THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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A case for content

A case for content

The recent launch of reading app The1Book is yet another sign that e-books are the way of the future

Thais have long been criticised for their lack of interest in reading and while this is said to be improving, figures show that the majority of us get through fewer than six books a year.
The advent of e-books has gone some way towards encouraging greater intimacy with the written word and now leading bookstore B2S is making access to reading even easier with the launch of a new e-book application, The 1Book, which offers more than 10,000 titles across a variety of genres.
Thanks to wider Internet accessibility and more affordable electronic gadgets, reading no longer requires a trip to the bookstore and massive outlays of cash. E-books also help save on storage space and have the distinct advantage of allowing us to carry around multiple titles as well as e-copies of magazines and journals from any country in the world.
The age of the e-book dawned a decade or so ago when Amazon launched its e-book reader. While the Kindle, as it was called, wasn’t the first dedicated e-book reader device, it didn’t have much competition. Back then, it seems, those who us who liked to spend time reading preferred to flick through the pages than scroll on screen.
Although many older bookworms still prefer the written page, the e-book market is growing fast. The introduction of multifaceted smartphones and gadgets that allow us not just to read but also to write, draw and comment has made reading more interactive and even fans of the physical book are switching to e-books to read on their daily commute as well as on vacation.
Publishing houses have also followed the digital trend with many launching electronic versions of the latest books by best-selling authors in parallel with the hardcopy. And because the e-book is so much cheaper than the printed word, first books by unknown authors are mostly released as e-titles to test the market.
“E-books used to frighten me and I really hated the very idea of them,” Kim Jongsatitwattana, assistant managing director of sales and marketing at Thai publishing house Nanmeebooks, told XP last week during The 1Book launch event at the Zen branch of B2S.
“I grew up with books that are made of paper, books that we can touch, feel and smell. And as a publishing house, we fear e-books will replace physical books. We don’t want to lose our business; we don’t want to be like Kodak.
“At first, we waited for six months to a year after releasing a book before launching the digital version at a cheaper price because we wanted the customers to buy the paper version first. But we’ve come to realise that paper book and e-book consumers are two distinctly separate groups. Granted, a few might enjoy both but in general terms those who buy books will continue to buy physical books while e-book readers will just download. We’ve invested a little bit more to adapt our files to make the e-book available. And like many publishers, we don’t have our own e-book store but work with other outlets to sell content to the readers. Just recently we decided to launch physical and electronic versions at the same time, and at the same price. The big challenge now is more about how to make people want to read more rather than how to sell books.
The application that pioneered the e-book market in Thailand is Ookbee. The country’s biggest e-book store, it was founded in 2012 and still maintains the biggest market share. Others include Mobile eBook (or Meb), TrueBook, Hytexts and eBook.in.th. Readers can also browse for entries directly from the e-book sections of Se-Ed, Asia Books, Nation Books other publishers, but e-book apps like Ookbee and The 1Book allow access to larger selections of books from various publishers. Many also come with discounts, promotions and special deals.
As a physical store that carries books from many different publishers, B2S has built a dedicated application to market e-books. The 1Book works on most platforms including the smartphone, tablet and PC. Initially, it’s targetting holders of Central’s loyalty programme.
The 1Card allows points to be redeemed for any e-books on the virtual shelf and every purchase made through the application earns points. In that sense, it differs from the existing B2S eBook Store, which only allows 1Card point redemption on some items and where purchases do not earn points.
Since 2013, physical book sales have suffered an 11-per-cent decline while those of e-books have soared by 123 per cent and are expected to expand threefold by 2018. In Thailand, where reading campaigns are aggressively targetting both children and adults, the e-book is seen as the way to go, not least because prices tend to be as much as 30-per-cent cheaper.
“I’m not really into e-books because I’m old school, but I support it. The world needs to change,” says Chart Korbjitti, 2004 National Artist in Literature and two-time SeaWrite Award winner.
“In ancient times, the Greeks and Romans engraved their messages on stone and marble. When the Chinese and the Egyptians started to use paper, people were horrified because it was new and unfamiliar. Now stone engravers are limited to carving words on headstones.
“Whether it’s a physical book or e-book, it’s just a container. What matters most is the content – the quality and the accessibility of it. E-books great in that you can access copies of old and rare books that are out of print. And it’s a good way for new writers to break through and make money. In my time writers were dependent on publishers and were often exploited,” he says.
“My concern is the readiness and willingness of the National Library of Thailand to step into the digital era and give more access to readers. The French introduced electronic versions of their archived books 17 years ago. What are we waiting for?”

 

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