International Law

Who Knew There Was a Market for Ebooks in China?

By Stan

This is all news to me:

Pearson PLC’s book publishing division Penguin said Tuesday it has signed a deal to make a number of its English books available in electronic book format to readers in China, as the company prepares itself for the rapid rise in the use of electronic book readers like Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle.

Penguin has signed an agreement with Beijing-based Founder Apabi Group to make over 2,000 book titles available to download.

The Chinese e-book market is primarily focused on libraries and academic collections but there is a small but rapidly growing consumer e-book market, the company said.

The Chinese e-book market in 2008 was estimated to be worth 200 million Chinese Yuan (GBP20.14 million). (CNN)

Things sure have come a long way from the days when I had to go to the Wangfujing Foreign Language Bookstore to buy a copy of Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. Actually, I find it amazing that I was once so desperate for English language reading material that I would deign to read anything by Jane Austen. Barf. The catalog of ships in the Iliad, or even Matthew 1:2, makes for more scintillating reading.

I am looking forward to seeing some home-grown ebook readers on the market here in China over the next five years once the tech has been ironed out.

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Full post as published by China Hearsay on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).