“Scarborough Research found that fully 78 percent of adults in so-called ‘e-reader households,’ which number about 4 million, read a newspaper in print or online within the past week,” Editor & Publisher says. “That compares with 71 percent of all adults. E-reader households are 11 percent more likely to read a newspaper regularly than an average adult.”

Adults in e-reader households are also 9 percent percent more likely than all adults nationally to have read a printed newspaper during the past week, and 48 percent more likely than all consumers nationally to have visited a newspaper website within the past month.

“E-reader devices are becoming an important technology for millions of Americans, and our data confirms their emergence as a natural companion to newspapers,” said Gary Meo, senior vice president of digital media and newspaper services for Scarborough Research. “At this point, many newspaper publishers are determining strategies for making their content available on e-reader devices, and this is creating a new opportunity to monetize content and increase readership.”

The Kindle service is a product of Amazon and offers about 50 periodicals (including The Erotic Picture Blog). Kindle newspapers are free for a two-week trial, and then McClatchy’s papers will be $6.99 a month, according to Editor & Publisher.

“The Kindle Edition of The News & Observer contains articles found in the print and online edition, but will not include some images and tables,” the Amazon description says. “Also, some features such as the crossword puzzle, box scores and classifieds are not currently available.

“For your convenience, issues are automatically delivered wirelessly to your Kindle starting at 7:30 a.m. Raleigh local time.” The paper edition shows up at most subscribing homes about 3:30 a.m.

Also available are The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram in Texas, and the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News. The Kansas City Star, The Miami Herald and others are to be available soon, E&P says.

McClatchy announced the new service on its Facebook page, according to E&P. There’s an “N&O on Kindle” link to Amazon at the top of The N&O’s homepage.

The N&O ranked No. 2,982 in the Kindle Store Monday morning.