Even thought the presence of digital in publishing can be felt very strongly in countries such as US and UK the continent is still rather slow on catching up with the digital. The weight of digital is still so small that the publishers are not able to catch the important momentum tied to the digital book rise and exploit it accordingly (Vena, 2012). One of the reasons for this is that majority; if not all continental EU countries lunched e-books several years after countries that are now in the middle of digital whirlwind in publishing. Secondly, the market in these countries varies dramatically from that in US or even UK (Boezeman, 2012).
Of course some countries are doing better than others in the aspect of digital publishing. For example, Netherlands are now experiencing a rapid growth of their digital products. They are experiencing the same trends that US did in the first years of introducing e-books to the market. Even though, the country lunched their e-books three years later, their market is dramatically different than that in US and Amazon has not even entered the market. One of the reasons for e-books to become so popular in US was because their bookstores were rare and in-between which was an ideal environment for e-books to grow. Nevertheless, in Netherlands bookshops are easily accessible (Boezeman, 2012).
If that is the case, why did the Netherlands experience such positive reaction for the new digital products? I would speculate that this trend has something to do with the relatively close western neighbors, such as England. It is possible that in the year until e-books hit the market in Netherlands the consumers there had had an earful of the ‘wonderful’ and ‘new digital merchandise’ offered by their neighboring countries and evoked sufficient amount of interest in the market. Moreover, it might have something to do with a sufficient amount of content in Dutch.
The article, Amazon Lunches Kindle Fire across Europe: meaning Germany, France, Italy and Spain, shows that some actions are being taken to introduce Europe with the digital from Amazon’s side. Nevertheless, German publishers believe that tablets will overtake e-readers in digital market and yet again mention that the reason for digital accounting only for a 1% market share is the lack of content (Tivnan, 2012). Tivnan and Sieg in their reinforce this by explaining that (2012, p.9) ‘when the Kindle launched in 2011 in Germany, it had 625,000 titles, yet only about 25,000 were German language, and the Kindle it sold initially had an English keyboard and English-language menus.’
Even though Amazon is trying to catch up with their foreign language titles it is a rather vast market to be diving in, because essentially Europe does not consist only from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Overall, it is simple, if a country has Amazon and Kindle but their offer is lacking and the publishing houses of the specific country offer even a little bit more, the consumer will go to them. This in turn means that they have no need for Kindle and can download their e-books on their PC’s or tablets that support both the format and language. If Amazon and Kindle or Kobo with their retail website do not operate in the country and do not have any offers for books in the appropriate language publishing houses of that country yet again have the advantage. Consumer if interested will go to them and yet again most likely using the newest tablet rather than outdated e-reader which do not recognize the language.
Publishers who want to digitize the book market in Europe have to keep in mind that Europe consists of many small markets. It simply does not have the appropriate amount of readers and finances to build the platforms, apps and sites that are being developed by US and UK publishers to connect with their readers (Snoeren, 2011). To reach the point where UK is now would probably take some years. Most likely in further east European countries the development of digital publishing will be different from that in the UK. The lack of presence from Amazon will allow the publishers to command the market and move as rapidly as they see fit, because of the lack of pressure. Therefore, the digital overtaking print is still a very distant and rather unrealistic assumption at least in the global market.
Word Count-729
Boezeman, T. (2012). Adoption of e-books in the Netherlands grows faster than in the US. Available at: http://www.futurebook.net/content/adoption-e-books-netherlands-grows-faster-us (Accessed: 20 November 2012)
Snoeren, J. (2011). Europe’s e-book conundrum. Bookseller Issue 5485, p. 12.
Tivnan, T., Sieg, A. (2012). Amazon Lunches Kindle Fire across Europe. Bookseller Issue 5543, p. 9.
Vena, M. (2012). Connecting the dots - MBA Alumni for the nascent e-book industry Europe? Available at: http://www.futurebook.net/content/connecting-dots-%E2%80%93-mba-alumni-chosen-drive-nascent-ebook-industry-europe (Accessed: 20 November 2012)
Of course some countries are doing better than others in the aspect of digital publishing. For example, Netherlands are now experiencing a rapid growth of their digital products. They are experiencing the same trends that US did in the first years of introducing e-books to the market. Even though, the country lunched their e-books three years later, their market is dramatically different than that in US and Amazon has not even entered the market. One of the reasons for e-books to become so popular in US was because their bookstores were rare and in-between which was an ideal environment for e-books to grow. Nevertheless, in Netherlands bookshops are easily accessible (Boezeman, 2012).
If that is the case, why did the Netherlands experience such positive reaction for the new digital products? I would speculate that this trend has something to do with the relatively close western neighbors, such as England. It is possible that in the year until e-books hit the market in Netherlands the consumers there had had an earful of the ‘wonderful’ and ‘new digital merchandise’ offered by their neighboring countries and evoked sufficient amount of interest in the market. Moreover, it might have something to do with a sufficient amount of content in Dutch.
The article, Amazon Lunches Kindle Fire across Europe: meaning Germany, France, Italy and Spain, shows that some actions are being taken to introduce Europe with the digital from Amazon’s side. Nevertheless, German publishers believe that tablets will overtake e-readers in digital market and yet again mention that the reason for digital accounting only for a 1% market share is the lack of content (Tivnan, 2012). Tivnan and Sieg in their reinforce this by explaining that (2012, p.9) ‘when the Kindle launched in 2011 in Germany, it had 625,000 titles, yet only about 25,000 were German language, and the Kindle it sold initially had an English keyboard and English-language menus.’
Even though Amazon is trying to catch up with their foreign language titles it is a rather vast market to be diving in, because essentially Europe does not consist only from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Overall, it is simple, if a country has Amazon and Kindle but their offer is lacking and the publishing houses of the specific country offer even a little bit more, the consumer will go to them. This in turn means that they have no need for Kindle and can download their e-books on their PC’s or tablets that support both the format and language. If Amazon and Kindle or Kobo with their retail website do not operate in the country and do not have any offers for books in the appropriate language publishing houses of that country yet again have the advantage. Consumer if interested will go to them and yet again most likely using the newest tablet rather than outdated e-reader which do not recognize the language.
Publishers who want to digitize the book market in Europe have to keep in mind that Europe consists of many small markets. It simply does not have the appropriate amount of readers and finances to build the platforms, apps and sites that are being developed by US and UK publishers to connect with their readers (Snoeren, 2011). To reach the point where UK is now would probably take some years. Most likely in further east European countries the development of digital publishing will be different from that in the UK. The lack of presence from Amazon will allow the publishers to command the market and move as rapidly as they see fit, because of the lack of pressure. Therefore, the digital overtaking print is still a very distant and rather unrealistic assumption at least in the global market.
Word Count-729
Boezeman, T. (2012). Adoption of e-books in the Netherlands grows faster than in the US. Available at: http://www.futurebook.net/content/adoption-e-books-netherlands-grows-faster-us (Accessed: 20 November 2012)
Snoeren, J. (2011). Europe’s e-book conundrum. Bookseller Issue 5485, p. 12.
Tivnan, T., Sieg, A. (2012). Amazon Lunches Kindle Fire across Europe. Bookseller Issue 5543, p. 9.
Vena, M. (2012). Connecting the dots - MBA Alumni for the nascent e-book industry Europe? Available at: http://www.futurebook.net/content/connecting-dots-%E2%80%93-mba-alumni-chosen-drive-nascent-ebook-industry-europe (Accessed: 20 November 2012)