Young, Minorities Lead Smartphone Owners

A lot of online traffic is moving towards mobile phones. so if you are promoting your book online or with social media, you should know who owns a smartphone. Surprisingly, according to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, a bigger percentage of non-whites own smart phones than whites. Hispanic adults (49%) and African Americans (47%) have smart phones, but only 42% of white adults own one.

Not surprisingly, the younger you are, the more likely you have a smart phone:

·         66% of 18-29 year-olds

·         59% of 30-49

·         34% of 50-64

·         11% of 65+

17% of people who are online at least once a week will use Twitter or other micro-blogging services. But almost as many – 15% -- will go online to watch or download erotic material. Maybe they Tweet porn as well.

So what do people do when they are on their smart phones? Adweek cited a survey done by Pew Research that shows the thing adults will use their phones in a given day to do is check weather reports (52%), use a social networking site (50%) and play a game (37%). Getting news ranked fourth (36%). Reading a book on a phone did not rank on the list of top 12 activities but 4% reportedly watch movies on TV through a paid subscription service on their phones.

Interview With Author Sarah Tun

1.      Sarah, what is your newest book about? FREE TO BE is about building self esteem. Too many of us (myself included up until a few years ago) wander through life operating at less than capacity because we feel unworthy or phony or weighed down by fear of "what the other guy will think of us." FREE TO BE addresses that, by identifying insecurity (I site some benchmarks that existed in myself to help the reader connect the concepts to him/herself), signposting strategies to overcome and offering practical application of these strategies.

2.      What inspired you to write it? I was on a short plane journey when the whole idea of the book came to me - the title originally designated as, FIGHT INSECURITY AND WIN! I follow Christ and so I knew that the key to my overcoming serious low self esteem had been my journey with the Holy Spirit through prayer and study of the Bible. (It isn't me who cured me but God!) I figure if He'll do it for me He'll do it for anyone else. Because most of us seem to hide behind a mask, I thought it'd be refreshing and freeing if we knew how to take off those masks without feeling paralyzed, so I wanted to share my 'story' and outline steps I took to overcome oppression and anxiety.

3.      What are you hoping to accomplish as a writer? My aim as a writer is to encourage and to uplift others - through children's lit and adult guide books - inspiring readers to be all they were created to be, fulfilling what's been put inside of them, without holding back because of fear or shame....or a lack of faith in themselves.

4.      What have been the rewards and challenges of writing books? The biggest rewards to writing - and this is my first published book - is having it 'finished'. They say a work of art is never finished - a painter is never fully satisfied. But when one goes from being a writer to being an author, well, for my part, it feels great! And when a stranger contacts you and says the book has helped him, that's so fantastic! I can't put enough exclamation marks for either of these 'rewards'. The challenges to marketing are immense. I've been on a steep learning curve re social networking, in order to get the name of the book "Out There". I'm not sorry for the workload and I'm 'meeting' a load of really cool people on-line and in person, but it is a lot of work and it eats away at the writing time.

5.      What advice would you share with a struggling writer? Write. And if you have an idea in the middle of the night - as I've had - get up and start to write. You won't regret it if you do (and I daresay you will regret it if you don't get up - at least I have). I once wrote the first draft of a story - which will soon be released as the first in a series of e-book novels! - on a hotel bathroom floor in the middle of the night, while my family were sound asleep.  It's worth the effort to create people, stories and often if you wait 'til morning the inspiration is gone.

6.      Where do you see book publishing is heading? Well, I've started LARUS PRESS for myself - a sole proprietorship for creating/selling e-books. I think we'll probably always have physical books, at least for a good long while, but E-books are here to stay! That seems to be turning the traditional publishers on their heads; but they'll evolve, blend, and find new ways to attract purchasers. So, I think books will always be popular, but the form may morph into - well - who knows what, eventually!

For more information, please check out: www.freetobelaruspress.wordpress.com or http://sarahtunexaminelife.blogspot.com.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2013 ©