Thumbing through a thriller on the the screen

Asia Books recently joined up with Lonely Planet to launch the "eBook Card" along with the bookstore chain's very own e-reader application.

Asia Books managing director Sirote Jiraprayoon said his company is determined to take the lead role in stimulating the e-book market in Thailand with up to 500,000 digital titles available for download.

But to enjoy e-books to the full, you need the Asia Books app, which for now is only available on the Android platform.

Digital Rights Management is encoded in the e-books to prevent the violation of intellectual property rights. This also enhances the confidence of the publishers and writers who want to publicise their works in digital form using Asia Books as their distribution partner.

Right now, you'll find Thai and English e-books as well as foreign e-magazines in the Asia Books App Store. More than one million titles will be available.

As the distributor of the Lonely Planet guide books, Asia Books also launched the first Lonely Planet e-book in Asia. For easy downloading, you need the eBook Card.

 "Asia Books is now ready to serv e our readers with a variety of e-books and e-magazines," said Sirote.

Lonely Planet publishing house managing director Stephen Palmer vowed that Lonely Planet would retain its competitive edge in the digital era, just as it has in the print world.

"Our focus has always been on understanding the needs of travellers and trying to answer their problems through the content we create, the information we provide and the products we publish. It's in the DNA," Palmer said. "Lonely Planet was created by two travellers, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who shared their knowledge and stories from their overland trip from the UK to Australia with other travellers by publishing 'Across Asia on the Cheap' in 1974. That's what we have continued to do.

"Our authors visit, research and write about destinations and journeys, sharing the knowledge, information and experiences they have so other travellers can benefit and use it when they travel. The staff who edit, produce and sell our guides, are also passionate about travel," said Palmer.

He added that the printed guide book has been, and will remain, one of the best ways of sharing those stories.

"They are cheap to buy, the batteries don't run out, they don't break when you drop them and no one will mug you for a copy of a guide book," he said.

With Lonely Planet guidebooks going digital, Palmer stressed that the ethos - amazing guides to allow travellers to get to the heart of their chosen destination and have an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives - will not change.

Palmer said the world of |e-books is moving pretty fast. In the US it's reckoned that 10 per cent of adults are buying e-books. Random House has reported that that 20 per cent of its revenue comes from digital sales while Barnes and Noble estimates that digital sales will be US$1.8 billion in the next financial year.

Two years ago, e-books were a minor part of the publishing business. Devices were clunky and felt experimental, Palmer explained. Thanks in particular to new devices it now feels like the new norm.

"Lonely Planet travellers still want a guide book, but one that they can access on a Kindle, Sony Reader or iPad. Lonely Planet's |e-books feature differently by making maps work better, embedding links, formatting for touch screen and 'pinch and zoom' devices, including audio phrases in our e-phrasebooks, but readers aren't yet clamouring for lots of new content," said Palmer.

"What e-books are allowing us to do is create new ways of packaging and editing our content so we can offer guides that are more specific and targeted than the printed guides.

"That's because we no longer have to work within the economic efficiencies of physical production, optimal print runs, physical distribution and inventory management. Over time, we could probably have a different and larger list of e-published guides than printed guides," he said.

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For more information visit www.AsiaBooks.com or call the e-books hotline at (02) 715 9000 ext 8101 and 8104.