Danish paper on ebooks - 400 titles this year

[kaan]

The Danish newspaper Politiken brings this article about the international and Danish ebook market.

In Danish
http://politiken.dk/kultur/article772265.ece

Translated to English by google (tip: ebøger = ebooks)
http://translate.google.com/translat...state0=&swap=1

Interesting quotes:

......

He notes that e-book in the U.S. today have grown so much that the example in May of this year accounted for 1.8 per cent of total sales.

......


400 titles this year
Gyldendal Digital is even poised to issue a series of titles such as e-book, as do Lindhardt og Ringhof and JP / Politiken Forlagshus.

There have been suggestions that the two major publishers, will publish 400 titles this year.

"It is both biography and fiction, but I can not give exact titles since the final agreements on the rights are not fully in place, but we are very close," says Cliff Hansen.


-------------------------------

This is very exiting news for Danish readers as there is currently close to no Danish titles in ebook format.

[lkodk]

That is really interesting news. I hope that Gyldendal and Politiken get success with this so others will follow.
Even though I mostly read books in english, it would be really nice to read a book in danish on my device once in a while.

But the article also points to a bit of a dilemma: The publishers will not go for ebooks in danish, because you cannot buy a reading device in Denmark.
But of course the manufacturers won't setup a dealership in Denmark or localize their devices for the danish market if there's no market for it because of no books being available.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by lkodk

....
But the article also points to a bit of a dilemma: The publishers will not go for ebooks in danish, because you cannot buy a reading device in Denmark.
But of course the manufacturers won't setup a dealership in Denmark or localize their devices for the danish market if there's no market for it because of no books being available.

Yes, I saw a blog post about this Monday(?) It's interesting. It's hard to sell the idea of ebooks if most people don't read English for pleasure reading. I only know one or two here, beside myself.

I expect it will take some years still, until there's enough content and ebook readers are easy enough to obtain, for the content/hardware 'catch 22' like situation to resolve itself, but I am sure the publishers are also aware of this and see publishing of ebooks as an investment in the future.

Some libraries have also started to experiment with loaning reader devices as well as ebooks to their customers - that might turn some people into potential buyers.

Finally, it may be possible that the publishers will make deals with hardware vendors and offer the devices themselves. I could certainly imagine a Gyldendal's book club offer along this line, with a reduced price for the device and a few, free downloads.

[GreyCat]

There was no mention of what format they will use. Here in Norway some books are available in digital format, but only as pdf... (www.digitalbok.no)

In Norway Gyldendal seems unsure of whether they will release e-books anytime soon or not (Article in norwegian: http://www.bokogsamfunn.no/e-b%c3%b8...an-bli-utsatt/)

[Ea]

Originally Posted by GreyCat

There was no mention of what format they will use. Here in Norway some books are available in digital format, but only as pdf... (www.digitalbok.no)

In Norway Gyldendal seems unsure of whether they will release e-books anytime soon or not (Article in norwegian: http://www.bokogsamfunn.no/e-b%c3%b8...an-bli-utsatt/)

Sounds as if they have some issues to discuss first. This: "I og med at e-bøker trolig vil bli en god del billigere enn p-bøker..." sounds encouraging though (but I don't know how reliable the source is )

The statements from Danish Gyldendal that I have read, regarding publishing of ebooks, sounds promising both with regards to actually publishing books, as well as being aware that file formats and DRM is a serious issue for their prospective customers. I don't expect to see anything DRM free yet, but crossing my fingers for at least epub.

[lkodk]

It seems that something is happening now.
On http://ebookstore.ebog.dk the danish publisher Lindhardt & Ringhof has released around 50 novels in danish.

But unfortunately it seems that they don't want this to be a success.
Prices for most books are between Dkr 150-200 (usd 30-40).
I checked a few of them against pbook prices. Where paperbacks are availble the ebook price is double and where only hardbacks are avialable the ebook price is only a bit lower.
And they have chossen PDF as format!

[Ea]

How much news is this really? That site have a small number of books in electronic format for some years. This seems just to be more of the same.

It's funny, but I thought the price of a standard paperback (NOT trade paperback - "uindbunden") was around 150 DKK. I hardly ever buy p-books in DK unless it's on sale or something It's good to hear they are actually a bit cheaper than that.

[lkodk]

I know that the site have had ebooks for years. But mostly it has been (and maybe still is) business raleted litterature.
The news is that a publisher has issued many ebook novels in danish. Most of them from the publisher mentioned are issued aug/sep 2009

[Ea]

Let's hope that Gyldendal is smarter and use some other format than PDF. I have been looking forward to reading some newer Danish literature.

[lkodk]

On that note there's also a little news. I just read this:
http://finans.tv2.dk/nyheder/article.php?id=25421876

Google translated: http://translate.google.com/translat...state0=&swap=1