E-books reportedly doing well in Japan

[igorsk]

Reported by Anime News Network (emphasis mine):

The Digital Content Association of Japan has announced on August 8 that the mobile phone sales of electronic books, including manga, grew 331.3% from 1.6 billion yen (about US$14 million) to 6.9 billion yen (US$58 million) in 2006. The non-phone Internet sales of electronic books grew 69.7% from 4.8 billion yen (US$41 million) to 8.1 billion yen (US$68 million). The association projects that mobile phone sales of e-books will increase to 11.7 billion yen (US$99 million) in 2007, compared to a projected 9.4 billion yen (US$79 million) for Internet sales.

(continued)

Not too bad, eh?

Related: Japan: Mobile phones driving market growth for e-books

[Azayzel]

I'm not sure where they're getting their figures, but I have yet to see anyone reading an eBook, let alone a eManga, on their cell phones here. Been here for about a year now and when people see my eReader, they say it's pretty cool but they haven't seen anything like it around. I know the Librie was launched here a few years ago, but it didn't take off too well due to poor marketing and a fubar DRM scheme for their books. Secondly, the Japanese love to read, but they also like to trade-in their previously read books (used book stores are huge here). Not sure where this would leave eBooks in this culture; i.e., cannot take them to a used book store for credit, etc.

That's a lot of money they're talking about, but I have yet to actually see anyone using them. FYI I live in Tokyo and take the train regularly (that's pretty much how people get around here), plus I visit Akihabara frequently, which is essentially the tech-mecca of Japan, not a peep. Hopefully this is a ploy to get people interested in e-content and check to see what all the buzz is about.

BTW Thanks for the link to Anime News Network, lots of cool info there to check out!

[Steve Jordan]

Do you mean to say... the DCAJ is falsifying reports of huge sales, to convince everyone to start buying e-books and e-manga and generate huge sales?!? Insidious!!

(In related news, sales of the Steve Jordan e-book catalog has gone up 4,000% in the last three weeks, following the rumor that J.J. Abrams is inquiring about the rights to Factory Orbit, with Tom Cruise slated to play Ted Canter.)

[Steve Jordan]

I still find interesting the parallels and differences between the U.S. and Japan. The rate at which e-book sales are clmbing is the same in both countries (roughly fourfold since 2000), but the total amount in sales is much higher in Japan. Japan's market is dominated by young women, while the U.S. market is more evenly split, but slightly dominated by men... yet both countries see the largest increase in romance novels, primarily read by women.

Also, according to the Economist, Japan experimented with selling existing best-sellers and noted print authors, then porn, with no success. The U.S. seems to be taking the same approach with existing authors and best-sellers, and having low-to-mediocre results.

To my knowledge, there is a porn market, certainly not mainstream, but obviously they aren't making enough money to attract anyone's attention yet. (I doubt they were included among the publishers contacted by the AAP for the IDPF statistics.)

[grimo1re]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

(In related news, sales of the Steve Jordan e-book catalog has gone up 4,000% in the last three weeks, following the rumor that J.J. Abrams is inquiring about the rights to Factory Orbit, with Tom Cruise slated to play Ted Canter.)

Cruise?? Seriously? Steve...tsk tsk tsk.

[Steve Jordan]

Originally Posted by grimo1re

Cruise?? Seriously? Steve...tsk tsk tsk.

What... should I have said Will Smith? Cuba Gooding Jr?

Actually, I was touching on the rumors that Abrams is trying to talk Cruise into appearing in his new Star Trek movie.

But that's rumors for you... they're always confusing the details. Like when Damon Wayans was rumored to be playing Robin in the third Batman movie (he was actually working on Blankman at the time).

[grimo1re]

Ok, so speaking of celebs, when are we going to spot Paris Hilton (or some other vacuous blonde) with an ebook reader, like all those mobile phone shots?

Ooops! That'd assume they could actually read...my bad.

[Steve Jordan]

I don't think an e-reader will count as a fashion accessory for quite some time (they couldn't even manage that with PDAs). Besides, there's no point in doing it unless it's someone we'd actually believe could work it... much less use it.

Let me amend that: When we have color e-book readers, and popular color magazines offer e-versions, we'll see them everywhere. Celebs will be holding up their own pictures on e-zine covers.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

IBesides, there's no point in doing it unless it's someone we'd actually believe could work it... much less use it.

Okay, how about Maggie Smith?

[Steve Jordan]

Well... maybe if she takes the pointy hat off...

I'll tell ya who I'd like to see selling e-books: Morgan Freeman. Respected and wise, yet modern, cool and funny. Appeals to all ages.

Other choices: Clint Eastwood, James Garner, George Clooney. (Someone else can contribute the list of comparable actresses.)

For younger audiences, you know what? I'd go with popular musicians, like Alicia Keyes and K-Fed.

[NatCh]

Well, I was all "yeah, absolutely" till you hit K-Fed. I was even willing to go along with Clooney!

I think Denzel Washington would be an excellent one. I'm trying to think of actresses that I respect as I do Denzel and Morgan ... and I'm drawing a blank. Maybe Bryce Dallas Howard, or Julia Stiles.

Unfortunately, Hollywood has a habit of taking girls with bright potentials and destroying them, or turning them into just another anorexic lookalike. More and more, those folks are becoming objects of pure pity to me.

[wyldkit]

I can totally see the Gyllenhaals selling ebooks, especially after Maggie was in Stranger than Fiction. Oh, and from that film, of course Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, too.

And really, they should do an ad campaign with Star Trek characters. Maybe in Star Trek XI they can use Sony Readers instead of PADDS.

[Steve Jordan]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Well, I was all "yeah, absolutely" till you hit K-Fed. I was even willing to go along with Clooney!

No K-Fed, huh? Just thinking off the top of my head, there. The key is whether the (young) audience will listen to his pitch. How about Bono? The Cheetah Girls?

Originally Posted by NatCh

Unfortunately, Hollywood has a habit of taking girls with bright potentials and destroying them, or turning them into just another anorexic lookalike. More and more, those folks are becoming objects of pure pity to me.

Well, let's face it, there aren't that many male actors that have the level of all-ages respect either. Hollywood tends to chew them up and spit them out almost as fast. I just didn't stop to compile a list of female actors, but for a quick list of possibilities, try Sigourney Weaver, Angela Bassett, Glenn Close, Diane Lane, or any of the women from the CSI series.

[Steve Jordan]

Originally Posted by wyldkit

And really, they should do an ad campaign with Star Trek characters. Maybe in Star Trek XI they can use Sony Readers instead of PADDS.

That'll play well in commercials, actually. "Say, what's this... it isn't my PADD! But... whoa, look at all it can do! I could never get Harry Potter on that old PADD!"

[RWood]

How about Paris Hilton playing Ellen Levinson in Lambs Hide, Tigers Seek?