The Current State and Future of e-books [Editorial]

With the advent of eBooks, the publishing and book industry has been revolutionized. The changes in this industry has been so dramatic that it has been referred to as the ‘2nd Gutenberg Revolution.’ The way we interact with books has gotten so much deeper. E-books have created self-publishing houses and revitalized literature in various genres. In other words, e-books are not simply a change of books’ platform from printed-paper to digital form but an evolution of a completely new reading experience.

The Beginning of the 2nd Gutenberg Revolution

Earlier last month at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest international book exhibition held in Germany, more than 7,000 companies from more than 100 countries participated and more than 300,000 visitors attended the trade fair. Here, the main topic was e-books’ status and importance in the publishing industry.

At this book fair, the ‘era of e-books’ was officially defined and the IT and publishing industries explored ways to coexist and cooperate. Juergen Boos, the Organizing Committee Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair said, “As the reading experience of users becomes digitized, the publishing industry is also rapidly changing. With Samsung being the first Innovation Partner of the Fair, we are delighted to present technology that can change people’s lives and contents together.”

The fact that Samsung, a digital device manufacturing company, participated in what used to be a traditionally analog publishing event, speaks volumes about the evolving trend in the industry. 

The Rising State of E-Book Markets

The e-book market has recorded a rapid growth rate every year. According to PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), a consulting firm based in the U.K, the latest world e-book market’s annual average growth rate was 34.7%. The global e-book market size is expected to record a margin of $8.262 billion this year and $12.3 billion in 2015, accounting for 10% of the total publishing market.

In fact, the United States has the fastest growing e-book consumer market. According to a survey done by Pew Research Center, a U.S public opinion research organization, 3 out of 10 American adults read e-books and one in two people has a tablet PC or a specialized e-book reading device, which shows the universalization of e-books. The eBook sales on Amazon.com, the U.S’s largest internet bookstore, often surpass that of print books. 

The United Kingdom is also similarly developed in the field of e-books. According to the announcement by eMarketer this May, the number of e-readers, excluding tablet device users, in the U.K was 13 million people, which accounts for 20% of the whole population. Based on the data from Korea Publishing Culture Industry Development Institute, the e-book sales ratio of the entire publishing market increased to 15% last year, up from 3% in 2008. Hence, people generally view the e-book markets in the United States and the United Kingdom to be in the maturity stage.

China has been actively promoting the expansion of the e-book market at the national level. Although China entered the e-book market later than the U.S. and U.K, it has a very fast growth rate. According to the survey conducted by Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, more than half of the whole population has already experienced the reading of e-books.

In Korea, according to Korea Electronic Publishing Association, the e-book market size doubled over the past three years: 289.1 billion won in 2011, 325 billion won in 2012, and 583.8 billion won in 2013. As transitional problems such as conflicts between large bookstores selling specialized e-book reading devices and publishing companies providing contents and copyright disputes are solved, this growth rate is predicted to increase even more in Korea.

Changes in the Publishing Industry

A rapid change in the publishing industry can also be seen in various countries. Let’s take Korea as an example, a country considered as one of the quickest early adopters of new technology in the world. Despite the low market share, the spread of e-books has been quick enough to notice. Publishing companies in particular have been taking action. Last year, the number of different kinds of published e-books increased 6.5 times compared to 2 years ago.

In fact, many e-books have already marked a new era in the industry. 130,000 copies of the Kroean translation of E.L. James’s “Fifty Shades of Greay,” published by SIGONGSA, were sold, which led to one billion won in sales. In addition, 100,000 copies of “World Literature Series,” published by Openbooks, were sold. This series was published in the form of an ‘app book’, which attracted more readers than print books. Some reviewers stated that this brought a new boom in classical literature.

Moreover, the number of cases of print books and eBooks being simultaneously released has increased. For example, the Korean translation of Bernard Werber’s “The Third Humanity,” published by Openbooks. Also, although the print book and e-book of the Korean translation of Douglas Kennedy’s “Five Days,” published by baleun, were released one day apart, both received favorable reviews. 

Thus, the advent of eBooks has led to unexpected changes in the publishing industry. The most noticeable phenomenon is the diversification of genres of e-books. In terms of print books, with the problem of production costs (eg: the value of paper and printing costs), publishing a book is a costly job. However, e-books, which are free of production cost, have lowered that barrier substantially. For this reason, even little-known genres that might only have a few fans can self-publish their e-books and target their small but fervent audience.

Changes in the Print Books’ Platform

E-books have gone beyond just moving the contents from paper to digital format. They have several advantages in terms of reflecting the user’s needs and permeating the users’ daily lives through their continuous evolution.

To begin with, e-books are portable. No matter how long the journey is, as long as the user has his or her e-reader, everything is fine. There is no need to carry numerous thick print books since hundreds of books can be stored in a single tablet. In addition, if digital textbooks that are currently promoted all over the world become even more of a reality, students would not have to carry around thick textbooks but only a specialized digital textbook reading device. 

Moreover, e-books offer cutting edge technology to the readers. At this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, Samsung presented its latest smart devices such as the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Tab S, Gear VR, and Gear Circle. Samsung also introduced a new reading experience with its text-to-speech feature.

▲ Galaxy Tab S

At the book fair, it seemed like the Galaxy Tab S particularly stood out as a specialized e-book device. The Galaxy Tab S awed visitors with the most advanced mobile display. Thanks to its industry-leading WQXGA (2560×1600, 16:10) Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy Tab S has an amazing clear and clean surface on which to read books. Among its various features, the “adaptive display” captured the hearts of avid readers. We cannot but acknowledge that e-books strain the eyes of the readers after reading for a long time. To cover this drawback, the adaptive display adjusts the brightness, saturation, and sharpness depending on the surrounding and viewing environment. The screen can also be set to a soft genuine book feeling when reading an e-book according to the user’s taste. The size of the tablet is similar to a normal print book, removing the awkwardness of reading a book on a tablet.

 The Galaxy Tab S is already quite popular worldwide. The Galaxy Tab S was ranked first by Que Choisir, the French consumer magazine, in the tablet PC category and tied for first in Which?, a U.K consumer magazine.

Turning to the Galaxy Note series, e-book readers can also enjoy the use of the S Pen. When the user wants to underline the part he or she wants to remember, add a comment, share, or save the content while reading an e-book, the S Pen is the best for the job.

Samsung at the forefront of making e-book reading experience more enjoyable

Samsung’s participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair was deemed as a success by many media outlets. GoodeReader, the American e-book online media, said, “Samsung is gradually becoming the leader of digital publishing industry.” The German media ElectroHandler stated that Samsung has made the e-book reading experience enjoyable. Through participation in events like this, we can see that Samsung digital devices have the potential to contributing to the spread of e-books and e-readers.

▲ Galaxy Tab 4 Nook

It is important to note that Samsung is not just jumping on the e-book bandwagon. In fact, from the very beginning of the e-book boom, Samsung entered the market early, focusing on the United States and the United Kingdom. A typical example is releasing specialized e-book devices through its partnership with large publishing companies. SNE-50K (a.k.a Papyrus) was its first e-book reader, which was produced in 2009 in partnership with Kyobo Book Centre in Korea. And Samsung recently introduced its second version of the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK by joining hands with the largest U.S. bookstore, Barnes & Noble. The size of this tablet is 10 inches, which is an increase in the size of the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, 7 inches, released in August.

Finding the Key to the E-Book Era

Specialized e-book devices and contents should grow together. No matter how optimized the digital device is for reading, if the quantity of content is not enough, then the device is useless. The same is true vice versa. Hence, the key to the success in the e-book era is the combination of optimized technology and abundant high quality contents.

The progress of technology leads to convenience in people’s lives. E-books are overwhelmingly beneficial for their portability, convenience, and the latest technology. Most important is that, on top of all these conveniences, we bring the analogue experience and interaction to the reading experience. The future seems promising. What do you think?

*All functionality features, specifications, and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.