Two recent events mark increased interest in digital books. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) held a conference yesterday and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) held a seminar on Wednesday. Both focused on the need for a uniform standard in the industry for digital content. Both groups warned publishers that the time to digitize is now.
Maybe most illuminating was O’Reilly which announced that 43% of its international sales were digital. I know that bloggers such as Rosario have a difficult time obtaining books and if she didn’t have to pay for shipping, that money could go toward buying books instead.
Via Publisher’s Weekly.
You’ve got that right. In my case, I’ve developed some tricks that help me pay less shipping, involving gathering all books I buy at a friend’s house in the US, who then sends them via surface M-Bag to a relative of mine in Brazil, who then puts them on a bus to Uruguay, and so on but most people outside the US just make do with online bookstores’ shipping.
And do you know how much amazon charges for shipping to Latin America via Standard International shipping? $7.99 per shipment, plus $4.99 per item. So if you make a mid-sized order, maybe 4 books, that’s a shipping fee of almost $7 per book.
With ebooks, even if you’re paying full price (and there usually is some kind of discount), you can get twice as many books for the same money and you can read them minutes after the purchase, without needing to wait the 13 to 40 business days Stand. Int’l shipping takes. There’s no contest.
Rosario, despite the fact that I live in the US, I feel your pain. There have been tons of books I’ve wanted to order from Amazon.co.uk that I’ve had to sit on my hands about just because of the darn exchange rate and costs to ship from England.
I’ve also served as the gathering point and M-bag shipper for several international friends while they sought to fill in backlists. A favorite UBS owner friend of mine has been endlessly amused by the thought that her books were destined for new homes in England, Germany, Canada, France, Australia and Portugal.