It’s got to the point now where it’s hardly news to say that readers are continuing to turn to e-books in increasing numbers. However, it’s always interesting to see a recent set of figures as it helps us to get an idea of the scale of the growth in e-books. This is particularly relevant for independent publishers, who often rely on e-books for the vast majority, if not all, of their sales.

So it’s with some happiness that independent publishers should take the news that, over the past year, 23 per cent of people in America read e-books, compared with 16 per cent the year before. These figures are from a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which also found that one third of people in the US now own an e-reader or tablet.

Interestingly, a quarter of e-books in the US are now read on tablets as opposed to e-readers, which is also a significant jump on figures from the previous year.

These stats help to illustrate just how the book market is changing – and just how fast it is changing. You can read more about this particular survey here.

What do you think of the latest e-book statistics? What do you predict will happen in the book market over the rest of 2013?