3.20.10: The Emerging eBook Market
I spent an interesting week reviewing You Tube videos of keynote speakers at the O’Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) 2010 publishers’ conference, held in New York City at the end of February.
During a conversation on stage with Ray Kurzweil (who was at TOC to showcase the fantastic capabilities of his new eReading software Blio) Tim O’Reilly pointed out that despite the initial complaints that the iPhone would be too small to read books on, it has nonetheless been proven a popular platform for buying and reading eBooks. Even more interesting — to both writers and app developers alike – was O’Reilly’s observation that eBooks appear to be most popular when read not as part of a device or eReading program, but when each eBook is presented as a stand-alone application. This apparently allows the idea of digital literature to fit into the mold of current consumer familiarity; for instance, when walking into a book store, most consumers see and buy books as individual entities.
Also addressed at TOC 2010 was the “emerging” eBook market. Apparently, the majority of new eBook sales are coming from outside the US on the internet , especially on mobile devices. In many cases, eBooks are being sold where paper books may not be readily available. Some folks at the event spoke animatedly about moving the TOC to worldwide locations in the future. Other internet sources confirm non-US market increases for eBooks: Calibre – a free online EPUB converter and eReader – reported that of the 219,382 new users of its eReader in April 2010, only 23% were located within the US. The Digital Content Association of Japan reported that in 2009, the percentage of downloaded digital books, newspapers and text overtook video digital content, fetching just over $66.5 million dollars (US).
This data corroborates my own entrepreneurial experiences with digital content. Ever since my husband and I set up our independent eBook website – in early 2008 – over half of the total sales have come from foreign countries: the UK, France, Germany, Canada, India, Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. According to an In-Stat June 2009 report, “Worldwide e-book shipments are expected to reach 28.6 million units in 2013. Market drivers include new entrants to market, international expansion of e-book availability, anticipated price declines, and the electronic distribution of newspapers.” In-Stat goes to to predict that by 2013, eBooks will be a close to a nine-billion-dollar industry.
–Meredith Greene
Meredith Greene has been a reviewer for SBR/SFBR since April of 2009; a wife of thirteen years, mother of four and self-published novelist. She, nevertheless, finds time for poetry, blogs, home projects, and gardening.
Come on over and read what Meredith has to say about home, gardening, and other general musings in her column Greene Ink.
Visit Meredith’s website www.BelatorBooks.com.
