The Global eBook Report: Current Conditions & Future Projections. Update October 2013

market. Before Penguin , Hachette India had released a batch of ebooks in late 2011 and early 2012. Random House India too had released some titles as ebooks in 2011, and the ebook catalogue has now grown. HarperCollins India started releasing ebooks since September 2012, and although globally ebooks form 20% of HarperCollins’ revenues, in India it is less than 1% in sales. [N7] This is the figure given by almost all trade publishers for ebooks sales.
    According to Kapish Mehra , managing director of Rupa Publications , the company’s entire active backlist, of over 1500 titles, is digitized and available. [N8] Gautam Padmanabhan , CEO of Westland , says that the company’s entire frontlist is digitized and 80% of backlist is available as e-books. [N9]
    While some publishers are adopting the approach of simultaneous release of both print and ebook editions, publishers like Rupa and its sister company Aleph, will release e-editions after 6 months of the release of printed books.
    The new trend in the ebook space in India is e-singles of short-fiction. In July 2013, Penguin Books India announced the launch of its e-singles list of short, digital-only reads — “byte-sized stories which can be easily completed in the course of a daily commute or in a lunch-hour.” The list launched with 47 titles, available via Flipkart and Google Books, at Rs 25 ($0.42) per story.
    On 21 September 2013, HarperCollins India launched its Harper21 ebook imprint, with 21 e-singles from 21 authors, priced at Rs 21 ($0.35) per story. The company says that the stories can be read in 21 minutes! A concept that has been tried by HarperCollins in other countries.
    Recently launched Bloomsbury India has also indicated that it will be publishing e-book versions simultaneously with printed ones. Many medium and small publishers are also venturing into publishing e-books. For example, the Delhi-based Sterling Publishers , who publish general interest and children’s books, began to offer a wide collection of ebooks in epub format (digitized by QBend ) through its website, and it had 177 ebooks listed on Apple iBookstore and Amazon Kindle store by May 2013. Roli Books , which publishes illustrated and coffee-table books and also literature, has launched about 40 titles as ebooks.
    In children’s fiction and comics segment, ACK Media , had launched 350 ebooks, and apps and games last year. The famous Amar Chitra Katha comic list is available through Amazon Kindle store, Apple App store, Nokia Ovi store and Android market. The company’s digital division has also developed over 15 games based on characters from the ACK and Tinkle comics, in collaboration with a partner. The company is planning to roll out a complete digital infrastructure system in 2013, which will both create content as well as repurpose existing content for digital media, along with the ACK App store.
    Scholastic India is in the process of converting its backlist into e-enabled books, compatible with the Kindle platform. At present, some of its fiction and general interest titles have been made available in EPUB format.
    Diamond Comics , another popular comics books publisher in Hindi and English and other languages, has also digitized its formidable list and made it available for web, and for iPad and Android, in partnership with the Readwhere newsstand platform.
    The multilingual children’s picture book publishers like Tulika Publishers and Pratham Books were among the first to experiment with book apps, with multilingual content in the case of Pratham, on the Apple App Store, in partnership with application platforms like Fliplog Reader and Mango Reader . Pratham makes its books available on open platforms as well as on the entire range of reader applications, including The Wink Store, Google Play , Rockstand , etc. Popular children’s picture-book publishers Karadi Tales who are known for audio books, flash videobooks, DVDs and CD-ROMs, recently launched some of their books on the App Store. At the New Delhi World Book Fair 2013 , another children’s books publisher, Katha , announced the launch of its ebooks list, developed in partnership with Impelsys .
    Publishers in Indian languages are also launching ebook catalogues, by digitizing their backlist. Among them the notable ones are from publishers like Rajkamal Prakashan[Rajkamal Prakashan] (in Hindi); Mehta Publishing House (250 titles in Marathi launched in last week of September 2013); and Sapna Book House