical (median) American has read four books in the past 12 months. Each of these figures is largely unchanged since 2011, when the Center first began conducting the surveys of Americans' book reading habits.
Despite some growth in certain digital formats, it remains the case that relatively few Americans consume digital books (which include audiobooks and e-books) to the exclusion of print. Some 39% of Americans say they read only print books, while 29% read in these digital formats and also read print books. Just 7% of Americans say they only read books in digital formats and have not read any print books in the past 12 months. Some demographic groups are more likely than others to be digital-only book readers, but in general this behavior is relatively rare across a wide range of demographics. For example, 10% of 18- to 29-year-olds only read books in digital formats, compared with 5% of those ages 50-64 and 4% of those 65 and older.
Re:in last one year (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading is hard. Proofreading is even harder.
You don't read (Score:1)
You don't read audiobooks, you listen to them, an entirely different process!
Huh? (Score:1)
You listen to an audiobook, you can't read it unless it comes with subtitles.
LOL ... bullshit ... (Score:2, Funny)
No way I'm buying 74% of all Americans can read, that's impossible.
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Why do you think it is so low.
All American Children have access to Public Schooling, Which covers Reading as one of it earliest skills to learn, combined with Labor Laws, that prevent taking you kid and throwing them to work in a factory instead going to school.
You also have the rise of popular technologies such as social media, and texting and chatting. Where kids are actually reading and writing much more then ever before. Sure it is often stupid LOL abbreviations but that is better then before.
With a g
Re:LOL ... bullshit ... (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem with the anti-intellectualism, isn't that they can't read, it is more that they fail to open their minds to understand.
Also to a point, usually these people who are anti-science, are not anti-science on all things. for example we have the Anti-GMO people, where there is no science showing it is harmful, there are Climate change deniers.... However they may be Pro-Vaxx or strongly believe in Evolution.
Normally if someone has a view on something they don't read about something they disagree with to see if they can change their mind, they will only read material that will convince them more.
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The logic is often from thinking in very absolute terms, there is Right and Wrong not better and worse. Then it gets worse when the answer is complicated, and it depends. The problem isn't that people are letting the media make up their minds, their minds are already made up, they are gravitating to media that is confirming their stances.
I have found such people who follow this often have some chip on their shoulder, and are in rather powerless positions where their stances on things rarely ever have maj
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But I am unable to Read a book from start to finish, Unless it has good sized print and adequate spacing.
Kindle is your friend (or some better e-reader). I cna't read printed books any more without reading glasses, but kindle has a font size that makes reading pleasant again. And I'm sure there are better e-Readers that do a better job with typography.
Audiobooks' rise in popularity (Score:1)
I wish I could publish my book as an audiobook. They're rising in popularity and it would be nice to be able to tap into that market. Unfortunately, audiobook publishing is prohibitively expensive. The least expensive option has you buy about $200 worth of audio gear, spend hours recording yourself reading your book, and then spend more on a sound engineer to turn that into something decent sounding. The higher priced option is to spend about $2,000 to have a professional read/record your book for you. I'd
Re:Audiobooks' rise in popularity (Score:4, Insightful)
Right, right, right, if you don't have the money, you have to learn how to do the thing.
If that is so hard, why do you think you should do it?
Audio recording and editing is technical, but it isn't brain science or rocket surgery.
"I need spend moneys `cause I dunnu no how too install opens horse!"
Get you some library, fool.
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I'd love to release my novel as an audiobook, but I just can't afford it. I'll have to stay with print and ebook for now.
I'll give you one data point: I will never read your book on print/ebook, but might listen to it as an audiobook. My consumption of fiction has moved almost entirely to audio over the last few years. I just don't have time to sit down and read a book... but I have lots of time where I'm doing something mindless like driving, or mowing the lawn, or shoveling snow, etc. I listen to 10-15 hours per week, which amounts to most of a book per week.
I'm not saying you should make an audiobook just for me... he
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My wife is very into audiobooks as well. (She crochets while listening.) And she's also said that she's listened to great books that were ruined by bad narrators. I actually considered doing it myself for a bit. It would be the cheapest route - about $200 in equipment and then a time commitment. Unfortunately, it is also the route that is most likely to result in a bad audiobook. If I ever do decide to do this, I'd rather pay someone with a good voice and a good handle on audiobook production than to make a
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$2k isn't so bad, if people are actually buying your book, but it's firmly beyond authors who are just getting starting. I find this very annoying for a couple of new authors I like, but who similarly can't afford the step up to audiobooks. I have very little time for reading these days, but listen to books 2 hours a day, so I can only choose a few books that are print (well, e-book) only.
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When I'm driving i use TTS to listen to the book. I don't particularly like audiobooks because they usually have too much production.
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Not sure what you mean by "too much production", unless you're talking about Star Wars books which certainly have silly audiobooks. Most are just a guy reading the book, and trying to do recognizably distinct voices for the different characters.
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I actually made a "text-to-voice" version of my new book for my son to read along with. (He likes reading along with audiobooks.) It came out sounding like a robot reading my book. Nice for a free version for my son to read, but definitely nothing I'd try selling to people.
I've heard some good audiobooks and some bad ones. The Harry Potter series in audiobook form is amazing. The author does different voices for each character, but never does it come across as cheesy.
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That's exactly the position I'm in. I have one book published and a second almost ready (it's in the beta reader stage). Sales of my first book were horrible (mainly because I stink at promotion and went immediately into writing Book 2). I haven't even made back the $300 that I invested in the first book's production. I definitely can't afford $2,000 to produce a decent audiobook.
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From what I heard, Nathan Lowell (https://nathanlowell.com/) self published chapters of his book as self narrated audio books on his own website. Maybe he used $200 worth of gear but I'd be surprised. Once it started growing in popularity he moved into more professional publishing.
it's mostly fiction... (Score:3)
...my reading list, that is. Some nonfiction I read would include lefties like Chomsky, and factual stuff like books on motorcycles, guns, etc.
Most is in digital, for the convenience.
Treasured volumes, I go out of my way to get in hardback. Eventually. Let's see.. 20 years of Potter, and I still don't have a single dead-tree version of it, it's all in my phone and tablet.
I have just one audiobook, for some strange reason I can't quite get into audiobooks as deep as I get into the "printed" book (paper or screen, don't matter.) I hear the words but they don't stick as well, I don't see the "world" the author's painting as well as I do when it's in visible words.
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I like my books piecemeal across the internet, just the highlights please, someone else can do all the reading and picking out the most salient points, many others. The internet killed book reading for me, to canned and the internet changes moment to moment based upon all sorts of inputs mine and others (my view of the internet not the broader humanities view of the internet which is as diversified as the internet itself).
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, just the highlights please, someone else can do all the reading and picking out the most salient points, many others.
You just loved Clif Notes, didn't ya.
*whacks scarcasm detector* Not sure this thing's working right. You may be flying the S flag but I can't see it. *whack*
I only seek other's views on books after I'm done with the reading, if ever. It's between me and the author. I could not see myself doing that kind of.. what to call it.. distributed non-reading canned summary on something like Christine, or Harry Potter, or Profit over People. Or anything, really. Why should I care about 2,238,125 other opinions
More Options (Score:2)
Well, please make darn sure to read this ONE book! (Score:2)
This is one helluva read, and the best book I've read since Lundberg's The Rich and the Super-Rich --- and that's quite a compliment!!!!! This books really explains it all (and although I am not in 100% agreement with the authors, those areas I somewhat would correct are just minor quibbles).
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(side-note) That website only works with JavaScript enabled. Embarrassing (for those dumb ass devs who apparently conned someone into paying them).
I read for an escape from the fact that the world is shit and I'm powerless to change it and will never get the chance shit on others.
If you're going to recommend anything, at least go for scifi where you might get a chance be the elite: Bobiverse, Murderbot Diaries, or Methods of Rationality.
I'm reading too much... (Score:1)
More astonishing (Score:4, Interesting)
26% HAVEN'T read a single book in the last year.
I know this doesn't represent all reading - my wife, for example, isn't really into books, but reads substantial, magazine-format articles like Science News or The Economist voraciously, pretty much every evening.
But the idea of not reading a book in a year, my delightful spouse notwithstanding, is crazy for me. It's nuts if I haven't finished a book in the past 2-3 days.
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Came here to say the same thing... (modulo the wife part, of course). I wish I could say I was shocked to hear that 1/4 of American's don't read books, but I can't.
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Ditto. I don't like to read much. I do read Internet, Bible, etc.
You listen to audiobooks. (Score:1)
A Year? (Score:2)
I probably average a book a week. Some weeks I don't finish a book, but other weeks I finish two (since I read multiple books concurrently noting the finish date is easiest).
Maybe (Score:1)
If you read a book you could craft a better title than the steaming piece of shit you wrote.
Not Possible (Score:3)
Unless they're picture books, you can't get to 74% when half the population is illiterate.
From WaPo:
Approximately 32 million adults in the United States can't read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50 percent of U.S. adults can't read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
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Ever since we got the coloring book that was USA Today, yes newspapers have. It contributed to the short attention span folks and made the rag a ton of money. I'm not in any way disagreeing with you. Clearly writers and publishers want to maximize their income. I'm just saddened that we have to stoop to such a low level.
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32M adults is less than 10% of the total population.
And the OECD may believe that half of adults can't read a book written at an eighth-grade level, but I'd like to see the basis for that result (IOW show me the details of the study). Hell, my father probably hasn't read a book in 30 years, but I have no doubt at all that he can read at an eighth-grade level
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That sounds like it's specifically talking about being able to read at that level in English. Most of my family would struggle with that bar, despite including nuclear physicists, rocket scientists and (unfortunately, not brain) surgeons because they're immigrants from a vastly different linguistic base with no pressing need to learn English beyond fundamentals for living.
I wonder how the numbers would look if it was expanded to include native tongue. And if it already does... Oof. That is kind of low.
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I don't think anyone would expect that of first generation immigrants. Having suffered through the Detroit public school system until 6th grade, it was good that my parents moved because I doubt most Detroit HS grads are reading at 8th grade level. I suspect it's that way in many districts across the nation.
Data consumption habits have changed (Score:2)
Self-selection survey - bogus (Score:1)
Getting a random sample that is truthful is impossible. Pew claims they aren't seeing this, but nobody I know answers their home phones if it is an unknown number all the time. Telephone polls only get bored people to answer. I was bored today, answered a random phone call ... they were offering to have someone prey with me immediately. As a practising atheist, I was offended by the call and let the person know that after being transferred. They really just wanted a donation. I thought that was illegal.
I
audiobooks for me (Score:2)
I have been listening to audiobooks for around 20 years. fortunately I have job where I can listen while I work. I found I will listen to audiobooks I would never consider reading and even after listening I still will not read them but I will listen to them again.
What I found interesting, is the way the reader will modulate their voice between characters. You forget the reader is male or female with the way they read for both parts and can easily distinguish the different characters.
print format (Score:1)
Book... book... (Score:1)
lessee...
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
As a physical object, a book is a stack of usually rectangular pages oriented with one edge tied, sewn, or otherwise fixed together and then bound to the flexible...
STOP! That's too long!
Siri, show me a book...
That's horrible (Score:2)
That says that one-third of all Americans HAVE NOT READ ONE SINGLE BOOK IN A YEAR.
Now, I wonder what the correlation is between those that have not read a book in a year, and supporters of the Malignant Carcinoma in the White House....