1234000000358_04042014_final

ports, directories, and self-published titles for both corporateand private use.Slovenians are remarkably strong readers and are used toreading books not only in their native language but alsoin English and, to a lesser degree, in German. In largerbookstores, English titles—which represent an estimated15 percent of the Slovenian market—are not in separateforeign language sections but are seamlessly intermingledwith domestic titles. Public libraries with more than 12loans annually per inhabitant add to the ample readingdiet of Slovenians.In 2013, two ebook distribution platforms, Biblos and e-Emka, appeared. Owned by fiction publisher Studentskazalozba, Biblos started as a library lending platform in cooperationwith Slovene public libraries and quickly registeredmore than 7,000 ebook library users. In September2013, Biblos started to offer users the opportunity to buyebooks from the library platform if no copies for lendingwere available. Mladinska knjiga started to run its ebookstore in July 2013 with 200 titles, including a majority of itsbestselling authors.By the time this report was completed, it was clear that, infirst nine months of 2013, sales of Slovene ebooks grewmore than 300% in comparison to all of 2012 (when onlyApple’s iBookstore was open for business), and the numberof available ebook titles in Slovene has doubled. Nevertheless,ebook sales still represented less than 1% of theoverall market, and only Mladinska knjiga and Studentskazalozba are systematically publishing their new releases asebooks, together with print.The e-bestselling authors of 2012 and 2013 were JonasJonnason and Sylvia Day, and the Slovene publisher of E.L.James’ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy decided against anebook version of this title. Two heavy bestsellers of 2013,Dan Brown’s Inferno and Sylvia Day’s Entwined with Youwere published simultaneously in ebook and print formats.It can be assumed that, concerning reading devices,tablets and smartphones prevail.Ebooks are subject to the normal 22 percent VAT, whileprinted books benefit from a reduced rate of 8.5 percent.A legal deposit applies to all Slovene ebooks.SloveniaKey Indicators Values Sources,commentsBook market size (p+e, atconsumer prices)Titles published per year(new and successiveeditions)eBook titles (availablefrom publishers)Lithuania€80 million in 2012 Estimates by Mladinskapublishers5,621 (from 6,139 in2010, of whicharound 3,500 aretrade titles)Estimates by Mladinskapublishers1000 Estimates by Studentskazalozba and MladinskapublishersThe Lithuanian book market was hit hard by the economiccrisis in 2009 and 2010, with a significant recovery startingin 2011, as 3,280 new titles were published (up 22.3 percentfrom 2010), and 3,450 new titles were estimated for2012.Some 1,000 commercial ebook titles had been released bymid-2013. eBooks are subject to the normal VAT of 21 percent(compared to a reduced rate of 9 percent for printedbooks). So far, a legal deposit is only partially applied toebooks, and ebooks have not been dealt with in nationalcopyright legislation.Several publishers, including Alma littera, Obuolys, Šviesa,TEV, and Baltos lankos, have started to launch ebook editionsof their titles alongside the print editions, with EPUBbeing the most popular format, and most ebooks are protectedby hard DRM. Most ebooks are distributed by Skaitykle,a platform that also sells reading devices. Otherebook distributors include Knygos and 100knygu. Morerecently, publishers have started to distribute their ebooksvia global platforms, notably Apple, Amazon, and Kobo.PCs and laptop computers are frequently used for readingebooks, as dedicated ereaders are costly for Lithuanianconsumers.It is estimated that sales of ebooks will reach 1% of themarket by the end of 2013. The biggest e-bestseller of 2013was the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. It is assumed that,among reading devices, tablets and smartphones prevail.Piracy is an issue of increasing concern, with a number ofwebsites dedicated to delivering Lithuanin books, oftenscanned from print, notably El-knygos.eu, Elknygos.lt, andThe Global eBook Report 52