The revenge of the papyrus and other trends
What happened to good old paper?
It’s
making a comeback. Or so it seems.
Where?
In
publishing, in the form of physical books. The numbers suggest their sales are
growing.
Oh. What about our new-gen e-books?
Their
prospects don’t look rosy as things stand now. The Publishing Association of
the UK, an important market for books, show the sales of e-books have fallen 17
per cent, while the sales of physical books are up 8 per cent. Granted the
numbers don’t include self-published books which form a decent chunk of the
e-publishing market. Experts say the trend is more or less the same across the
globe. Not many people are buying e-books now. And all the signs suggest that
the hype around e-books is sort of settling down.
But why? I like my Kindle. Besides,
carrying and reading e-books is very convenient.
In
a way, the writing’s been pretty much on the wall for e-books. Just a couple of
months ago Nielsen released the 2016 figures on book sales: the numbers
suggested physical sales were up in the UK and the US, two major book markets.
The Nielsen survey found that UK e-book sales had declined 4 per cent in 2016,
the second consecutive year digital has shrunk. The five biggest general
publishers in the UK — Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Pan
Macmillan and Simon & Schuster — said their e-book sales collectively fell
2.4 per cent in 2015.
And
there were other early signs as well from other parts of the world. If you
remember, services such as Oyster, which many dubbed the Netflix for books,
shut shop in 2015. Kindle Unlimited is also struggling to attract more users.
Yes, e-reading devices are convenient, but many point out that even a decade
after Kindle was introduced by Amazon, not much has changed in its form or
user-friendliness. Plus, many suffer from ‘screen fatigue’ using e-readers.
That’s true.
But
at the same time, partially thanks to competition from e-books, physical books
have seen a massive transformation in their production, distribution and
pricing departments. Thanks to advancements in printing technology, physical
books are now more beautiful than they ever have been. They have added more
colours, developed layers and folds, and even gone 3D, making them popular
among young and emerging readers who in the past were the first to take to
e-reading. Publishers across the globe, especially those of children’s books such
as Scholastic, now produce books that look better, read better and interact
better with children.
That’s cool. I have noticed that
physical books have become more affordable of late.
Yes,
that’s also a factor. Today, the price difference between a new book’s physical
and electronic editions is not significant. So in markets such as India, where
consumers always look for some value addition, physical books, if affordable,
become the primary choice of consumers.
Makes sense. But is this going to be
the end of the road for e-books?
Unlikely.
Digital reading is witnessing saturation across advanced markets where all
those who could afford to buy a smartphone have one already. Publishers want to
stay positive and say the current trend is about e-books finding their “natural
level”. It’s a season of correction. With literacy levels and access to
technology improving in the developing world, e-books will eventually find more
takers thanks to their affordability and availability. Either way, this is only
going to help the publishing industry, which has found a new rhythm.
Source | The Hindu | 4 May 2017
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @
Knowledge Repository
Khaitan
& Co
Upcoming Event | MANLIBNET 17th
Annual International Conference on 15-16 September 2017 at Jaipuria, Noida,
India
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