Tag Archives: cape town book fair

eBooks and eBook readers

July 29, 2010   Japie Swanepoel   No comments

So, by now we’ve all heard of the Amazon Kindle, now with its DX 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G version and according to a report today on Techwatch , Amazon is at the moment selling 143 eBooks for every 100 hardback books. Certainly good news for the rain forest advocates!
And then there was iPad, selling 3.27 million units and counting…!
The Sony ereader has been around for a while now, though not getting too much publicity for its efforts. It has 3 versions on sale: Touch Edition, Reader Daily Edition and Pocket Edition.
Barnes & Noble, the world’s biggest bookseller recently decided that they too should enter the market and launched the Nook.
Borders, another major US book retailer launched the Kobo even before B&N launched the Nook and had to reduce their selling prices when the Nook came out. It has far less features than the Nook. It does not have Wifi, let alone 3G, only Bluetooth.

Then there’s the WePad guys from Germany who had to rebrand to WeTab due to some pressure from Apple.

Ever heard about The Skiff Reader, The Plastic Logic Que , Alex e-reader, the  Samsung e101, The iRiver Story, Edge from Entourage Systems, the Libre Pro, Bookeen’s Cybook Orizon, DMC WorldWide’s Ocean and Tidal readers, or even the JetBook? I must say, I have not heard of any of these until I started writing this post. See ZDNET for more on these new ones.

Anyway, the point that I’m trying to get to is not how happy I am that digital technology is progressing so well or that reading is getting cool again. Neither is it the fact that there will still be scope for good writers, authors and journalists. No!

It is my concern with fact that everyone of the major ereaders only allow for content specifically tailored to their platform.

No way can you read a Kindle book on your Nook or a Borders book on your WeTab. Sure, you can get the Kindle application for your iPad, but you must first have the Kindle, right? Surely Apple want you to buy iBooks.

This is where I get worried. I still recall ( yes, I’m that old) how I was asked at the video store whether I wanted to rent a VHS or Betamax video. Now all the betamax video machines are somewhere in Nigeria!

I have not heard the words "convergence" and "ebook readers" mentioned in the same sentence. Every ereader supplier makes his own arrangements with publishers or retailers ( unless owned by the retailer) and it seems that they are all moving further apart from each other.

Though I may have a mac and you a PC and though we may use different browsers, we can still view the same web sites. Same goes for buying a book at an airport shop or online ( the printed version) and being able to read it. Not so with the plethora of ereaders and their "books".

That electronic books ( if that is even a phrase that makes sense) are the future, or more specifically, the present is a fact. How this non-convergence will play out remains to be seen.

Next week I’ll be visiting the Cape Town Book Fair to see firtshand to what extent South African publishers and authors have embraced the ebook since my visit last year which was indeed disappointing in this regard.

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This blog posting was written by Japie Swanepoel

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Why am I at Cape Town Book fair?

June 13, 2009   Japie Swanepoel   No comments

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Here I am on a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Cape Town Convention centre at the 4th Cape Town Book Fair. Last year some 50 000 people attended the fair and they are hoping for bigger numbers this year.

When I applied for media accredition, I stated the much – hyped decline in printed media ( though very much news media ) as well the the much spoken about Kindle ( www.amazon.com) as reasons for me to come here to see what, if all, the take from local publishers and authors is on the future of print in South Africa and whether indeed there is scope for e-books, even in “old” fashioned download format in South Africa.

A quick search in Kindle books for 5 authors I see on the programme here, yielded:

  • Antjie Krog: 1 Kindle book
  • Max du Preez: none
  • Adele Parks: 5 Kindle books
  • John van Ruit: 2 Kindle books
  • Denis Beckett: none

All in all better than I expected, considering that Amazon.com states that there are 300 000 titles on Kindle and I know that includes newspapers too.

Funny thing though is that I only opened the latest Fortune mag that arrived by post this morning, to find Jeff Bezos on the cover, bragging about the new Kindle DX.

So, I’m going to see what I can find about e-books, try to corner some authors and publishers and try to get a general feel for electronic VS print.

With a theme for this year’s fair like ” Education for the future” I hope I find what I’m looking for…

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The Cape Town Book Fair

May 26, 2009   Japie Swanepoel   No comments

The CPT Book Fair is upon us. From 13 – 16 June, the CTICC in Cape Town will be host to writers, publishers, book retailers and the like. Many authors plan to launch new books here. These include Alan Boeska and John de Ruit.

There will be debates and discussions and exhibitors and guests from all over Africa and further afield.

According to the Book Fair web site, many of the country’s most prominent intellectuals come here to discuss, debate and voice their opinions. The Book Fair is an ideal forum for cross-cultural dialogue and the open discussion of controversial opinions, ideas and issues.

29 Countries will be present this year, with more than 250 exhibitors representing the full range of publishing in South Africa. South African literature has always had a central role at the fair. This year sees the pilot of the first Cape Town Book Fair Invitation Programme which introduces 12 publishers from 12 African countries at the fair. This is an important development in the growth of the fair.

So, my interest?

Of course by now there has been much said and written about the demise of the newspaper and even the book worldwide, specifically in the USA.

With about 100 newspapers either closing their doors or downsizing and with the phenomenal success of the Amazon Kindle, it seems that print is out of fashion in the USA.

Is that indeed the case in South Africa? With only about 6 million people out of about 50 million having internet ( depending on whose stats or research you believe) it seems that there is in fact much more scope for print in South Africa and indeed Africa, than there is for online.

What I want to know is the following:

  • what do the South African authors think about the whole “print is dead” or ” print is dying” debate.
  • what are the publishers thinking and more importantly what are they doing about this ( if anything)
  • is there a hybrid or transition model for SA and Africa?
  • what is the future ( and present state ) of ebooks, audio books and the like?

Oh, well, seems that I have some questions in this regard.

You?

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