Identifying what the average person on planet Earth looks like

CNN reports on the National Geographic special series "7 Billion" that, among the entire population of the world, the average person is a 28-year-old Han Chinese male. And the most common person in the world is right handed, has an annual income under $12,000, and owns a cellphone, but does not have a bank account. What are the implications of this study in the world of publishing?

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Last year I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on my iPhone.

So, the implication of this demographic about average is that we publish more ebooks for mobile devices.

And make them really cheap—a million ebooks at $.10 makes as much as ten thousand at $10.00, with the same production cost. If you are publishing the ten dollar book on paper you make much less.

— Wally Metts
Thanks, Wally! Can you share more about what you experienced as the positives and negatives of reading the LOTR trilogy in your iPhone? It appears the pros out-weighed the cons, since you continued with it to the end. Thanks!
— Somersault Group
For me, the biggest advantage was reading in bed. Or anywhere else. When ever I had some extra time I just pulled the phone out of my pocket and read a little.

But at night, it was small and backlit so I could read after i went to bed without disturbing my wife or having to get up and turn off a light when I was done. There is some eye strain, but of course it is a compelling story. When my eyes got tired enough I went to sleep. Which may have been sooner than if I were reading a traditional book—but maybe a good thing since I had to work the next day anyway.

Today I would probably use a tablet. I do read some on my wife's kindle, but you need a second light source.

— Wally Metts