The book industry is going through a period of massive experimentation. Content creators are at the crossroads of several digital megatrends: 1) the acceleration of worldwide Internet adoption 2) the maturation of eBook platforms and marketplaces in the US 3) The tablet boom that makes eReader devices ubiquitous 4) the rise of the Digital Self-Publisher. The eBook revolution creates new opportunities to reach global readers. Authors can build their relationships with audiences by leveraging several related content management disciplines: Digital book creation and distribution Content management and translation workflows Social media, SEO and other online channels This session will provide a survey of emerging trends in the global eBook landscape.

1. The Global Ebook Opportunity
Dmitri Ragano

2. About the Speaker
• Technology Journalist
• Author
• Enterprise Content Management
• Internet Product Management

3. Ebooks – A new opportunity to deliver
your message
• I have a story to tell – and there’s a global audience for it
• Hitting the reset button on 500 years of book publishing
• At the cross-roads of several digital megatrends:
– Internet adoption growing fastest in emerging nations
– The maturation of eBooks as a mass-market platform
– The tablet boom – every device is an eReader
– The rise of the self-publisher and non-traditional distribution
online
• Creating the right e-Book strategy for my content

4. Growth of online audiences outside US
continues to accelerate
Internet
growth
Social
Media
Top
Web
sites

5. Ebook surge in US has already
transformed distribution and consumption
• Ebooks sales grow
exponentially in
flat/declining US book
market
• In adult fiction, digital
sales now beat individual
print formats (hardback
and paperback)
• Publishers direct-to-
consumer sales nearly
doubled last year, aided
by online sales

6. The Kobo Epiphany
• Michael Tamblin, Kobo CEO:
• Content Acquisition and Distribution – two step assessment and
execution for each country
• English sales in non-English is a huge market, growing 300 % a year
• This is the obvious starting point for your global e-book strategy –
there’s probably already an untapped audience for your existing
English content that you haven’t been able to access previously

7. The tablet boom creates a
profileration of device options
Four companies creating infrastructure and partnership for worldwide
digital book downloads: Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Google.
A fifth, Barnes and Noble, playing catch-up with a recent investment from
Microsoft.
The boom in the tablet market makes a proprietary e-reader device, (i.e. the
Kindle) less important during the next phase or growth.

8. The Rise of the Global Self-Publisher
• Bowker Research – Self Publishing Fueling
Growth in US Market. (Book sales would be Publisher ISBNs
flat without it). Rising sectors include: BiblioBazaar 773,857
• Education – 20 percent
General Books LLC 249,871
• Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Young
Adult, Business, Biography, Fiction – VDM Verlag Dr.
68,509
10-15 percent Mueller e.K.
CreateSpace 57,512
• Michael Tamblin, Kobo CEO: International
Business 14,294
• Self-publishing accounts for 7 percent of unit Publications, USA
sales, as big as McGraw Hill or Wiley
Kessinger
• 7 % in US, 8 % in Asia, 9% in South America, 13,395
10% in Europe, 14% in Africa
Publishing, LLC
AuthorHouse 10,644
• “Content coming in from local markets
writing for local markets then getting Literary Licensing,
9,721
distributed through North America” LLC
• Ebook has huge potential in emerging world, Xlibris Corporation 8,152
offering affordable price points and
distribution in countries with little physical
Source: Bowker
book infrastructure

9. Creating new channels for local and
international readers
Finding the audience for your global e-book content
• Local book event in Los • Scribd downloads in • Amazon reviews from UK,
Angeles Rwanda, South Africa Italy

10. Ebook surge in US transforms
distribution and consumption
Bastei Lubbe
•German mass market trade publisher re-organizes for global
e-book opportunity
•New digital business units for cross-media marketing,
translation and international licensing
•Genre thriller “Apocalypsis” debuts online in German –
initial release in 12 weekly episode downloads including
multimedia extras. Ultimately sold 60,000 German copies in
paperback
•German publication parallel effort to translation and
distribution for global e-book market (English translation and
distribution done in-house, Chinese an Spanish done with
local partnerships)
Source: Sebastian Posth, Publishing Perspectives

11. Defining my Global e-Book strategy –
who are my readers?
• English-language
markets,
Australia, UK, US,
India, lead with
other countries
gaining market
share
• In online survey,
fifty percent
surveyed in Brazil
and India plan to
buy e-book in
next six months
Source: Bowker

12. What’s my content type – is there a proven
e-Book audience yet in my target markets?
• Buyers in 25-34 age
range dominate
• Categories vary by
country
– Fiction dominates UK,
Australia, US
– Education, business
titles lead in South
Korea, India
– Regardless of overall
trends, your content
may serve niche
audience in many
countries
Source: Bowker

13. What is my eBook authoring workflow?
How does it intersect with existing content processes?
•Title •Distribution channel
•ISBN, LCCN, ASIN •Physical proof
•Interior spec •Ebook conversion
Source: CreateSpace
•Cover design •Ebook proof
•Proof Editing

14. What are the eBook standards that will
reach my target reader?
•ePub
•Online readers
•Kindle .Mobi
•PDF
•Please text
Source: Smashwords

15. Forming your global eBook distribution strategy
Distribution Platform
Content Creation
eBook Publishing
My
website
SEO
Smash
Words eBook
Stores
Social
Media
Podcast