News & Trends: Fast Stats

25%

Percentage of HarperCollins' January young-adult sales that were e-books, up from 6 percent the previous year. Other publishers, including St. Martin's Press and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, also reported significant increases in e-book sales in the young-adult category.

Source: "E-Readers Catch Younger Eyes and Go in Backpacks," The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2011

40%

Percentage of survey respondents who said they purchased a textbook from a pirate website, or know others who have. In addition, many respondents reported copying their friends' textbooks.

Source: Book Industry Study Group's "Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education" survey

98%

Percentage of the more than 600 respondents to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll who said changes to "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" should not be made. The poll was in response to a new edition of the Mark Twain classic that NewSouth Books plans to publish, in which 219 usages of a racial slur have been replaced with the word "slave."

Source: "People in the News," STLToday.com, Jan. 6, 2011

10%

Percentage of survey respondents who have paid to download or access online e-books. Eighteen percent have paid for a digital newspaper, magazine, journal article or report, while 21 percent have paid for apps for cell phones or tablet 
computers.

Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project