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The Global eBook Report - Rüdiger Wischenbart, Content ...

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Apple’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, andNemokamospdfknygos (Aida Dubkevičiute, director of theLithuanian Publishers Association).BulgariaIn 2012, the Bulgarian print book market grew by some 8percent, with an annual inflation of 4 percent, so the recentnet growth was 4 percent.In Bulgaria, some 1,500 ebook titles are available, of whichtwo-thirds are from Bulgarian authors and the rest fromtranslations. The market share of ebooks is lower than 1%,maybe about 0.2%. English-language titles are mostly orderedby individuals from Amazon, but no detailed informationis available.The domestic market is largely dominated by local—asopposed to international—publishing houses, a majorityof which have started to release ebook editions of newtitles, notably Ciela, Colibri, Trud, Hermes, Era, Enthusiast,and Gurme.The leading distributors are Ciela, Vivabooks, Vivacom,Helikon, Bgkniga, Mtel, Biblio, and Ebooks, all using AdobeContent Server DRM, which is reportedly causing problemson certain smartphones. Preferred reading devices arededicated ereaders, laptop computers, and tablets.Piracy is a serious problem on the digital front, but not forprinted books. Books are often scanned and illegally distributedvia the Internet, with distribution sites generatingincome from advertisements. Blocking of websites is notallowed.52 The Global eBook Report

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