A is a Book is a Book?! – E- in the Literary Field

Sandra van Lente

E-books and e-readers are selling well, their market share has been rising in the last couple of years in the UK (and in Germany). The discussions about these developments often turn into heated, emotional debates. This article offers an overview of the e-book market with spotlights on selected facts, developments, and controversies.

E-books sell. According to Nielsen, e- books accounted for 29% of book sales in 2015 (first quarter).1 E-books have become an important factor for pub- lishers, authors and booksellers alike – for some it seems to be more of a threat at present, for others an opportunity. E- books and e- are surrounded by heated and very emotional debates, ranging from content to pricing and culminating in consecration. This arti- cle introduces selected facts, figures and examples and hopes to take some of the emotion out of this field. Screenshot from Foyles’ e-book store Who Makes and Sells E-Books? The Bookseller describes Amazon as as a publisher. set up their own e-book stores and cre- the market leader in e-book retailing2, Publishers and bookshops, indies as ated their own e-readers. When Amazon as probably the biggest player world- well as chains, are facing difficult times. asked bookshops whether they wanted wide. While I could not find out more The Bookseller reports that 73 independ- to stock kindle readers for a 10% com- on their exact (e-book) market share, I ent bookshops closed in 2012, while mission on e-book sales bought with suspect it to be substantial, but prob- only 39 new ones opened, marking a that device within two years (as Water- ably not as high as the 79% estimate 33% decline of independent bookshops stones has been doing), many of them published online (the data was based (from 1,535 to 1,028) since 2005.4 The understandably flipped the finger.6 Su- on a survey with only about 600 peo- Telegraph even claims that the number permarkets, however, have also entered ple).3 Other important e-book sellers in of high street bookshops in the UK the e-book and e-reader market. Tesco the UK are Kobo, Apple’s iBookstore as – indies as well as chains – “has more launched its e-reader Hudl in Septem- well as physical bookshops who have set than halved in just seven years due to ber 2013 and many supermarkets sell up webshops. the rise of e-books and the consumer various readers and e-books already. E-books are not only produced by downturn.”5 The quality debate, i.e. traditional publishers, but also by self- that publishers need to act as ‘gatekeep- Half of Britons Using a Tablet? published authors and Amazon and ers’ and that only physical bookshops So how many people own an e- Google, who now aim to act as pub- can offer their customers the orienta- device? First of all, I would like to point lishers, as well as online retailers. So tion they ‘need’, seems to almost go un- out that there does not seem to be a Amazon’s market dominance is based noticed by a very large number of peo- shared definition of what an e-reader is. on their often obscenely low prices, but ple who quite enjoy their e-books (see Is every tablet counted as an e-reader? also the fact that they are quite fast with more on sales figures below). And what about smart phones? They’re regard to innovations, sell e-books as Inventive bookshops who want to getting bigger screens and better resolu- well as e-readers and also started to act participate in the e-book market have tions and some people read on them – This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared inHard Times 94/2013: The Literary Field in the UK, ed. by Gesa Stedman and Sandra van Lente. 1 E-Books probably not War and Peace but shorter the kindle can only display content ics argued that the limitations caused pieces and above all: news. So I’d argue bought through Amazon’s own shops. by DRM will lead to more piracy be- that the statistics need to be read with Other readers can only read a specific cause readers might reject those limits sound skepticism. set of formats (most widely used: ePub imposed. Furthermore, current DRM The Telegraph suspects that and pdf). This brings about a whole set measures also entail communication Half of Britons [are] now using a tablet, of problematic issues. What happens between the shop and your reading de- […] tablets such as the iPad and Kindle if the format or the reader goes out vice, which leads us to the issue of data Fire. […] Between 12m and 13m tab- of fashion? Or what if it is no longer security and privacy. lets have been sold in the UK this year, produced and yours is broken? This In this context, it is quite important an increase of more than 50pc on 2012, is a problem you definitely don’t have to know that you don’t buy the actual e- according to research from Deloitte. book and own it, you only acquire This means that by the end of Janu- the license to read it. This, again, ary, 50pc of Britons will own or can become quite problematic – have access to a tablet, up from 36pc for quite a good comment on li- in the summer.7 censing see http://denverlibrary. org/blog/do-you-own-your-eb- E-Reader Hardware ooks. If you die, for example, you The main players in e-readers are can technically not pass on your Amazon with its kindle, Apple e-books to your heirs. You can with its iPad, Sony with its reader, pass on your account details and Kobo and nowadays also Samsung passwords, of course, as long as with its Galaxy tablets.8 Some your account is still “alive”, but it’s bookstores created their own de- not the same. Some blogs suggest vices, such as Barnes & Noble that there might be new legislation with their nook (while the com- Apple’s iBookstore on the iPad coming up for e-book and music pany is originally US-American, , but so far, this remains the nook and their e-book store are also with printed books. However, if your an area with pragmatic rather than legal quite present in the UK). In Germany, flat or house burns down, your e-books solutions. some booksellers, a publisher and a tel- remain on a server somewhere else (de- Contrary to printed books that re- ecommunications provider decided to pending on your device and account). main your property once you bought work together in order to benefit from But what if you die? Can you pass on e- them, “[l]icenses can be revoked, and effects of scale (and shared file formats): books? Various blogs in the UK and US because publishers and vendors insist Weltbild (the store, not the bankrupt will tell you that it is neither transpar- on using proprietary formats and digi- publisher), Bertelsmann, Thalia, Hu- ent nor easy to figure out. These ques- tal rights management, if your license is gendubel and Telekom created the Toli- tions lead us straight to DRM. revoked, you lose access to that book.”9 no e-readers. They sell the device and Or all your books in fact. e-books through their individual shops. What is DRM? reported a case in which Amazon closed The main difference between the var- DRM stands for Digital Rights Man- a customer’s account on unproven alle- ious readers on the market is whether agement. The fear of piracy and copy- gations – and she thus lost access to all they are ‘only’ a reader or a tablet and right infringement led to the invention the e-books she paid for.10 The Guard- thus more like a computer. When Ama- of DRM software to protect copyright ian also quoted Amazon’s reply to her: zon started off with the kindle, it was and IP. It is not only used for e-books, We regret that we have not been able to only a black-and-white reading device. but also for music, videos, games etc. It address your concerns to your satisfaction. Their new-ish kindle fire can also de- can also be used for libraries who want Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer pict colours in HD, play videos, has to lend e-books as DRM software can any additional insight or action on these apps etc. Further differences between make sure that the file expires at the matters. We wish you luck in locating a the e-readers on the market are in size, end of the borrowing period. retailer better able to meet your needs and resolution, the technology they use (e- DRM is not without criticism. There will not be able to offer any additional ink, backlight…), battery life, weight, are some disadvantages with regards insight or action on these matters. whether they are linked to specific to compatibility (some formats and But my favourite kindle scandal re- shops or open to various sales channels their DRM settings only work with mains the one with George Orwell’s and in the supported formats. specific devices) and the files are only 1984 (and, in fact, also Animal Farm). A rather intelligent idea – that is, downloadable a limited number of Amazon deleted those books without good for the producers, annoying for times, which is annoying for instance if any comment or warning from custom- customers – was to exclusively link cer- you buy a new e-reader and you have ers’ kindles after some digital rights is- tain reading devices to sales channels: no more downloads left. Some crit- sues. 1984 of all books, if it weren’t so

2 E-Books sad it would be hilarious. Never forget who’s watching you. Now after all these rather technical issues, let’s have a look at the following question:

Who Reads E-Books? There is only little data available about the readers of e-books – I mean, while Google, Amazon & Co have surely been collecting every info they can get their hands on, I did not come across any publicly accessible and reliable market data about e-book customers. However, if you look at the people around you on public transport, you can see that people do read e-books. While there are quite a few people who publicly voice that they hate e-books and think it is the end of civilization, there are actual- ly many people who enjoy this format. Excerpt from The Bookseller’s e-book sales ranking (June 2013) Why? Possibly because they are easy to carry around, they’re small, relatively Sony’s 20p offers). bestselling hardback debut novel13 still light, slim, and need only little space Let’s have a look at some interest- sold more e-copies than printed ones on public transport. E-books are easily ing cases and observations. The June (19,643 e, 17,089 p) and landed on available, they are “delivered” instantly ranking features a lot of thrillers and position 8 of the list. and often you can get a preview before crime fiction, such as Lee Child with The total number of units sold digitally buying the book (sorry, I mean the li- several novels, Dan Brown and Iain from the digital Top 50 [in June] was cense). I was surprised how many peo- Rankin. Another major group of nov- 784,000 compared with the 1,341,000 ple – even younger ones – said that they els contains love stories, such as Sylvia sold by the print list. […] The Booksell- liked that you can increase the letter Day’s Entwined With You on position 1 er estimates that the e-book market was size. While traditional e-readers were (201,053 e-books and 167,348 printed worth £17.6m in June, 19% of the over- limited to depicting texts, tablets can books sold) or Sophie Kinsella’s books all book market as measured by value.12 also be used for email access, photog- (position 18 and 28). Often, series and In August, the ranking comprised raphy etc. Some even suggest that the TV adaptations make it to high posi- more crime, less love, and less big liter- tablet has become a lifestyle product. tions, such as police series, Sylvia Day’s ary prize winners. In some cases e-sales Crossfire series (1, 12 and 14), novels overtook print, in particular Lee Child’s What is Read? by Game of Thrones author George RR thrillers. Never Go Back by Lee Child The e-book ranking by The Bookseller Martin (6, 22, 32, 41, 42 and 44) as sold 35,100 e-books and 26,417 print- is one of very few sales overviews. The well as The White Queen (10) and The ed copies in its month of publication Bookseller published e-book rankings of Red Queen (49) by Philippa Gregory (August 2013). In addition, with the the 50 best-selling e-books in June and (the first one was recently adapted by high e-sales of the new book, e-book August 201311 (they aim to establish a the BBC). sales for his previously published titles service similar to Nielsen’s BookScan Among the top 50 selling titles are from back in the late 1990s also rose, for the e-book market). The e-sales also many famous and consecrated e.g. to 11,248 e-books sold for Killing data was provided by the respective authors such as Khaled Hosseini (4), Floor (1997) and around 6,400 copies publishers, the print data by Nielsen Hillary Mantel (with Bring Up the Bod- of each of his 1998 and 1999 novels. BookScan. The observed sales period ies (19) and Woolf Hall (48)) as well as Overall, the bestselling e-books con- comprised 4 weeks in each case. Inter- Dan Brown (2 and 45) and Ian McE- sist mostly of fiction. The Booksellerre - estingly, e-books that were sold at less wan (40). ports that while “novels account for only than 2 GBP were excluded from the Overall, print sales are still in the three in every 10 printed books bought ranking (in print, they exclude books lead. Some exceptions are Abbi Glines in the UK, in the digital market, they sold at less than 75% of the RRP), so who had sold 11,917 e-copies before account for approaching seven in 10.”14 that the ranking was not distorted by the was even pub- Another observation by The Bookseller free e-books as well as extreme promo- lished and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely is that “e-books simply don’t follow the tion campaigns (such as Amazon’s and Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, whose 2012’s same sales patterns as printed books

3 E-Books

[…] There is a frontlist element to Some price examples duction (I don’t mean the , print sales that is not matched by I mean the material – and while digital.”15 Sir Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography e-books also cause costs, e.g. for (2013, Hodder & Stoughton) server space, they cost less in terms What Should E-Books Cost? Hardback RRP UK: 25.00 GBP of paper, , delivery, etc.). A This is one of the most heated de- Hardback Amazon UK: 9.00 GBP compromise between 20p and the bates. While Germany still has the Kindle UK: 8.55 GBP RRP price of the printed version NBA (their Buchpreisbindung), the Hardback Amazon G: 22.95 EUR must be possible somehow. UK does not. The NBA in Ger- Kindle G: 16.99 EUR many is also applicable to e-books, Taxes however, with the exception of Hilary Mantel: Bring Up the Bodies Speaking about e-book pricing, 16 books published abroad. In Ger- (2012, Fourth Estate) a look at their taxation is worth- many, the fixed prices for e-books while. How are e-books taxed? Hardback RRP UK: 20.00 GBP are often as high as the prices for In the UK, the VAT for printed the printed version or sometimes a Paperback RRP UK: 9.99 GBP books is currently at 0%, the VAT little less than the price of a hard- Hardback Amazon UK: 8.86 GBP for e-books however at 20%. In back edition. Here is an exam- Paperback Amazon UK: 3.85 GBP Germany, printed books are taxed ple: Wolfgang Herrndorf’s novel Kindle UK: 3.66 GBP with 7% and e-books with 19%.19 Tschick (2012) sells at €8.99 for Hardback Amazon G: 20.30 EUR In this context, Luxemburg is de- all paperback and e-editions and Paperback Amazon G: 7.90-12.95 EUR veloping into an e-book paradise. Inger-Maria Mahlke’s Rechnung Of- Their VAT for e-books lies at 3%, Paperback indies G: 10.99-17.99 EUR fen (2013) hardback costs €19.99, so some e-book shops operate from the paperback €9.99 and the kindle Kindle G: 7.50 EUR over there. Of course, Apple and and ePub editions €15.99. ePub e-book G: 10.37 EUR Amazon are in on it, too. While In the UK, however, where even publishers in Germany also seem the prices for printed books are have ‘almost no value’.” 17 And author to benefit from this ‘arrangement’ – wild, e-books are even cheaper and sub- Tiffany Reisz agrees: the price of the books remains the same, ject to heavy discounting. Please see the The paper and ink of a book aren’t terribly but publishers get their percentage after box on the right for two examples: one pricey but the cost of editing, cover design, VAT20 – publishers in the UK do not of the Christmas , Sir Alex proofreading, distribution, marketing, benefit from the Luxemburg loophole if Ferguson’s autobiography (2013) and publicity, and paying the writer enough they sell via Amazon.21 So it is not only Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies to keep her from starving to death is the publishers and bookshops who should (2012). reason why not every book can be 20p or be careful not to miss out if they want The probably biggest controversy the more common 99 cents in America’s to participate in the e-book market, but was caused by Amazon and Sony, who Amazon Kindle store. A full-length novel also national governments. In this spe- sold e-books for as little as 20p, much can provide eight to 20 hours of reading cific case, however, the EU will stop this to the shock of some of the authors. enjoyment. A movie in America provides in 2015 and apply the VAT rate of the This promotion was not limited to self- two hours of enjoyment and costs eight to country of residence of the buyer22. published texts and newcomers, it also 10 dollars or more. It’s only when readers In March 2015, the European Court of included novels such as Booker Prize feel entitled to free or inexpensive Justice ruled that the application of a winner Life of Pi, Jonas Jonasson’s The that the low prices become a problem. reduced VAT rate on e-books (as done Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Writers are professionals and this is our in France, for instance) was against EU Out the Window and Disappeared or job. […] A book can take a full year to regulations (http://curia.europa.eu/ju- John Lanchester’s Capital. write, edit, and produce and to recoup ris, case C‑479/13). The Court ruled Alison Flood, who has written for that cost not every book can be free or that e-books are ‘services’ rather than The Bookseller and The Guardian, em- 20p.18 ‘cultural goods’ and are thus exempt phasises that the problem of such dis- What do you pay for? The story? from the reduced rate. This decision counting is not that authors don’t earn The editing, expertise or selection? sparked controversial discussions and enough royalties, but that readers are Well, certainly not only but also for campaigns; #ThisIsNotABook is one of taught that books are not worth more: the tangible product – because why them arguing that the content makes a “Although the promotion has led to else should hardbacks cost more than book a book, not the medium. It will sales booms for the selected authors, (the story is the same, but be interesting to observe the develop- and the retailers are still paying the full the production is more expensive). So ment of this controversy as some of the price to publisher and author, it has also wouldn’t it be logical if e-books cost less affected countries indicated that they prompted fears that it could lead to the than paperbacks? The price should at are going to appeal against the Court’s perception amongst readers that books least comprise the lower costs of pro- decision.

4 E-Books

It’s Nice to Share interesting field to watch (see e.g. the drawings, secondary texts, videos, in- E-book sharing and lending is still “un- blog http://gespinstbauplatz.blogspot. teractive maps, etc. If you’re interested, der construction”. Whether libraries, de – it’s in English and also features in- watch the trailer (but never mind the for example, want to engage in it and terviews and theatre reviews). interesting music): http://www.panmac- how has still not fully been answered. A not that new but still not yet dead millan.com/book/christopherhibbert/ Technically, DRM, even if not unprob- form is the “enriched e-book”, an e- thelondonencyclopaedia3rdedition. lematic, offers the opportunity to man- book featuring additional material such age lending as the licenses can as background information, interviews, Concluding Remarks be set to expire at a specific time. A new illustrations etc. The first ones were There are quite a number of people who experiment for a lending scheme is just comparable to the bonus material you like to read e-books. Contrary to the in- about to take off: a working group of itial fear that e-book piracy will ruin the publishers, members of the Publishers’ market, these customers even pay for it. Association and members of the So- Commuters and other travellers seem ciety of Chief Librarians (SCL) com- to be two important groups of e-read- missioned a test run accompanied by ers; maybe they like that it’s so much researchers (supported by a £40,000 lighter than the hardback of Woolf Hall, grant from the British Library Trust).23 maybe they like that nobody can see The experiment starts off with 1,000 what they are reading – or maybe they adult fiction titles from the seven pub- just enjoy reading on their e-readers. By lishers (new books can be added later). now, a number of producers has come The test phase runs for a year starting up with a variety of e-reading devices 1 February 2014 and the results might E-readers on the tube (flickr: alui0000) to meet different needs or preferences. influence future e-lending schemes. There are also people who will never While this sounds like an interesting sometimes find on DVDs, but the po- want to come near an e-reading device, project, it also comes at a time when tential of e-book enrichment does not but as e-books will never replace print- many libraries in the UK are struggling stop there (some of this bonus mate- ed ones, nobody is forced to e-read. for funding and survival. As cynic as it rial sounds more like a return to “let’s The question of what e-books should sounds, granting more people remote find out what the author intended”). cost has not been discussed exhaustive- access to books via an e-lending scheme An area in which enriched e-books can ly. And there is a lot of potential for de- could also endanger physical libraries work quite well are cook books (you velopment in non-fiction e-books. – even though, in my opinion, their just need to make sure you don’t spill E-book sales are until now dominat- contribution to our communities lies in your ingredients on the device) that of- ed by fiction. There is also a tendency more than giving out books. fer a combination of text, pictures and to higher e-book as well as hardback how-to explanation videos. It has not and special edition sales on some titles. E-Book Content really taken off, probably because the I have no ‘hard facts’ to prove this, but a A new format has emerged, but received question of who should produce (and look at the displays in bookshops as well only little attention so far: e-book sin- pay for) the enhanced content. as feedback from German and British gles. They are 5,000-30,000 words As The Bookseller’s ranking as well as readers and authors support my hunch. long and – according to an American other e-book bestselling lists show: fic- This suggests that people are willing to blogger – they “are on the cusp of be- tion is still dominant in e-publishing. spend more money on special editions coming a significant business and may I think it is a pity that non-ficition e- that they want to keep (and maybe well propel a renaissance in deep-dive books and e-books for educational pur- show off with), while those looking journalism, the short story, and no- poses are still quite underdeveloped. I for cheap editions turn to e-books. I vella.”24 Amazon publishes them under also have the impression that the use of don’t think that these are necessarily the name “Kindle Singles”, Apple as e-books is still frowned upon in an aca- two kinds of buyers, but that the deci- “Quick Reads”, and Barnes & Noble as demic context, instead of quite useful sion which edition to buy depends on “Snap”. Indeed, with short story cham- features such as the search function – what the customer wants to do with the pion Alice Munro winning the Nobel very comfortable if you are looking for book, rather than the price. Maybe it is Prize for Literature and with British a quotation or if you’re counting words paperbacks that are threatened now – it authors such as Sarah Hall, who writes for a linguistic analysis. An interesting might be worthwile to observe this… novels as well as short stories, winning example of enriched non-fiction e-books What seems to be so alluring about prizes and recognition (BBC National is – A City Through Time, avail- e-books is surely also that they are avail- Short Story Award, Granta ‘Best of able as an app and an e-book (ePub). I able immediately after purchase, at Young British Novelists’), maybe new think it could serve as an inspiration of anytime, no matter where you are – as opportunities for short stories are com- how to sensibly combine various media long as you have an online connection. ing up and e-book singles could be one and sources such as letters, paintings, In the short run, readers have more

5 E-Books choice. You have the ‘old-school’ pub- tomer education and retention. This 2013). lishers, but also new ones, let alone the may not be their core competence, but 10. Cf. King, Mark. “Amazon wipes customer’s Kindle and deletes account with no explana- easier access to self-publishing. On the it has become vital. tion.” The Guardian 22 October 2012. www. long run, however, the fear is that we While many physical shops have ne- theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon- will ultimately have less choice, if the glected e-books at first – accidentally or wipes-customers-kindle-deletes-account (last ac- development leads to further market on purpose – they now try to benefit cessed 10 November 2013). concentration, the decline of tradition- from the e-book market, too. Physi- 11. For the June edition you need to send an email to The Bookseller: www.thebookseller.com/ al publishers, bookshops and libraries – cal shops as well as publishers have to news/day-tops-booksellers-first-e-book-ranking. and thus the survival of the richest. decide whether they want engage in html. The August ranking is available here: Amazon is not all there is to e-books, e-publishing and e-book selling (the www.thebookseller.com/feature/official-e-book- but if other shops and publishers don’t technical side is no insurmountable ob- sales-ranking-august-2013.html (last accessed 10 January 2014). step in, it will be e-books = Amazon. stacle) or not. If not, they need to live 12. Bookseller News Team. “Day tops Book- This is alarming. Even if I don’t want to with the consequence that an increas- seller’s first e-book ranking.” The Bookseller 2 join in the Amazon-bashing just for the ing part of reading and book buying August 2013. https://www.thebookseller.com/ sake of it, it is striking in how many of will be done somewhere else. E-books news/day-tops-booksellers-first-e-book-ranking. the scandals and problems surrounding will certainly not disappear, at least not html (last accessed 10 January 2014). 13. Cf. Jones, Philip. “Random hails ‘most suc- e-publishing Amazon is involved. So it for a very long time. cessful year of all time’.” The Bookseller 26 March is necessary that the players in the liter- 2013. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ran- ary field act up and do something about Notes dom-hails-most-successful-year-all-time.html 1. Cf. Campbell, L. “E-book market share down it. (last accessed 10 January 2014). slightly in 2015.” The Bookseller 8 June 2015. 14. The Bookseller’s June ranking. Publishers and bookshops, for exam- http://www.thebookseller.com/news/e-book- 15. Ibid. ple, should actively search for strategies market-share-down-slightly-2015 (last accessed 16. Cf. “Preisbindung.” Börsenverein des to benefit from the interest in and op- 21 September 2015). Deutschen Buchhandels. www.boersenverein. portunities of e-publishing – and not 2. Cf. Stone, Philip. “Official e-book sales rank- de/de/portal/Preisbindung/158315 (last ac- ing: August 2013.” The Bookseller 7 October just continue their business as usual. cessed 10 November 2013). 2013. www.thebookseller.com/feature/official- 17. Flood, Alison. “Printed book sales’ decline I am not suggesting that everybody e-book-sales-ranking-august-2013.html (last ac- slowed in 2012.“ The Guardian 9 January 2013. should blindly follow every new fad, cessed 4 December 2013). www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/09/ but I’m afraid that the arrogance of 3. Cf. Campbell, Lisa. “Amazon has ‘79% of printed-book-sales-2012 (last accessed 13 No- e-book market in UK’” The Bookseller 12 Sep- publishers, their opposition to (techno- vember 2013). tember 2013. www.thebookseller.com/news/ 18. Ibid. logical) change and their ‘gatekeeping’ amazon-has-79-e-book-market-uk.html (last ac- 19. In Germany, the lower VAT for printed books claims might make them lose out in the cessed 4 December 2013). is justified with the claim that they are “Kul- long run. While bookshops can also sell 4. Cf. Flood, Alison. “Decline in indepen- turgut”, see e.g. Freund, Wieland. “Deutscher e-books via their websites, they can also dent bookshops continues with 73 closures in Buchhandel reagiert auf Trend zum E-Book.” 2012.” The Guardian 22 February 2013. www. continue to make customers aware of Die Welt 3 January 2013. www.welt.de/kultur/ theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/22/indepen- literarischewelt/article112371491/Deutscher- the power of their choice. Many cus- dent-bookshops-73-closures-2012 (last accessed Buchhandel-reagiert-auf-Trend-zum-E-Book. tomers know by now that their buy- 4 December 2013). html (last accessed 10 November 2013). ing behaviour is a political act. There 5. Hall, James. “Bookshop numbers halve in just 20. Cf. Lischka, Konrad. “E-Books: Ama- seven years.” The Telegraph 26 December 2012. are already some initiatives to remind zon und Apple setzen auf Luxemburg-Trick.” www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9741974/ Spiegel Online 1 May 2012. www.spiegel.de/ customers of their power. Bookshops Bookshop-numbers-halve-in-just-seven-years. netzwelt/web/umsatzsteuer-apple-und-amazon- should continue to put effort in cus- html (last accessed 4 December 2013). verkaufen-e-book-via-luxemburg-a-829658. 6. Cf. Campbell, Lisa. “UK indies: ‘We won’t html (last accessed 15 November 2013). stock Kindle’”. The Bookseller 7 November 2013. 21. Cf. Griffith, Ian and Dan Milmo. “Amazon www.thebookseller.com/news/uk-indies-we- makes UK publishers pay 20% VAT on Some Interesting Links wont-stock-kindle.html (last accessed 4 Decem- sales.” The Guardian 21 October 2012.www. ber 2013). The Bookseller: www.thebookseller.com theguardian.com/technology/2012/oct/21/ 7. Titcomb, James. “Half of Britons Now Using a amazon-forces-publishers-pay-vat-ebook (last (industry reports, news from the literary Tablet.” The Telegraph 29 December 2013. www. accessed 15 November 2013). field and newsletter) telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediat- 22. Cf. Lischka. FUTUReBOOK: www.futurebook.net echnologyandtelecoms/electronics/10541681/ 23. Cf. “E-pilot Lending Scheme.” Society of (The Bookseller’s e-publishing site) Half-of-Britons-now-using-a-tablet.html (last Authors website. 13 January 2014. www.societyo- The Booksellers’ Association: accessed 10 January 2014). fauthors.org/soa-news/e-pilot-lending-scheme www.booksellers.org.uk 8. For an overview see e.g.: www.e-book-news. (last accessed 15 January 2014). The Publishers’ Association: de/reader-tipps/, c’t 26/2013 and www.heise.de/ 24. Robins, J. Max. “E-Book Singles: Digital www.publishers.org.uk ct/13/26/links/102.shtml (in German). Salvation for Writers and Publishers.” Techono- 9. Nate. “Do You Own Your Ebooks?” Denver The Reading Agency: my Exclusive 28 May 2013. http://techonomy. Public Library. Technology Blog. 1 November com/2013/05/e-book-singles-digital-salvation- http://readingagency.org.uk/ 2012. http://denverlibrary.org/blog/do-you- for-writers-and-publishers/ (last accessed 1 No- own-your-ebooks (last accessed 10 November vember 2013).

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