Two recent, and unrelated, findings demonstrate the need for book publishers and content marketers to keep small screens in mind when publishing their content.
The June 10, 2013 Pew Internet report on Smartphone Ownership 2013 reports that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. For comparison it was just one year ago that adoption reached 46% and two years ago when it stood at 35%. That's a stunning 60% growth rate over two years.
In February of this year Goodreads released a presentation called What's Going on with Readers Today. they surveyed 1,500 U.S. members and found that 37% of those that own cell phones read eBooks on them.
At first blush this may seem high considering the size of the screens but consider these stats:
- Pew reports 81% of respondents age 25 to 34 own a smartphone.
- Goodreads reports that this same age group was the largest participating group in their recent reader survey at 28%.
What does this mean if you publish books and content?
- If you are publishing in the PDF format it's time to supplement your efforts with Mobi (Kiindle) and EPUB file formats. PDF is a fixed page layout that users have to pinch, pan and zoom to view. Imagine doing that with a dinky iPhone screen. (It's not much easier using the superior Galaxy smartphone.)
- Pay attention to your layout and design. Large spacing between headings and blocks of information means more page turning which frustrates readers. The idea is to maximize screen real estate.
- Convert high value content to eBook formats: Mobi and EPUB. These are specially designed file formats to adapt the content to reflow the text and images according to the display size of the device you are using.
The trend is only going to continue. Here are a few related AuthorImprints posts you might find useful. Or give us a call at 877-735-5269. We are experts at repurposing content and redesigning print books for eBook screen reading.
Can Any Book Be An eBook? Redesigning Books as eBooks
How Businesses Can Reach a Larger Audience by Redefining the PDF eBook
Mobile Device Sales Dwarf PC and Mac Sales: Can People Read Your PDF eBook on Tiny Screens?
