Something is moving in the Spanish ebook scene

Jellby · 06-09-2010, 12:10 PM

Today it was announced that some of the most important publishers in Spain have finally decided to enter the ebook market, and next July 15th they'll launch a joint project to distribute ebooks (the content, not the reader) to the stores, both brick-and-mortar and online. The new platform will be called Libranda. Some data:

At first, there will be 2000 titles from 10 publishers, distributed to 5-8 stores. They expect reaching 10000 titles by the end of the year.

The price will be 20-30% lower than the paper edition (they don't say whether the ebook price will decrease when the mass-market edition appears). Sadly, VAT will be 18% for downloadable ebooks, but the Government will press the European institutions to allow applying low VAT to ebooks too.

They mention the back-catalogue should also be available, and new releases will be available in e- and p-form.

The format will be ePUB, with Adobe DRM

According to a publisher, digitizing a book costs between 300 and 400 euro, and the inversion is recovered with 50 copies sold (but I say this only makes sense for books already written and published).

The article in Spanish, from the newspaper El País.

Worldwalker · 06-09-2010, 02:31 PM

DRM.

And how is it that ebooks are assessed 18% VAT when dead trees books are only taxed at 4%? That makes no sense at all (as if any country's tax system does, of course).

Also, I really need to brush up on my Spanish.

Jellby · 06-09-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

And how is it that ebooks are assessed 18% VAT when dead trees books are only taxed at 4%? That makes no sense at all (as if any country's tax system does, of course).

It's an European (EU-wide) thing, I think. Books with a physical medium (paper, CD, flash-drive, etc.) are considered cultural items and are taxed with a low VAT. Purely downloadable goods are "software" and are taxed with the normal VAT. Some months ago the Spanish government announced that they were going to apply the low VAT to ebooks too, but it's apparently not so easy, and something has to be changed in Europe first, according to the article, the government is still campaigning for this to happen.

Laws and religion: don't try to understand them

Logseman · 06-09-2010, 03:28 PM

Libranda is at best a failing idea with a good purpose and at worst an outright assault at consumers.

Libranda means a de-facto collusion which implies that publishers won't sell their books directly, but through the platform. That way of distribution is meant to keep the old chain of publisher-wholesale-retail-consumer, and in fact it just favors mass retailers, who are the ones who can give the greater discounts as their overhead costs are relatively smaller.

The back-catalogues won't be available. The book business was failing and mainly blockbuster-driven even before the emergence of the ebooks. And of course, the digitising cost of old books is a big, fat lie, as Mobileread book uploaders can give testimony about.

06-09-2010, 12:10 PM	#1
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,543 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Something is moving in the Spanish ebook scene Today it was announced that some of the most important publishers in Spain have finally decided to enter the ebook market, and next July 15th they'll launch a joint project to distribute ebooks (the content, not the reader) to the stores, both brick-and-mortar and online. The new platform will be called Libranda. Some data: At first, there will be 2000 titles from 10 publishers, distributed to 5-8 stores. They expect reaching 10000 titles by the end of the year. The price will be 20-30% lower than the paper edition (they don't say whether the ebook price will decrease when the mass-market edition appears). Sadly, VAT will be 18% for downloadable ebooks, but the Government will press the European institutions to allow applying low VAT to ebooks too. They mention the back-catalogue should also be available, and new releases will be available in e- and p-form. The format will be ePUB, with Adobe DRM According to a publisher, digitizing a book costs between 300 and 400 euro, and the inversion is recovered with 50 copies sold (but I say this only makes sense for books already written and published). The article in Spanish, from the newspaper El País.

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06-09-2010, 02:31 PM	#2
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	DRM. And how is it that ebooks are assessed 18% VAT when dead trees books are only taxed at 4%? That makes no sense at all (as if any country's tax system does, of course). Also, I really need to brush up on my Spanish.

06-09-2010, 03:28 PM	#4
Logseman Orisa Posts: 2,001 Karma: 1035571 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Ireland Device: Onyx Poke 5	Libranda is at best a failing idea with a good purpose and at worst an outright assault at consumers. Libranda means a de-facto collusion which implies that publishers won't sell their books directly, but through the platform. That way of distribution is meant to keep the old chain of publisher-wholesale-retail-consumer, and in fact it just favors mass retailers, who are the ones who can give the greater discounts as their overhead costs are relatively smaller. The back-catalogues won't be available. The book business was failing and mainly blockbuster-driven even before the emergence of the ebooks. And of course, the digitising cost of old books is a big, fat lie, as Mobileread book uploaders can give testimony about.

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