This document summarizes the state of digital publishing globally and in India. Key points include: - Digital publishing is driving structural changes in the global publishing industry by reducing content costs. E-books now account for 20% of book sales in the US. - Adoption of e-books varies significantly between countries in Europe. Germany has just 1% e-book sales while the UK is closer to US levels. - India's print industry needs to address both large urban centers and emerging tier 2/3 cities experiencing growth. E-content will be more popular in large cities while printed material dominates smaller emerging markets currently. - Formats, infrastructure, market size, taxes and cultural preferences will

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September 2012 Book Link
Virtual and Real 5
Digital Publishing: India
And The World
Osamazaid Rahman report by the European Commission (2004) individual markets are taken
estimated that digital media is the main driver separately. For example,
THE ADVENT of new technology has added a of a structural change taking place in the pub- mass adoption of the digi-
completely new dimension to publishing. lishing industry in Europe. With the cost of con- tal content is still far off
Technological innovation has blurred the tent slashed substantially due to its e-nature, in one of Europe’s
boundaries between different verticals in the publishers are opting for print-on-demand for most-literate nations,
publishing sectors, i.e. retail, publishing and their books. This has also given rise to innova- Germany, where e-
distribution, and has clubbed different roles of tive approaches to marketing books through books account for only
authors, publishers and retailer. With the com- different channels. In 2003, over 1.3 million 1% of all book sales,
ing of new content platforms, other creative downloadable e-books were sold in the US gen- according to a report pub-
industries have come to play an ever-increasing erating revenue of $7.5 million. According to lished by the market F u t u r e
role in the business of book publishing. the Bowker Market Research, e-books in 2011 research firm GdK (2012). Projections
Books have always been regarded as an accounted for 20.2 percent of all books sold in In term of a compara- (2011) provides
important media for the development and pro- the US, up from 7.3 percent in 2010. The quan- tive survey of different a broad survey of
motion of human values. They record new tum spread of e-content can be gauged by the markets, we have a lot data on emerging
ideas, preserve and communicate knowledge, example of the Sony Reader that went on sale to learn for the future from e-book markets
impart education and value, and aid the overall in Europe in October 2011, and has sold close progress of e-publishing across Europe and in
development of the individual. Today’s white- to 500,000 units in the UK, France, Spain, in India. The Global two BRIC countries:
collar worker spends more time reading than Germany and other major markets. However, eBook Market: Brazil and China. In
eating, drinking, grooming, travelling, socialis- these awe-aspiring figures become tricky, when Current Conditions & Europe, Germany and
ing or on general entertainment and sports — France are ahead in dig-
that is five to eight hours of each working day. The Indian print industry has to be looked at from two perspectives — the itally embracing trade books, notably fiction,
The publishing industry in India has metropolitan centres and the emerging urban centres for sites for content con- yet are clearly behind the US and UK. The
tremendous potential. With an estimated mar- sumption. From Tier 1 cities the focus is now shifting to Tier II and II cities which report clearly projects the future in double dig-
ket size of INR 15,000 crores, India’s market are experiencing rapid urbanisation with ever greater economic growth. Powered its for e-books in most European markets by
share in global export of printed and published by strong consumerism, these centres have been insulated to a large extent from 2015. What is important for any reference to e-
product is 6.46%. Indian publishing industry is the impact of globalism. However, with internet penetration below double digits, content in India is how reading platforms and
growing at a CAGR of 30% and is ranked third these centres will be the major consumer of printed material in the coming few distribution infrastructure, market size, tax
in English language publishing after the US & decades. On the other hand, the major urban centres in India will be the highest regimes and cultural choices present with
UK; with approximately 90,000 titles published consumer in terms of e-content. unique defining traits for each market. For
every year. Added to these figures, Indian lan- Again formats for e-books may prove to be a problem for most publishers in example, in China mobile is the preferred plat-
guage publishing is an uncharted area that India, and even for the pace of expansion of e-books. There are different file for- form for e-book distribution with a heavy bend
should not be ignored in any discussion on the mats available to publishers and at times a particular content need to be tailor- towards fiction, on the other hand in Brazil edu-
publishing industry in India. made for a particular format. With the ever decreasing investment cost, soon cational content has become the main driver for
But what is the current scenario of e-pub- we will witness the industry maturing and developing innovative ways to fit digital publishing.
lishing in mature Western markets, and what content into a universal format. (Osamazaid Rahman is Senior
can India learn from such developments. A Assistant Director at FICCI )
advt
Books To Hold Still Doing Good
DESPITE OMINOUS forecasts predicting the But bricks-and-mortar retail still ranked as
end of print books and bricks-and-mortar book- the No. 1 sales channel for books in 2011,
stores, traditional books and booksellers are still accounting for 31.5 percent of total book sales,
going strong, according to BookStats, an annu- or $8.59 billion.
al survey that tracks the USpublishing industry. Aside from the surge in e-books, perhaps
E-book sales and revenues more than the brightest spot in books was in the chil-
doubled between 2010 and 2011, from 125 dren’s/young adult category, which saw a 12
million e-books sold in 2010 accounting for percent increase in sales in 2011 to $2.78 billion
$869 million in revenues to 388 million e- – the largest jump of any subcategory.
books sold in 2011 accounting for more than – (Courtesy The Christian Science
$2 billion in revenues. Monitor)
Taking into consideration the huge for publishers, technology experts and
importance of the book industry and the key stakeholders to engage in construc-
opportunities offered by the emergence of tive dialogue on different areas of digital
digital content, FICCI is organising publishing.
PubliCon 2012: Digital Publishing. The For online registration and paymen
conference will try to answer many diffi- please visit, http://www.ficci.com/events-
cult questions and will provide a platform page.asp?evid=21051
advt