The e-book finds its feet

E-books are still in their infancy in SA, but the age of digital publishing may not be far off, say industry analysts.

Arthur Attwell, CEO of digital publishing company Electric Book Works, says the local e-book market is still very much a niche industry, and that local publishers have only recently begun planning or thinking about strategies for e-book distribution.

One reason for this, says Attwell, is the process of acquiring the rights to publish e-books, with publishers not knowing whether a title will recoup the costs of negotiating its digital publication. “The reality for publishers is that the time and money spent going through all these contracts and the technical costs of setting up a distribution system often outweigh the potential sales of e-books.”

Ben Williams, editor of Book Southern Africa (Book SA), a network for writers, publishers and readers, says the market for e-books in SA is virtually nonexistent. “This is principally because there has been no secure, reliable means of distributing e-books to computers and other devices.”

But Williams believes this is set to change significantly in the coming months, “after which the tiny stream of e-book sales in SA will build into a babbling brook - and grow from there”.

Book SA recently introduced an e-book store, Little White Bakkie (LWB), which sells South African and African titles to the US market via document sharing service Scribd.com. This service is currently only available to US buyers.

Williams says the main thrust of LWB was to help open larger markets for works from Southern Africa. He adds that a key consideration in setting up the service was thinking through the e-book model from a publisher's point of view. “Publishers are concerned about distribution rights, the technical aspects of creating e-books, pricing and file-sharing, among other things.”

Bertus Preller, marketing executive of local mobile applications developer CellBook, believes the tide is turning rapidly, locally, as well as internationally. He argues that, as technology develops, books in their traditional format may be overtaken by their digital counterparts. “We have seen this in the music industry, almost what MP3 did to the plastic record and the evolution of the CD.

“E-content can always be accessible, regardless of time or place, to be read on PCs, netbooks, laptops, mobile phones or on portable book readers. Books need never go out of print, and new editions can be easily created,” notes Preller.

“Think of the mapping industry and how the paper-based map is now being overtaken by electronic maps on mobile phones and other handheld navigation gadgets. The rapid advances in technology change the way we do things.”

According to Attwell, what really catalysed the e-book market in the US and Europe was the emergence of e-book readers. He adds, however, that dedicated e-book devices, like the Kindle, have a fairly limited scope. ”While the Kindle and other e-book readers have made digital content easier to read and buy, the Kindle has yet to expand outside the US, and if it does its first target is likely to be Europe.“

The e-book challenge, says Williams, is two-fold: infrastructure and consumer take-up. “Many South Africans have neither computers nor the Internet, not to speak of e-book readers; the first two are essential for the delivery of e-books, while the last helps encourage consumer willingness to give e-books a try.”

There is another device, however, that both Attwell and Williams see as an important platform for delivering content in general - the mobile phone.

Mobile platforms are already being used by South African companies to distribute digital content. Mxit published the first “instant messaging” book, Karen Michelle Brooks' 'Emily and the battle of the veil', in May, available for download at R13.50. Mxit brand manager Laura Hallam says the book is downloaded as a contract, with 21 000 downloads since its release.

CellBook has also brought out several 'mobile books', including educational titles on HIV/Aids and financial planning, according to Preller. ”Locally, over 100 000 books were distributed on mobile phones for a number of publishers, varying from dictionaries to Bibles, over the past year.”

However, World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck argues neither the phone's capacity nor the availability of applications will make a difference if phone users can't be convinced to install applications on a large scale. “The key is in getting both formal marketing and word of mouth out there. Until standard formats and platforms emerge, viral marketing will be the key to this market.”

This lack of standard formats is something Attwell says has been a major hindrance in the uptake of e-books. “Companies that have invested in the technology use different proprietary formats,” he explains, making it difficult for the user to share content across platforms.

“There's a strong move toward a set of single 'open' standards that's very encouraging,” says Williams. “I think convergence of standards, with a few possible exceptions - such as possibly the Kindle format, though the calls for it to 'go open' are getting stronger all the time - is on the cards.”

The e-book reader will reach adolescence next month, says Preller, when Dan Brown's “The Last Symbol” is published simultaneously in print and download format. “Unlike the music industry, the book industry is realising that in time things in their industry are changing.”

We could go from zero downloads now to thousands in as little as 18 months.

Ben Williams, editor, Book Southern Africa

According to Goldstuck, while South African e-book publishing is still in its infancy, there are a number of publishers and developers who have come up with cutting-edge tools and approaches.

“They need better partnerships with publishers and greater traction among readers before any of them become household names, and that is what it will take for the market to take off,” he argues.

Mark Seabrook, digital director of New Holland Publishing SA, says it has short-listed several local titles and is in the process of creating e-book versions of these. “We believe e-books present an excellent opportunity for authors to reach a wider, more global audience, and will be partnering with multiple channels both locally and internationally to make these e-books available.”

According to Williams, a major e-book distribution platform is being planned for SA soon, plus a number of other projects. “So I see a steady growth curve for e-books sales in the next few years. We could go from zero downloads now to thousands in as little as 18 months.”

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