But there’s not a lot of hard data yet. Bookscan only covers some of the bigger bookstore chains, and while there are an estimated 19,000 publishers today, no single professional association has more than 1,000 members.

Pathak—who works from New Delhi with the Frankfurt Book Fair—identifies some areas for growth. India needs more editors who are better trained, he writes, as well as a better retail infrastructure, and so far literary agents haven’t really emerged as a resource for identifying strong writing and making sure it sees print.

One thing he doesn’t focus on much is the potential for ebooks and digital distribution to solve infrastructure problems, especially in a market where mobile devices are common.

Read the full article at Publishing Perspectives.

(Photo: quinn.anya)

All of this has resulted in getting the US to the point as of Frankfurt 2010 where a US publisher launching a book of straight text can expect ebook sales to be a mid-teens percentage of the book’s total sale, with occasional reports that are even more dramatic (such as the anecdote that the first wave of Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom” was one-third ebooks!)

Shatzkin notes that this inequality will have to change sooner or later, and the book industry in the rest of the world is going to be in for some shocks as it catches up.

Some of the issues holding e-books down in the rest of the world include regulations and regional rights restrictions, but another complication is the lack of availability of very many non-English titles in the EPUB format. From the point of view of e-book region restrictions, I found this bit especially noteworthy:

The epub gap spawns another serious issue for the European book trade as it catches up with the US. Most educated people in most European countries are comfortable reading English. A publisher in tiny Slovenia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) told me that one-sixth of the books sold through the largest chain of bookstores and the largest online bookseller are already in English. Somebody else told me that 25% of the books sold in Denmark are in English. In Holland, I was told, there has been recent legislation requiring “windowing” of English ebooks on titles that have a Dutch edition, holding back the English edition until the Dutch edition has had a minimum time of availability.

The lack of availability of geographically-restricted titles to “non-English-speaking” countries may be costing publishers more than is apparent. It would be nice if they’d get that straightened out.

It looks like the publishing industry in the rest of the world is in for the same rude awakening American publishers have been getting lately. We may be in for interesting times.

“The big thing that’s in the air all the time,” Nurnberg said, “is that territoriality is not so much about physical books. Now the question is moving toward territoriality for e-rights. “Some publishers say, ‘No way, we can’t keep these held to any particular territory. It’s no longer physical. If it’s out there then it can’t be controlled.’ They want to use it as a back door to break territoriality and to acquire world English language rights.

“I can’t buy a Farrar, Straus and Giroux copy of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom from my office in London—Amazon.com automatically puts me onto the 4th Estate edition on Amazon.co.uk because it is following the publisher’s remit to keep the markets separate. If you can prevent a cardholder from buying an American print edition, you can do the same with an e-book.”

I would be inclined to suspect that if Nurnberg really wanted to buy the American edition of that book, he could do so easily enough. Amazon isn’t the only game in town, after all; I’m sure that even apart from other bookstores, there are plenty of people selling copies on eBay or Craigslist or other such places that would be willing to ship overseas.

Other agents were doubtful that this was very likely:

Carole Blake of Blake Friedman agency said: “It would be a very foolish publisher who tried to blackmail an author into doing that. It would upset the whole publishing dynamic if one let the digital edition seep into another market. The publishers we have seen haven’t been pushing for that. Anyone trying to do that would really mess up their relationship with the author and the agent.”

Of course, in none of this is there any discussion about readers who live outside of areas where the English-language versions of the books are being sold. An American expatriate living in Germany or Japan would be able to order a copy of an English-language book shipped in from overseas, but as far as e-books go, he has no options. Who is going to buy the English-language rights to publish a book somewhere that English speakers make up the minority?

And that’s leaving aside that there are still plenty of English-language books that don’t have e-book editions even in English-speaking countries outside their native markets. Plenty of American books aren’t available in the UK or Australia, and vice versa.

It would be nice if there were a little less concern about “upsetting the whole publishing dynamic” and more concern about upsetting consumers who can’t get the e-book editions they want in their native countries.

Hi Paul!

Just returned from Frankfurt. Didn’t have internet access while I was there (the Messe wanted me to pay 49€ per day for wifi, but I wasn’t that desperate), so I’m glad to be home.

I had an opportunity to check out three e-reader booths while I was there: IREX (with their two readers), Bookeen, and the new German txtr. I got some photos, too. I spoke with the folks at the different booths. My interactions were, I think, indicative of the differences between the companies themselves. At IREX, I spoke with Willem Endhoven, who is the VP of Marketing and Business Development of this Dutch company. It felt more like a formal interview than just a conversation, and he got a bit defensive when I asked him about the future of dedicated e-readers. He basically told me that if reading is what’s important to the consumer, than a dedicated e-reader will provide a high-quality reading experience. The US-only and consumer-aimed IREX is very sleek and appealing, though I’m not a stylus fan. Back in August, IREX and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore announced a partnership, but I wonder how that will be impacted by the introduction of the Nook. IREX says their new focus will be a color e-reader for 2011 (which they will need to pull forward if they want to remain competitive). Their professional reader is huge – rather like Bookeen’s old school reader that they use as an example of how far they’ve come. It’s very cool that users can hand-write notes with it (an “unending notepad”) and use it as a tool (for folks in the book trade, academics, etc.) plus has wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, but it costs 699€ and isn’t very attractive. Still, it had many of the capabilities I’d like to see contained within a sleeker, smaller, slimmer exterior. Wait, what am I talking about again? Hmm. Anyway, one of the first lines in the handout I was given: “The start of IREX Technologies in 2004 is so inextricably linked to the invention of the first commercially produced eReader that the stories must be told as one.” Something IREX should consider, in regards to their marketing materials, is that no one really cares who did what when. We just want to know who will do what next. In any case, the booth seemed quite busy when I stopped by, though I’m not sure who was working vs visiting. Still, Willem assured me that it was practically dead compared to earlier traffic.
At Bookeen, I spoke with the laidback co-founder Laurent Picard about their e-reader, e-books, and publishing in general. I really enjoyed my chat with him. Theirs is a slim reader, but I think calling it “pocket friendly” is a stretch. Or maybe I just have small pockets. Anyway, I was happy to come across a reader that is available in a variety of stores around the world. They’re also looking at creating a color reader and adding 3G and wifi capabilities. Laurent seemed very realistic about the future of dedicated readers, saying that at least for now they offer a much better reading experience than the smartphones. There wasn’t anyone else at the booth when I walked up, but there were a few interested folks there by the time I left. Still, it seemed like they had less traffic (not a scientific assessment, by any means) than IREX.

Two days later, I had a chance to check out the German txtr. While IREX and Bookeen had their booths in the tech hall, txtr wisely had theirs set up in what I thoughts was the children’s book and comics hall. But that was a great place to set up if they wanted a ton of German foot traffic (since the txtr is currently only available in Germany). When I stopped by on Sunday, there was a constant stream of people checking it out. I was glad to find a booklet in English, and the person I spoke with (Priska Herger) was great to speak with. I got the feeling that the people behind this reader really are book enthusiasts and are also young (mostly 20s-early 30s, I’m guessing, though I really don’t know). Even though txtr doesn’t have a touch screen (like the new Nook), you do use a swiping motion to scroll through the pages (something I really liked). I had some difficulty doing that, though, and I could see others were having some trouble with it, too. Understandably, this is an early demo and these won’t be available for sale (within Germany) until December, and I’m confident that they’ll get the kinks worked out. It seemed very intuitive (more so than the IREX) to use. The cost is 319€, but (again) Germany-only. Of the e-readers I saw, this one was the most exciting. Once I got home, I checked out txtr.com, which is the start of what seems like a social network for e-readers (as in, the people who read e-books). A few things I read in their brochure that are rather convincing and compelling:

“the txtr reader transports traditional literate culture into the digital world of today.”

“txtr reader is not against the traditional book, but for the act of reading.”

And in regards to my question about dedicated devices: “txtr reader is for people who concentrate on the essential.” Or “Sophisticated users intuitively prefer the expert solution to the all-round device.” (Though that makes me wonder if, perhaps, I am unsophisticated.)

All of Hall 3.0 (where the txtr booth was located) was packed, and the space around their booth was no different. I’m not sure how well the txtr would hold up against the e-readers already available in the US, but distribution in the US is a goal. I’m all for it, since I like this one and hope that the price of readers will decrease as more options are introduced. (Honestly, though, I’m in Europe, so products being available in the US doesn’t mean much to me.)

Cheers,
rachel

Editor’s note: Rachel is an American living in Estonia and you can find her blog, Fade Theory, here.

Hey:

Ectaco announced a quite extra-ordinary eBook Reader at current Frankfurt Book Fair. Like the Ectaco jetBook ($179 at newegg.com), Ectaco jetBook Lite has a transflective monochrome TFT-Display (5″).

The Device has an unusual form factor caused by the power supply which comes of 4 regular AA-Batteries (good for 23 hr reading). Ectaco guys at the booth told me it’s 7.5 Oz though it felt a bit heavier.

jetBook Lite will be available “very soon” in the US. Sales price is $149 which makes it the cheapest dedicated eReader in the market.

You can find pictures and a HD hands-on Video (feel free to embed it) here.

Hi,

I think TeleRead missed this announcement at the Frankfurt Book Fair:

The German text is about the planned improvements of the German eBook portal libreka!, which is the official eBook shop of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (federation of German publishers and book stores). The interesting part for non-Germans is the announcement of the release of a libreka! iPhone app in the beginning of November. With this app it will be possible to buy and read the eBooks sold at libreka!—which are EPUB with Adobe DRM. So this will be the first official iPhone eBook reader for EPUB with Adobe DRM.

Best regards,
Tobias Steinke

It looks like an especially interesting issue.

Unfortunately the release doesn’t say much about the reading technology and it doesn’t seem to be up on the K-NFB website yet.

Berlin, October 14th, 2009. This is what fans of digital reading pleasure have been waiting for: Today, txtr GmbH presents its online-compatible txtr Reader at the Frankfurt Book Fair. At the same time, the txtr Store is launched, allowing to easily and conveniently acquire eBooks from your home and soon also when you are away from home. In contrast to competitors, txtr Reader as well as the platform are open for developers in the form of an SDK with documented APIs. Thus it will be still this year that the Berlin based start-up company will offer the first open overall solution for acquiring, storing, publishing, and sharing digital documents – while allowing full mobility. And the reading matter will be provided, too: The txtr Reader will have the successful novel “Paradiso” by Thomas Klupp pre-installed which was published in 2009 by Berlin Verlag, as well as numerous excerpts from notable publishing companies such as Rowohlt, S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Droemer Knaur, Luchterhand, DVA, and Heyne, and also complete versions of Polyglott Cityguides and Langenscheidt language guides.On December 1st, 2009, the sale of the txtr Reader for 319.00 €, including VAT, is launched on txtr.com. It is planned to deliver the first devices to customers in all of Europe and in the US already before Christmas. Mobile Phone and Shop System will be available by then within Germany, an extension of the services to include Austria and Switzerland is planned for 2010. Navigating within txtr Store and downloading of the bought documents via txtr Net remain cost-free. For synchronizing digital texts, publications, and books between platform and Reader the price after one test month is 14.99 € per month or 11.99 € per month when the customer chooses to use it for three months or twelve months respectively. Each owner of a txtr Reader from the very start can search, buy, and download from the txtr Store more than 20,000 eBooks in ePub-format and synchronize the texts he stored at txtr.com. When you add the texts that are uploaded by the txtr community and the German and English eBooks by projects like Gutenberg and Manualsmania, the user has access to about a million digital open source documents.

You can find it here.