Monthly Archives: September 2013

Print vs. digital—religious publishers buck the trend

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With digital publishing on the upswing, one would expect religious publishers to be seeing big increases in eBook sales, while print sales decrease. In fact, when it comes to paperback books the opposite is the case in America, according to a report from the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

In the first quarter of 2013, eBook sales were down 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year, AAP reported. Hardcover books were down even more, declining 7 percent. On the other hand, paperback sales rose nearly 4 percent. Despite this, overall religious book sales were down 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012.

What does this mean? Possibly that religious readers still prefer to hold the book in their hand, but given the state of the economy are not willing to shell out for the hard cover version.

Chinese journalists go back to school

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School is now in session for China’s entire official press corps after they were ordered to attend at least two days of Marxist classes last month. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal  more than 300,000 reporters and editors were to sit through classes where they would be reminded to help foster stability and support for the government and to listen to senior leaders in selecting content to publish.

Of course, the official press corps is not the only news outlet in China. The Chinese government may be even more concerned about the popular Weibo microblogging service. Not to be left out of the government re-education campaign, users were ordered to stamp out what the government describes as online rumor-mongering, according to another article in the Wall Street Journal.

An August 28 Wall Street Journal article noted that Reporters Without Borders ranks China as 173 out of 179 counties on the organization’s Press Freedom Index. The 2013 report also called the country the world’s biggest prison for Internet users active on social media, with 70 users currently imprisoned.

For more information:

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/08/28/marxist-school-now-in-session-for-chinese-journalists/?mod=WSJBlog

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/08/26/party-urges-popular-weibo-users-to-think-of-national-interests/?mod=WSJBlog

Young people opt for print

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When students at Penn State decided this summer to start a magazine called Impact, they planned to have both an online and offline presence—that is, a print magazine. “We feel print is really important,” stated co-founder and co-editor Frances Starn. Speaking on the magazine’s Kickstarter video she said “We feel that having people be able to hold the magazine in their hand and see something will help us reach the widest audience possible.”

What? These are college students, the people raised on the Internet, wirelessly connected 24/7. Wouldn’t they prefer to consume content on one of their several devices? Not so, according to a poll released this summer by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. The poll found that 75 percent of young adults aged 16-29 years of age said they have read at least one book in print in the past year, compared with 65 percent of adults 30 and older.

“Younger Americans’ reading habits and library use are still anchored by the printed page,” said Kathryn Zickuhr, a research analyst at Pew Research.  Americans under 30 are just as likely as older adults to visit the library and borrow print books, she said.

Sure, they love their technology, but there’s something about the look and feel of the printed page which they find attractive.