As the keepers of the aggregated book data for the Canadian industry, we are often asked to provide statistics on e-books. These requests come from far and wide but are often made from those wishing to compare Canadian adoption rates of digital technology with rates of other markets.
Unfortunately, our desire at BNC to quantify this data is met with considerable challenges when trying to put the metaphorical rubber to the road. A few for your consideration…
Barnes and Noble has announced that holiday pre-orders for their new eReader, the Nook, has outstripped devices available. So for those of you looking for a shiny eReader under the tree, seems like it will have to be a Nook Kindle.
As I’m sure all devotees of the eReader/digital book markets already know, Canadians are now able to purchase their very own Kindle (sans wireless—sort of) without having to resort to covert cross-border shopping excursions.
I’m going to leave other bloggers with the critique of the Kindle device itself (Mark Bertils does a great job at index//mb) and focus instead on another key component of eBook adoption: pricing.
At this year’s BISG Annual Members Meeting Carolyn Pittis gave an excellent presentation on QR Codes [Wikipedia link] (2D barcodes that can repesent text) and how they are being used by Harper Collins to link books to mobile websites and extended content.
BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country.
