Still awaiting that elusive tipping point on e-reading
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Despite their increasing presence at book fairs, e-books are yet to establish a firm foothold in Thailand
It’s highly likely that more than 90 per cent of middle-class Thais have had experience of e-reading. This is based on the conclusion that “e-reading” goes beyond devices like computer tablets or Amazon’s Kindle. Reading on a computer screen is largely considered e-reading, and so is reading on your mobile phone. There have been “apps” that enable people to engage in long-formed reading on desktops, laptops and smart phones.
The question is why has e-reading and e-publishing in Thailand not become a more viable business? The platforms are there, and so is public experience. Investment is cheap. Thai fonts have been created. Some stories or issues of big public interests have had their electronic versions. Developed countries have set promising examples. Why can’t e-reading get off the ground in this country?
E-books have become an increasingly significant feature of the country’s book fairs, but the overall mentality of the publishing industry still demonstrates a lack of willingness to take a leap of faith. It seems people who matter still want to play safe. There have been extremely few cases in which a publisher or a writer has banged the table and said: “Forget the print version. Let’s go e-book crazy on this one.”
The reluctance of key players in the industry – or publishers and writers to be exact – is just one of a few reasons why e-books are struggling to get a foothold in Thailand. Economic returns on e-books are not attractive enough and that brings us to problems of piracy, plus the fact that people with access to electronic reading devices do not really constitute a big market. We can also blame it on one great myth, which is that Thai people do not like reading that much. Thailand often fares poorly in surveys to determine how much citizens read in a year. If they don’t read print books, why would they read electronic ones?
It is this question that e-books are supposed to address, one may say. If it’s easy for Thais to find books they like, get them free or buy them cheap and carry them around in one small device thinner than a pen, will they be able to fall in love with books? If the answer is yes, the chicken and egg situation is clear. On one hand, an e-book boom in Thailand is impossible as long as Thais simply don’t like reading that much. On the other hand, how can Thais who don’t like reading make a U-turn without an abundance of cheap, easy-to-get and easy-to-carry content? What has to come first, content in abundance or a love of reading?
Cue sponsors and advertisers and the road to immediate success looks more daunting. They also want to play safe, and this affects the decisions of both conventional publishers and aspiring self-publishers. People go where the money is, and e-books are simply not making enough money to be attractive. Maybe everyone involved is forgetting one thing. People are spending more and more time looking at their “screens”, big or small. And that is regardless of whether they are also reading print books or not. The “market” seems to be there, waiting for someone with a magic success formula to tap into it. Big-name publishers have encouraged people to write electronic content, offering rewards or distribution bases online. Many things are happening, but the long-awaited tipping point has yet to come.
There is no doubt that the upheaval will finally arrive. It has been later than expected but most analysts, looking at the declining prices of electronic devices believe the stage of real reading revolution has been set. First we had expensive, not so-good products that only the privileged could access. Then we had relatively good products at reasonable prices. Business revolution, they say, is preceded by great products with cheap prices coming out en masse.
