Fast Stats [News & Trends]

10%, 9%

Percent of adults who claim they own, respectively, tablet computers and e-readers, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project study. It could mark the first time that tablets have overtaken e-readers. However, according to a May study by the same organization, 12 percent of American adults claimed to own e-readers. Kristen Purcell, the Pew researcher who authored the study, told Wilson Rothman of MSNBC's Technolog, "I suspect after the holidays, we're going to see this number back up." The line between tablet and e-reader has become fairly cloudy in recent months.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Half of adult cell phone owners have apps on their phones," Nov. 2, 2011

4.1%

Growth in cookbook-industry revenue predicted by IBISWorld in 2012. The independent industry and market analysts also predict annualized 2.7 percent revenue growth per year for the next five years through 2016, fueled by eating in as a result of frugality. Health and heritage are also expected to be drivers, as senior, immigrant and allergy-prone populations are all growing.

Source: IBISWorld report

600, 3

The number of copies sold of the first books by, respectively, Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett, according to former director of publishing at Pantheon and founder of the not-for-profit The New Press André Schiffrin in an interview with Live Mint. The interview was on the occasion of the Indian release of "The Business of Words," a joint edition of his 2001 tome "The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read" and 2010's "Words and Money." "A publisher is not just a printer—he brings his filters, his projections and his skills to the table," said Schiffrin. "Kafka's first book sold 600 copies; Beckett's sold three. But we believed in them and continued to publish them."