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Several surveys by the Pew Research (@pewresearch) Center's Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet) reveal interesting variations among communities in the way their residents read and use reading-related technology and institutions:

Book readers: Some 78% of Americans ages 16 and older say they read a book in the past 12 months. Urban (80%) and suburban (80%) residents are especially likely to have read at least one book in the past year. While rural residents are somewhat less likely to have read a book in the past year (71%), the book readers in rural areas read as many books as their counterparts in cities and suburbs.

Purposes for reading: Most of those ages 16 and older read books for pleasure, and that is especially true of suburban readers: 82% of suburbanites read for pleasure, compared with 79% of urban residents and 76% of rural residents. Urban residents (80%) and suburban dwellers (79%) are also especially likely to read to keep up with current events. Some 73% of rural residents do that. More than three-quarters of suburban residents (77%) read to research topics that interest them, compared with 74% of urban residents and 70% of rural residents. Finally, 57% of suburbanites and 58% of city dwellers read for school or work, compared with 47% of rural residents who do that.

Americans and libraries: The majority of Americans ages 16 and older (58%) have a library card and even more (69%) say the library is important to them and their families. Some 71% of city dwellers say the library is important to them and 59% have library cards — and 69% of suburban residents say the library is important and 61% have library cards. At the same time, 62% of rural residents say the library is important and 48% have library cards.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

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On NPR Books (@nprbooks), correspondent Lynn Neary explains how self-publishing, once considered to have a negative connotation, has now become a legitimate endeavor.

Read the transcript in full.

The Wall Street Journal similarly covered the topic in its article, “’Vanity’ Press Goes Digital.” And read The Globe and Mail's "Goodbye vanity: Self-publishing goes mainstream."

Also see our previous blogpost, “Guy Kawasaki's New Self-Publishing Instruction Book,” and others in our Self-Publishing archive.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Publishers tab.

Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) reports that “another audiobook publisher is getting into the print and ebook business.”

Brilliance Audio, a division of Amazon (@amazon), will begin publishing hardcover, trade paperbacks, and ebook originals next year under the Grand Harbor Press inspiration imprint. Grand Harbor will focus on self-help and inspirational categories, and will release 10 titles in its first year.

An Amazon spokesperson said Brilliance is expanding its portfolio because readers are looking to a variety of formats for new works, and "we found the best way to serve our customers is to take the comprehensive approach of being a full-service publisher."

Earlier this year, Tantor Audio (@TantorAudio) began publishing print books and ebooks to accompany its audiobooks.

Grand Harbor Press’s tagline is “Be inspired. Be enlightened. Be happy.”

Read this in full.

It will be interesting to see if booksellers will stock titles by Grand Harbor Press.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

Random House (@randomhouse) and Random House Audio (@RHAudiobooks) have produced the above videos in an effort to elevate their brand reputation among authors, agents, booksellers, and consumers. Are they over-selling?

Also see Digital Book World’s (@DigiBookWorld) article, “Random House Explains What Publishers Do.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks, pbooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Publishers tab.

The above Chart Of The Day (@chartoftheday) depicts a portion of the Pew Research Group’s (@pewinternet) survey of people’s e-reading habits. The most popular way for people under 30 to read ebooks is on their desktop and laptop computers, surpassing e-readers, smartphones, and tablets.

Among the survey’s other findings:

·         83% of Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 read a book in the past year. Some 75% read a print book, 19% read an ebook, and 11% listened to an audiobook.

·         Overall, 47% of younger Americans read long-form e-content such as books, magazines, or newspapers. E-content readers under age 30 are more likely than older e-content readers to say they’re reading more these days due to the availability of e-content (40% vs. 28%).

·         60% of Americans under age 30 used the library in the past year. Some 46% used the library for research, 38% borrowed books (print books, audiobooks, or ebooks), and 23% borrowed newspapers, magazines, or journals.

·         Many of these young readers don’t know they can borrow an ebook from a library, and a majority of them express the wish they could do so on pre-loaded e-readers. Some 10% of the ebook readers in this group have borrowed an ebook from a library and, among those who have not borrowed an ebook, 52% said they were unaware they could do so. About 58% of those under age 30 who don’t currently borrow ebooks from libraries say they would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to borrow pre-loaded e-readers if their library offered that service.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you plan your ebook publishing and marketing strategy.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Reporter Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) writes on paidContent (@paidContent) about the new ebook selling and marketing Web service launched today, Ganxy (@Ganxy). She says, “In just a few minutes, anyone can create a “showcase” for a book that includes its cover, description, video and other marketing materials, and purchase options.”

Authors and publishers can sell books directly through the showcase or simply provide links to retailers. The entire showcase can then be tweeted, embedded in a blog, website, or Facebook page, or can just stand alone as a website....

It’s free to create a showcase, but Ganxy makes money in two ways. The company takes 10% of each sale when an ebook is sold through a showcase (authors and publishers can choose whether they want to sell ebooks directly). Ganxy also makes money through the affiliate links to retail sites that are embedded in the showcase. An author can also request to use his or her own affiliate links in the showcase; in that case, Ganxy displays its affiliate link 25% of the time and the author’s 75% of the time.

Ganxy also wants to appeal to readers. When someone buys an ebook directly through a Ganxy showcase, it’s added to his or her library and can be downloaded in any format (EPUB, iOS, Kindle and so on). All the ebooks Ganxy sells directly are DRM-free. (Publishers who don’t like that can just display retail links and not sell ebooks directly.)

Read this in full.

Read the news release.

And read our previous blogposts:

·         “How Ebook Buyers Discover Books”

·         “Sites That Facilitate Book Discovery”

·         "Family Christian Stores Now Selling Its Own Tablet"

·         "Parable, Mardel Latest to Launch Ebook Sales; Ebooks Now at 500+ Christian Stores"

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically plan your book’s disoverability.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Book Discovery Sites tab.

NPR’s (@NPR) The Diane Rehm Show (@drshow) recently focused on the complexities of public libraries lending ebooks.

In the past year, libraries have seen a sharp growth in ebook borrowing. That trend is transforming the relationship between libraries and publishers. Some publishers worry lending ebooks will lead to piracy and loss of sales. Two of the big 6 publishers license their ebooks to libraries. Others are exploring pilot programs or have declined to participate. Many library patrons are frustrated with the limited availability of titles and long waiting lists. And some buy a copy of the ebook anyway.

More than three-quarters of the nation's public libraries lend books electronically, a fact that's not widely known among the reading public. Some publishers worry that ebook borrowers don't buy books. But a recent study suggests that among those who read books electronically, 41% of those who borrow them from the library purchased their most recent ebook. Guest host Frank Sesno (@franksesno) and his guests discuss the current and future role of ebooks at our nation's libraries.

The guests are:

·         Jeremy Greenfield (@JDGsaid), editorial director of F+W Media's Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld).

·         Carrie Russell, director of the Program for Public Access to Information, Office of Information Technology, the American Library Association (@ALALibrary).

·         Allan Adler vice president of legal and government affairs at the Association of American Publishers (@AmericanPublish).

·         Vailey Oehlke director of libraries at Multnomah County Library (@MultCoLib) in Portland, Ore.

Listen to the program in full.

Read the transcript.

See our previous blogposts, “Many Ebook Borrowers Buy, Too, Says New Study” and “The Digital Bookmobile.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish (and market) your brand content in pbook, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Since August 2008, the Digital Bookmobile (@DigiBookmobile) has traversed America coast-to-coast, allowing readers of all ages in over 400 venues to experience digital audiobook, ebook, music, and video downloads from their public library and immerse themselves in an interactive learning environment.

Housed inside a 74-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailer, the Digital Bookmobile is hosted by individual libraries in support of their download services and operated by OverDrive, Inc. (@OverDriveInc) [OverDrive Digital Library Blog (@OverDriveLibs)].

The traveling community outreach exhibit is an updated version of traditional bookmobiles but is equipped with Internet-connected PCs, high-definition monitors, a sound system, and a variety of portable media players.

See the national tour calendar of venues.

Also see our blogposts tagged “Library.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you digitally publish and market your brand’s content in ebook, pbook, and audiobook formats.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Between traditional publishing, the legitimization of self-publishing, print-on-demand, and Internet technology lowering the barrier to authoring books, roughly 1,000 books are now being published every single day in the USA.

We’ve never had so many books available, yet bookstores are going out of business like never before. With the astronomical number of books in the marketplace and stores closing their doors where books have historically been displayed for serendipitous encountering, the question these days is, “How will people conveniently browse and discover new titles.” The following social websites are one answer:

·         AudioBookFans (@AudioBookFans)

·         AudioFile (@AudioFileMag)

·         Audiobook Jukebox (@audiobkjkbx)

·         Authonomy (@authonomy)

·         BookCrossing.com (@BookCrossing)

·         BookFinder.com (@BookFinder)

·         BookFinder4U.com (@bookfinder4u)

·         Book Genome Project

·         Bookhitch.com (@bookhitch)

·         Bookins (@Bookins)

·         Bookish (@BookishHQ)

·         Booklist Online (@BooklistOnline)

·         Bookmarks Magazine

·         BookMooch (@bookmooch)

·         Booknibblr (@booknibblr)

·         BookPage (@bookpage)

·         BookRabbit (@thebookrabbit)

·         Bookreporter (@Bookreporter)

·         Book Review Index Online

·         BookRiff (@BookRiff)

·         Books & Culture (@booksandculture)

·         Books For Ears

·         BookShout (@BookShout)

·         BookSpot

·         Book TV (@BookTV)

·         Book Verdict

·         Byliner (@TheByliner)

·         DearReader.com (@DearReaderCom)

·         Edelweiss (publishers catalogs) (@weiss_squad)

·         Everyday eBook (@EverydayeBook)

·         Fanado (@Fanadoevents)

·         FiledBy (@filedby)

·         Findings (@findings)

·         FirstChapters (@first_chapters)

·         ForeWord (@ForeWordmag)

·         fReado (@freado)

·         goodreads (@goodreads)

·         Google Books

·         Hyperink (@hyperink)

·         Kirkus Reviews (@KirkusReviews)

·         Lendle (@lendleapp)

·         LibraryThing (@LibraryThing)

·         Listal (@listal)

·         Little Free Library (@LtlFreeLibrary)

·         Los Angeles Times Books (@latimesbooks)

·         Lovereading (@lovereadinguk)

·         The Midwest Book Review

·         NetGalley (@NetGalley)

·         The New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) (@Book Reviews)

·         Oprah's Book Club (@OprahsBookClub)

·         Published.com

·         Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly)

·         Reader2

·         Readmill (@Readmill)

·         Revish

·         Riffle (@Rifflebooks)

·         Shelfari (@shelfari)

·         Shelf Awareness (@ShelfAwareness)

·         ShelfCentered

·         Shelf Unbound (@shelfmagazine)

·         Small Demons (@smalldemons)

·         Togather.com (@TogatherInc)

·         USA TODAY Books (@USATODAYBooks)

·         The Wall Street Journal Books (@WSJBookReviews)

·         Wattpad (@wattpad)

·         Zola Books (@zolabooks)

·         Zooba (@MyZooba)

Also see our blogposts:

·         “Findability, Discoverability, & Marketing" 

·         “Discoverability in the Digital Age: Personal Recommendations and Bookstores" 

·         “How Ebook Buyers Discover Books" 

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to market your books so consumers readily discover them.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, where you’ll find the above list of links in the Book Discovery Sites tab.

GalleyCat (@GalleyCat) reports that net sales revenue from ebooks have now surpassed hardcover books in the first quarter of 2012.

According to the Association of American Publishers’ (@AmericanPublish) March net sales revenue report (collecting data from 1,189 publishers), adult ebook sales were $282.3 million while adult hardcover sales counted $229.6 million during the 1st quarter of 2012. During the same period last year, hardcover accounted for $335 million in sales while ebooks logged $220.4 million.

Here’s more from the report (Q1 2012 chart embedded above): “While ebooks continue to show growth, downloaded audiobooks also keep accelerating vs last year – as some experts have said, tied to ongoing popularity and acquisition of smartphones and mobile devices.”

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogposts, “Ebooks Projected to Comprise 50% of US Trade Book Market By 2016,” “Extensive New Study: The Rise of E-reading,” and others about ebooks.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish your content as pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.