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Going by the e-book [New Straits Time (Malaysia)](New Straits Time (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) EVEN as the e-book uptake continues to grow, more effort is needed to make e-reading more appealing, writes Siti Syameen Md Khalili. More people are reading e-books than ever before. The global consumer electronic books revenue remains high, and is projected to increase at a 17.6 per cent compound annual growth rate over the next five years. In the US, for the first time, book publishers made more revenue from online sales compared to physical book stores last year. In the Asia Pacific, the awareness of e-books among consumers is higher now and e-reading in the region has grown three times over. READERS' PREFERENCE Early adoption of the e-book involves dedicated e-readers, but going forward, the growth will likely come from tab -lets and smartphones, given the higher penetration of the devices as well as the availability of infrastructures such as 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi to deliver digital content. With more reading taking place on electronic devices, publishers will increasingly have to compete with video, music and game content for attention. To ensure that the growth momentum continues, the e-book fraternity in Asia Pacific needs to address a number of things. Faiz al-Shahab, managing director and co-founder of e-Sentral, says to sell more e-books, the key is in understanding Asian behaviour and preferences. He believes Asean readers are diverse by nature and as penetration of smartphones and tablets here is high, the situation can be a boon for publishers. "Most Asians use Android-based mobile devices but this platform is not really designed to cater to e-books specif ica lly. There are many variations of devices, screen sizes and capabilities. There is also a steady growth of Windows Phone as many devices running this platform are more affordable." Based on his study, people in this region use tablets for social media first, followed by making calls, texting, streaming content and music. "Browsing and e-reading is number four in terms of priority," he says, adding that to encourage more adoption of e-books in this region, publishers may want to change the way the e-book is presented and make it easy for the readers to enjoy it. "Asian people want things to be colourful and animated. A typical text-only book may not appeal to Asians compared to Western readers. If possible, Asian readers want things to jump out of the pages. At one point the ratio of regular text e-books to interactive titles was one to seven. "The public here wants value added to their purchases. Beyond being able to change the font size and type, they want digital books to be richer and more interactive than the print version. We believe this can be an opportunity to unlock the e-book market here." Malcolm Neil, director of Acquisitions APAC for Toronto -ba sed company Kobo, agrees. "Publishers need to add a few enhancements to their business strategy as customers want content that is more dynamic than simply a text file with a bookmarking feature." Neil adds that the education sector will likely experience a big growth for e-books in the region. "Education is imperative among Malaysian and Asian families as they want their children to grow up with a better standard of living and greater opportunities. Reading is that opportunity. So from a cultural standpoint, it is important in itself. They are more likely to spend money on education." CATALYST The need to deliver more compelling e-books is no longer a task limited by constraints. As traditional publishers are becoming more vested in the digital format, the electronic publication or EPUB standard, will serve as a catalyst. While earlier versions of the format are designed for dedicated e- readers, the latest version, EPUB 3, is friendlier towards mobile devices that support HTML5 standard. In other words, digital books in EPUB3 standard will likely be able to be read on smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, notebooks and e-readers that come with a web browser. Harlequin Enterprises Pty Ltd's IT manager Paul Singh points out that the latest version of the EPUB standard will enable e-books to look exactly as the way the designer laid them out using content creation software such as InDesign. "The new format will also be able to handle rich media, interactivity, enhanced styling and scalable vector graphics. The new format will better deliver graphic novels a nd interactive books." It costs between USD25 (RM80) and USD80 to convert a print book into an e-book, depending on the number of pages. Converting from PDF to EPUB 3 costs an average of 75 cents per page. As e-books will be competing with other digital content, the addition of metadata is vital. Singh says as metadata acts as an e- book's DNA, it is important to start right. "With correct rules, you can make your book more accessible to readers. Publishers should take note that the metadata of a particular book can be loaded up to six months prior to the launch as part of a pre-release sales strategy. Online retailers such as Amazon.com allows for this, and you can tailor the metadata to create awareness of an upcoming title by the same author or publisher." OLD AND NEW STRATEGIES Apart from leveraging on the EPUB 3's capabilities, retailers can look at old and new marketing tricks to ensure each e-book title is visible to more readers. Vivek R, head of business development at Trade Books, Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, says customer awareness regarding e-book technologies is still low. "For example, many readers are still not aware that you can share an e-book or that the ePUB 3 experience is more interactive than its previous version. It just did not seem as easy as buying a print book, which you can easily hand to a friend after you've finished reading," Vivek says. To create awareness of and interest in e-books, publishers may want to consider an organic approach to marketing. Vivek says: "The online marketing channels such as retail platform advertising through banners, widgets and mailers or affiliate marketing with online media, and blogger and mobile ad platforms are becoming more popular in marketing digital content apart from search optimisation strategies and social media campaigns. Apart from that, offline marketing channels such as newspapers, magazines, TV or radio are still effective." Events such as book fairs and literary fests, as well as app pre- installations, generate interest among the public. Flipkart has had success in India through a partnership with Nokia for eBooks App to be preinstalled in Lumia devices as well as cash-on-delivery payment for selling physical book via Flipkart's online store. "Another strategy to introduce new authors is E before P - electronic before print. This has had some success as well." Meanwhile in China, a service called Cloudary has been successful in bringing forth new authors through online literature as well as gaining loyal subscribers who pay monthly or per word payments to enjoy e-books, says China's Publishers Magazine's executive editor- inchief Dr Ren Dianshun. APPS THAT HELP As adoption for mobile devices is steadily outpacing notebooks and PCs, the app strategy may also be the way to move forward. For publishers of e-magazines, journals and other periodicals, reaching out to readers that access Internet mainly on their smartphones or tablets may likely be more effective through apps. Vinapo Vietnam's chief executive officer Tran Phuong says books, magazines and other publications can easily be converted into responsive content without the use of coding, or design skills using publishing software such as the Greelane Writer app that supports HTML5. "Using powerful apps like the Greelane Writer allows you to come up with your own publication in apps or epub files, and you also retain full copyright to your content. You can also place your content at Greelane Store for distribution," he says. Phuong adds that for publishers looking to come into the digital world using this approach, it is advisable to consider the platforms for marketing their content later. Phuong also says the app should support push notifications to alert readers to new works from the same publisher, membership or subscription method to build a following for periodical content as well as a secure payment gateway. "The Greelane Writer also provides a visual report system that tracks down sales and revenue of your magazine," he notes. Apart from Greelane Writer, another app publishing platform, AppCross offers a three-step approach to developing an app suitable for e-books that provides easy entry into iOS and Android appstores. Meanwhile e-Sentral too has Estudio, and an e-book authoring tool that allows publishers to create a single file that can fit all screen sizes to solve the Android platform's formfactor diversity. LOVE FOR READING While the e-book landscape is ripe for growth, authors, publishers and e-book retailers should not overlook the need to cultivate the reading habit among the public. PTS Media Group owner Arief Hakim Sani Rahmat, who is also president of Malaysian Book Publishers Association, says: "Different genres of e-books need to be developed differently." Neil concludes: "It's not about what you read. It's just the fact that you read. All this talk about formats, books, e-books, print books - they're secondary to the fact that we're in the business of selling content. And the key to any market is to make sure that people want to read the content that you're creating. "Organisations like the National Book Council of Malaysia, publishers association, libraries and teachers groups in school are key to getting this through to parents everywhere that it is the reading that is important. You want children to read as they will grow up to be your best customers." RICHER CONTENT "THE development of e-book formats such as ePUB and even PDF is exciting for publishers. As locals, especially students, now are more familiar with e-books, USM Press is ready to embrace the digital e-book strategy. We will take advantage of technological advancements where possible. For example, the latest version of ePUB is able to carry a host of metadata content that can make it easier for people to find the e-books that we publish, and we can even notify them of upcoming titles using blurbs." Hasleza Abdul Halim, marketing executive, USM Press "I LOVE e-books and I look forward to richer content. We need to look at available technology, market potential and the platforms that have the capability to reach out to more readers, especially the new generation. Now e-books seem to be in demand and we need to move towards that. UUM Press has over 400 titles in print as of last year, and we hope e-books will be an avenue to increase the number." Datin Dr Minah Harun, director, UUM Press "IT will be exciting to be able to offer more compelling content to readers and there are now more ways to come up with e-books for the local market. The E before P strategy is also interesting to emulate in the local market. Malaysians are ready to make e-books a part of their lives as many of us are more tech-savvy now." Muhamad Syarafuddin Sulaiman, senior editor, PTS Media Group (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |