In Italy 40% of people aged 6 and over are readers and readers: 77.2% of readers only read paper books, 7.9% only ebooks or online books. And if almost 60% of the 22.8 million book lovers are readers, the readers defined as “strong” (that is, who read at least 12 books a year) are 4.6 million: 14.1% of readers and the 16.7% of readers. Alone, they are worth 51.7 million copies a year the speech becomes more interesting when we talk about digital books.
The ebook, which it had to supplant the paper book in the forecasts of 15 and more years ago, stood at 10% worldwide and remains stable. To change are the strategies to bring it under the eyes of readers. For example, there is a sort of all you can read, that is, subscriptions similar to Netflix for series and films, which allow you to read everything you want for a fixed amount: “We have recently launched this subscription together in Italy. to three new readers to conquer new markets, made by very strong readers, ”he told us Michael Tamblyn, number one of Rakuten Kobo, the Canadian company that sells eBooks, audio books and readers (the Kobo, in fact).
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A constantly changing market
Kobo is simultaneously an online store (in Italy in partnership with publishers and distributors such as Mondadori) and an ereader hardware platform smaller than the giant Amazon, but very fierce: “Since 2010 we have made big changes in the ereader market, with large screens, colored light to relax the view, water resistance to go to the beach or the pool. We carry the market forward and then our friends from Seattle (Amazon, ed.) Arrive, and that’s okay ”.
The ebook reader is a market that weighs around 10 million pieces per year worldwide, excluding China. A limit is also the goodness of the products: ereaders last years, much longer than smartphones and computers, also because they are used for one thing only (reading) and wear out less: “What we always encourage people to do is look at the new models because we try to improve. Better contrast, light with tone, more definition. And new contents to be used also for new market segments “.
While Kobo’s all you can read subscription, that it’s called Kobo Plus, it has 3 price ranges starting at 9.99 per month for books, audiobooks or both types of content, on the other hand the company explores the market to try to conquer new groups of buyers: “We have seen that there are types of readers who do not like ebook. In the US 30% of the books sold are ebooks, in Italy much less. Some types of books are made to be paper because they are beautiful as objects, such as i books of photographs. But others don’t. Yet they don’t go digital. We wondered why, ”Tamblyn told us.
An ereader for those who don’t like ebooks
The company studied the market and consumers, discovering that readers who do not like ebook readers are those who study, lovers of history and non-fiction in general: “Not only do they read, but they also take notes on the sidelines, they underline, highlight. All uncomfortable things to do with an ebook. So we rethought a reader for them ”.
The reader is called Kobo Sage, it can be combined with a pen and the magnetic cover which also acts as a protection for the pen and as a second battery. A massive object (8 ”screen, quad-core processor, 32 Gb of space, 300 Ppi resolution, 1440 x 1920 pixels with dark mode). It costs 289 euros, but we tried it and simply calling him an ereader is extremely simplistic: potentially it is the only thing a student or person who wants to study and take notes needs without having to use a computer or a tablet which introduces many more distractions and a substantially higher cost. The battery has a huge life (a few weeks), the response speed almost instantaneous and some very ingenious solutions: like that for which, resizing the font of ebooks, all notes and underlines are automatically shifted while maintaining the original aspect ratio. It is easy to imagine a student going through university with such a device.
The reader also has the compatibility with Dropbox to synchronize content (pdf and other documents) more easily, wifi and Bluetooth to connect a pair of wireless headphones and listen to audiobooks.
Recalling how the first, artisanal and leading leaders of twenty years ago were made, it is almost a revolution: “There are still many margins to innovate in this sector, but they require investments that limited volumes compared to cellular telephony make it more difficult, ”Tamblyn admitted. Color is among the most elusive: it exists in some readers, but it is still very rudimentary and not very functional. On the other hand, speed is (almost) no longer a problem.
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The ebook market and the effects of the coronavirus
Digital books have been doing very well over the past couple of years, because of the pandemic: “People have read more. At the beginning of the pandemic we were among those who worked to bring books to be read in digital format to those who wanted, both with our readers and with our apps for phones and computers. We have worked with the Italian government, Mondadori and others to give free books to people stranded in Lombardy. It worked and we replicated the experience in other regions and other countries of the world starting from the Lombard experience ”, Tamblyn told us again.
The future, however, are subscriptions, such as the one launched by Rakuten Kobo and already present in the Amazon catalog (it’s called Kindle Unlimited). The reasons are varied: on the one hand it attracts ebook pirates as well as strong readers, but on the other hand it competes with other forms of entertainment. As justify spending 15 euros for a book if with 10 euros you have a month of music or free movies and TV shows? “In our opinion – is the answer – a symmetry is necessary: free time is spent on social media, but we offer an interesting and economically compatible alternative”.
The other aspect is the almost endless expansion of the catalog, which is allowed by readers like the Kobo, connected and equipped with a version of the store directly on the device: “We work with publishers – explained Tamblyn – to publish the their catalog, but also with the self publishing: 10% of the books sold come from that world and it is overall interesting. In addition, people want not only optimized reading, but also integrated between different devices: start reading on the computer, switch to the phone, finish the evening on the ereader ”.
Being present above all on mobile phones with the app, in addition to having ereaders with a 7-8 “screen, is also very important for another kind of content, comics:” In Japan – concluded Tamblyn – 65% of what we sell is manga or otherwise graphic and goes on the app for mobile phones. The pure comic is paper, because it goes to the collectors’ market, but with NFT everything could change and we will be there, with platforms and readers also suitable for this challenge “.
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