E-book: Bringing about new reading habits

As part of a report by the newspaper Makedonia and journalist Kostas Marinos on e-books and digital reading, we spoke with Kostas Marinos and shared our views. Below is the article as published in the Makedonia newspaper on Wednesday 1 August 2012. A battle is unfolding in our times. On one side are the pages of books printed on paper, and on the other, their transfer into digital form on one of the many types of e-readers available. And caught in the middle is the reader. The one who wants to hold a book, who will take it with them to the beach, who will open it during their lunch break. Then there is the other person, who argues that the traditional book is heavy, takes up space, and wants immediate access to their small or larger collection of books. So far, the traditional book is holding its own, but there are many signs that it will begin to lose ground on at least some fronts.CONCERNS IN GREECE For some time now, publishing houses in Greece have realised that they need to change the way they distribute the books they handle. It is well known that the issue had been raised during discussions at the Thessaloniki International Book Fair, and had been a concern for them; indeed, as interested parties can see from a quick browse through the publishers’ websites, many titles in their catalogues are also available in digital format. The question is whether and to what extent the reading public has appreciated this offering or not. ‘E-book technology is not yet widespread among the Greek reading public. The first steps are now being taken, and Greek readers remain cautious. The younger generation accepts them more readily, and this is only natural, given that young people are more familiar with technology and its developments,” is the view of the publishing house “Metaixmio”. Eva Karaitidi of ‘Estia’ publishers shares a similar view: ‘There is likely to be an explosive growth in Greece, as sudden as the rise of the internet. Digital media, computers and smartphones have fostered new reading conditions and habits, which tend to imperceptibly establish the e-book as something entirely natural.”An indication of the prevailing trend is the entry into the market of publishing houses that cater to a more discerning readership, such as ‘Ikaros’.WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE AND WHAT LIES AHEAD “It began distributing digital books in 2010. Although the audience that prefers them is still limited in our country, we cannot overlook the fact that the trend is for this to increase,” says Nikos Argyris of ‘Ikaros’, adding, ‘I believe that content is more important than format, and print will remain with us for a long time to come.’ It is interesting that the readership of “Ikaros”, the publishing house of the Nobel laureates, as it is often described, embraced the initiative to publish e-books, as Mr Argyris notes: “They welcomed it very warmly and the feedback we received was entirely positive.”In 2010, the first e-book titles were also released by ‘Metaixmio’. These were school textbooks for secondary school, followed in the same year by the first digital editions of Greek and translated literature, essays and children’s books. “To date, 280 of our titles have been digitised. These are available from the ‘Metaixmio’ online bookshop and other online bookshops,” says Dora Tsaknaki on behalf of ‘Metaixmio’, whilst Nikos Argyris also raises the issue of the availability of these books: “Two key factors in expanding the readership are the availability of affordable e-readers and the embrace of digital books by traditional bookshops. Some have already started selling ebooks, whilst several others have immediate plans to do so.” He also says, “Now every title is released as an ebook, and we plan to increase the number of titles available. Things are somewhat more difficult when it comes to older books, which include many classic works, because there are no digital files from which to create the ebook.”Among the older publishing houses, ‘Estia’ has made around 40 titles available in digital format. ‘This is a first step, and we know that their traditional readership today consists mainly of men, with all that this implies for the type of texts. Our titles will multiply once we resolve the issue of polytonic spelling and the age of the archives, which are delaying the conversion of a vast number of our publications into e-books,” says Eva Karaitidi of ‘Estia’, whilst Dora Tsaknaki comments on the policy followed by ‘Metaixmio’ “We release our titles as ebooks three to four months after their publication, with the exception of our very important books that we suspect will become bestsellers. In this case, the books are digitised at the same time as their print edition, as one format helps the other.”