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According to new report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the world e-readers market is forecast to reach 53,870,000 units by the year 2017. The global economic recession, which put several industries under pressure and in a state of turmoil, has failed to rattle the market for e-readers making it an exceptional product.

The report states that the “growing popularity of these handy devices is pushing the book, magazine, and newspaper publishing industries to redefine their existence in this digital age and in the aftermaths of economic turmoil. Although sales of ebooks presently account for only a small portion of the overall book publishing market, with the passage of time, this segment is forecast to emerge a mainstream market.”

Read this in full.

An article by Piet Levy (@pietlevy) for Religion News Service (@ReligionNewsNow) says that “when the Borders bookstore chain — the nation’s second-largest — finishes closing all of its stores this month, Christian retailers see a window of opportunity in the death of a mega-competitor that once threatened to put them out of business.”

With 70% of Christian retailers reporting flat or declining sales last year, and overall sales dropping 3% according to the Christian retail association CBA, proactive Christian booksellers, marketing agencies, and the 1,200-member CBA are taking any opportunities they can.

After Borders announced its liquidation in July, Colorado Springs, Colo.-based CBA sent an alert to member stores: “Post Borders Growth Strategy: As Borders Shuts its Doors, Christian Booksellers Should Open Theirs Wider.”

The letter offers suggestions for retailers including discounts for customers with Borders loyalty cards and trying to lure former Borders customers into Christian stores.

Read this in full.

Also see the article by Lynn Garrett (@LynniGarrett) in Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly), "After Years of Loss, Only the Strong Christian Stores Survive," and The Atlantic's (@TheAtlantic) article, "Is the Death of Borders Really Good for Independent Bookstores?".

Sam S. Rainer III writes in Leadership Journal (@Leadership_Jnl) that Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, “are America’s most educated generation, most diverse generation, and surprisingly, America’s largest generation. And they are beginning to get married, enter the workforce, and lead the world.”

This generation is hopeful. In fact, 96% of them agree with the statement, “I believe I can do something great.” But the majority says individual prominence is secondary to helping the community and accomplishing things for the greater good.

Yet this hopeful generation lacks a solid spiritual foundation on which to base their hopes. As few as one in four attend church weekly. Nearly two-thirds never attend religious services. Church leaders face unique challenges in reaching them.

Older generations tended to place a higher priority on church activity and attendance. The younger generation, however, demands to know the purpose behind each activity. For Millennials, just attending church does not equal faithfulness. The only way they'll attend is if they see the church as being a meaningful part of their lives.

Read this in full.

The latest Nielsen (@NielsenWire) report (pdf) shows that social media’s popularity continues to grow, connecting people with just about everything they watch and buy.

·         60% percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learn about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site.

·         Social networks and blogs took 22.5% of Internet usage time in May 2011, beating online games' 9.8%, email's 7.6%, portals' 4.5%, video and films' 4.4% and search's 4%.

·         US Web users spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook during the month, beating out Yahoo's 17.2 billion minutes, Google's 12.5 billion minutes, YouTube's 9.5 billion minutes, eBay's 4.5 billion minutes, and Apple's 4.3 billion minutes.

·         Facebook received 140 million unique visitors in May, with 62% of page views on the site attributable to females; 50 million individuals accessed Blogger; 23.6 million went to Twitter.

·         Blogging provider Wordpress attracted 22.4 million people, trailed by MySpace with 19.3 million, LinkedIn with 17.8 million, and Tumblr, another blog hosting platform, with 11.9 million.

·         53% of "active" social networkers currently follow a brand.

·         Year over year growth of people accessing social networks via mobile rose 62%: 46.5 million people visiting Facebook, 11.5 million for Twitter, 6 million LinkedIn, and 4 million MySpace.

·         In all, 97% of members access social networks on a computer, 37% employ mobile phones, 3% deploy a games console or iPad, and 2% leverage Web-enabled TV sets and ereaders.

·         About 30% of consumers value being able to use social networks on their phone.

·         A further 21% liked scanning barcodes with a handset, 20% cited making payments, 16% prioritized "check-in" services such as Foursquare and 13% enjoyed giving feedback to companies.

·         67% of smartphone owners had downloaded gaming apps, 65% selected equivalent weather-related tools, 60% utilized applications from social networks, and 55% used navigation and search facilities.

·         17.8 million women watch video on social networks, versus 13.6 million men.

Read the report in full (pdf).

Also see our previous blogpost, “Report: Half of Americans Are Now Social Networkers.”

MultichannelMerchant (@mcmerchant) says many marketers are not using 2-dimensional mobile barcodes properly.

Though they’re mainstream in countries like Japan, QR codes are still fairly new to most US consumers. If you just slap a QR code on the back of a catalog and don’t explain what it is, why it's there, how to read it – and include a backup URL in case the user scans it and comes up with an error – it may not gain any traction.

And if the QR code does not direct to a site that can be rendered on a mobile device, making it hard for the user to navigate with ease, the user is going to close the mobile browser and not come back.

Read this in full and see case studies cited.

Let Somersault help you set your entire mobile marketing strategy. And be sure to use our mobile site.

Radio-Info.com (@radio_info) says, “Teens today are the most digitally connected generation we have ever seen.” A study just released by Nielsen (@NielsenWire) on teen media usage offers the following insight.

Teens:

·         Are the Heaviest Mobile Video Viewers

·         Are More Receptive to Mobile Advertising than their Elders

·         Out-Text All Other Age Groups

·         Talk Less on the Phone: Besides

·         Grew Up in the Age of Social Media—and It Shows

·         Watch Less TV than the General Population:

·         Spend Less Time on their Computers

Radio-Info says, “Based on this research and other key findings from recent studies on teen consumers, here are four considerations for marketers aspiring to reach teens today:

1. Speak in bullet points.

2. Don’t be “just another ad.”

3. Stand Out

4. Think Multi-Platform

Read this in full.

This article in The Economist (@TheEconomist) summarizes the state of publishing right now.

To see how profoundly the book business is changing, watch the shelves. Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome — anything, that is, except books that are actually read.

In the first five months of this year sales of consumer ebooks in America overtook those from adult hardback books. Just a year earlier hardbacks had been worth more than three times as much as ebooks, according to the Association of American Publishers. Amazon now sells more copies of ebooks than paper books. The drift to digits will speed up as bookshops close. Borders, once a retail behemoth, is liquidating all of its American stores....

Perhaps the biggest problem, though, is the gradual disappearance of the shop window. Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins), points out that a film may be released with more than $100m of marketing behind it. Music singles often receive radio promotion. Publishers, on the other hand, rely heavily on bookstores to bring new releases to customers’ attention and to steer them to books that they might not have considered buying. As stores close, the industry loses much more than a retail outlet. Publishers are increasingly trying to push books through online social networks. But Mr Murray says he hasn’t seen anything that replicates the experience of browsing a bookstore.

Efforts are under way. This week a British outfit called aNobii (@aNobii) released a trial version of a website that it hopes will become a Wikipedia-style community of book lovers, with an option to buy....

Read this in full.

See also the CNN (@CNN) extended essay by Todd Leopold, "The Death and Life of a Great American Bookstore."

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate these publishing white water rapids.

Ten years ago this Sept. 11, terrorists flew commercial planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a failed attempt that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. These suicide attacks of horrific carnage stunned the world and caused many to turn for consolation to spiritual faith and sacred scriptures. For this tenth anniversary, the following Bible verses of solace are taken from the Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) (@CommonEngBible), the newest modern English translation releasing this month.

I’ve commanded you to be brave and strong, haven’t I? Don’t be alarmed or terrified, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 (CEB)

My God is my rock — I take refuge in him! — he’s my shield and my salvation’s strength, my place of safety and my shelter. My savior! Save me from violence! 2 Samuel 22:3 (CEB)

But you, LORD, are my shield! You are my glory! You are the one who restores me. Psalm 3:3 (CEB)

I will lie down and fall asleep in peace because you alone, LORD, let me live in safety. Psalm 4:8 (CEB)

The LORD is a safe place for the oppressed — a safe place in difficult times. Psalm 9:9 (CEB)

The LORD is my solid rock, my fortress, my rescuer. My God is my rock — I take refuge in him! — he’s my shield, my salvation’s strength, my place of safety. Psalm 18:2 (CEB)

God! His way is perfect; the LORD’s word is tried and true. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. Psalm 18:30 (CEB)

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff — they protect me. Psalm 23:4 (CEB)

Hope in the LORD! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the LORD! Psalm 27:14 (CEB)

All you who wait for the LORD, be strong and let your heart take courage. Psalm 31:24 (CEB)

We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. Psalm 33:20 (CEB)

Turn away from evil! Do good! Seek peace and go after it! Psalm 34:14 (CEB)

The LORD loves justice. He will never leave his faithful all alone. They are guarded forever, but the children of the wicked are eliminated. Psalm 37:28 (CEB)

Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed? Why are you so upset inside? Hope in God! Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God. Psalm 43:5 (CEB)

Oh, I must find rest in God only because my hope comes from him! Psalm 62:5 (CEB)

LORD of heavenly forces, those who trust in you are truly happy! Psalm 84:12 (CEB)

I say to the LORD, “You are my refuge, my stronghold! You are my God — the one I trust!” Psalm 91:2 (CEB)

The person whose hope rests on the LORD their God — is truly happy! Psalm 146:5 (CEB)

LORD, show us favor; we hope in you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in times of distress. Isaiah 33:2 (CEB)

Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength; they will fly up on wings like eagles; they will run and not be tired; they will walk and not be weary. Isaiah 40:31 (CEB)

I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (CEB)

Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. Romans 12:12 (CEB)

Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (CEB)

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, associate publisher, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com or Diane Morrow, dmorrow@tbbmedia.com, at 1.800.927.1517.

Here’s an example of a video production that tugs at your heart without using words. It visually sells the sizzle while selling the steak. At its conclusion, you want to learn more about the World Wildlife Fund (@World_Wildlife). That’s effective marketing.

Let Somersault help you achieve success.

Damon Poeter (@dpoeter) writes in PCMag.com (@PCMag) that the percentage of adult Internet users using sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is now 65%, up from 61% a year ago, according to a report released by the Pew Research Center (@pewinternet & @pewresearch).

Accounting for the percentage of adults who don't use the Internet at all, that still means that half of all Americans now use social networking sites, Pew researchers say.

The number of Americans using such sites has exploded since 2005, when Pew found that just 8% of Internet users, or about 5% of all adult Americans, said they did. The percentage of Internet users saying they use social networking sites has more than doubled since 2008, when 29% of respondents said they were using them, according to the Pew survey.

Pew reports that women aged 18 to 29 are the most voracious users of social networking sites, with 89% of Internet users in that group participating in such sites and 69% of them reporting that they do so daily. Accounting for all age groups, 69% of adult women using the Internet say they’re social networkers as compared with 60% of men.

Read the story in full.

Read the research report.

Also see HubSpot’s (@HubSpot) article, “46 Million Americans Check Social Media Sites Multiple Times Per Day,” based on the 2011 Social Habit report, released by Edison Research and Arbitron.

What implications does this research hold for your publishing and marketing strategy? Let Somersault help you think it through.