- Number of Facebook users at the end of 2015: 1.6 billion
- Average revenue per US and Canada Facebook user: $13.54
- Average revenue for European Facebook user: $4.50
- Average revenue for Asia-Pacific Facebook user: $1.59
- Number of WhatsApp (instant message app) users: 1 billion
- Top country for WhatsApp usage: South Africa
- Percentage of WhatsApp users using an Android device: 73%
- Owner of WhatsApp: Facebook
- Number of ebooks currently available from Amazon Kindle store: 4 million
- Number of ebooks available for Kindle six years ago: 600,000
- Number of bestselling Kindle ebooks in 2015 that were self-published: one-third
Sources: 8 (Plus One) Revealing Media Numbers from January 2016; Facebook Q4 2015 Results; By the Numbers: 50 Amazing WhatsApp Statistics; Meredith Wild, a Self-Publisher Making an Imprint
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
