What Every Asian Publisher Ought to Know about eBook
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual Hong Kong Book Fair . Thanks to iPad and iPhone, eBook and digital publishing become one of the highlights in this year’s exhibition.
New eBook Digitalization Partners
Hong Kong businesses again demonstrated their acute business sense and efficient execution ability: In less than a year, we now have a good variety of eBook digitalization and Apps publishing service providers – such as Iatopia, ICO, Kineticspace, Innopage and Handheld Culture. They’re offering the use of iPhone Apps as the mean to deliver eBooks.
The eBook Goldmine: Serving Chinese living overseas
Many booklovers, including myself, enjoy the fun in exploring, browsing and buying books in local bookstores. But how about the many book-loving overseas Chinese, who would not be able to easily find Chinese books in the Barnes & Nobles of their residing countries? With Apple Appstore, a proven distribution channel already in place, eBook could be the sweet answer to their pain. Could this be the real goldmine behind Chinese eBook publishing?
Two Distinct Paths: Speedy volume or Exceptional Experience
I imagine two kinds of eBooks publishing would work well in the market. The first kind offers speedy volume – helping publishers to convert their printed contents into Apps in a fast and cost-efficient way. This requires eBook publishing partner with the expertise to complete eBook digitization in an extremely efficient manner, without creating undesirable quality issue.
The second kind offers unique iPhone Apps experience: This involves complete App design, requiring eBook publishing partner with team members mastering both iPhone Apps experience creation and technical implementation know-how. This kind of projects could take up to months to complete, but also have the potential to bring in high profit margin and great publicity for publisher.
The important thing for publishers to remember is that – when starting your next eBook project, consider your business objective and pick either the path of ‘speedy volume’ or ‘exceptional experience’. With that, your new eBook project will be ready for a great start.
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