In a report published by the Association of American Publishers, ebook sales have surpassed hardcover book sales in the first quarter of this year.
The report does show how readers are fast adapting to the idea of reading ebooks and opting out of hardcover publication.
Producing an ebook is much cheaper compared to producing a hardcopy material. The cost incurred on publishing books has made authors and publishers alike to seek a new way of publishing. This in turn has favored ebook publishing.
According to the report, ebook sales for adult publication scored US$282 million in the first quarter while the hardcopy sold US$229.6 million. This represented a 28.4 percent growth compared to last year.
For the soft cover books and children’s material, hard copy still reign, but there is steady growth in ebook sales. The young adults and children’s ebooks jumped to an impressive 233 percent to clock $64 million.
In an interview a year ago, Executive Director of Publishers’ Association of South Africa, Brian Wafawarowa commented on the trend on ebook publishing.
“Ten years ago the e-book was a story that was described as a phenomenon in the West and something that would take long to take off here. In the last two years it has arrived in earnest in our market. It is a reality that all publishers are now dealing with proactively,” he said.
Mr. Wafawarowa also indicated that the push to have ebooks is not driven by publishers but it’s more driven by readers.
“Publishers are comfortable with the analog book and would like to continue that way. However, they are forced to respond to the reality of readers who have access to suitable e-readers and are demanding e-content. They are also driven by fear of becoming irrelevant or being left behind,” he reiterated.
Ebook publishing may not be something that is familiar in the African continent, due to lack of ereaders but this does not deter some publishers to get their material on soft copy.
Self-publishing of books also is gaining momentum. Site like Lulu.com offer authors an opportunity to self publish their book and offer them on ebook format or even on Print On Demand (POD). It seems this trend is set to continue upwardly.
