The Global eBook Report: Current Conditions & Future Projections. Update October 2013 by Rüdiger Wischenbart Page A

applications for different operating systems, which allows readers to migrate between devices and platforms with greater ease, while being locked down to the distribution platform.
    Ebook publishers are faced with the problems of book discovery, and many are investing in strengthening their marketing efforts online, especially through social media. Except in the case of Penguin and Sterling, the publishers do not give information about the availability of their e-editions on their own website as yet. Many publishers are yet to adopt an integrated workflow, from manuscript creation to output, and also in following global standards for metadata.
    Formats and pricing
    Publishers in India are exploring with all formats and platforms. While most started with releasing PDFs, awareness about other formats is growing now. Open formats like EPUB and MOBI are becoming popular. DRM is seen to be a solution for digital piracy, so publishers are becoming familiar with DRM.
    Publishers are experimenting with pricing too. Ebooks are available from as less as Rs 40 ($0.66) going up to Rs 350 ($6), for trade books originating in India. Ebooks sourced from foreign publishers are priced higher. Since India has been a market for low-priced editions, especially in trade publishing, price was not thought to be a differentiator when it came to ebooks. But that is could change soon. There is a lot of experimentation going on with pricing norms.
    Earlier this year, most ebook publishers began by pricing printed books and ebooks almost at par; or pricing the ebooks, just less than the print version. With more ebook platforms coming up, there seems to be a shift.
    Penguin’s title Can Love Happen Twice by Ravinder Singh , from its popular MetroReads imprint, is priced at Rs 125 ($2.08) in print and sells at Rs 65 ($1.08) on the Kindle store and Flipkart. Similarly, the paperback of Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi (Westland) is priced at Rs 225 ($3.75), but both, the Kindle and Flipkart editions, are priced at Rs 72 ($1.2). The nearly 50% difference in price in two editions, among the popular, commercial fiction titles are not seen in the literary fiction titles. For instance, HarperCollins’ India: A Traveller’s Literary Companion by Chandrahas Choudhury is priced at Rs 399 ($6.7; hardback) and it’s Kindle edition is priced at Rs 314 ($5.2), whereas the Flipkart edition is priced at Rs 359 ($6).
    Similarly, in literary non-fiction too the difference is not 50%. Hachette India’s newly revised title, 24 Akbar Road by Rasheed Kidwai, an account of the Congress Party’s hold on the Centre, is priced at Rs 375 ($6.25) in paperback, and Rs 295.45 ($5) in Kindle edition.
    Self publishing
    Many Indian authors are taking advantage of self-publishing services, for example those offered by CinnamonTeal Print & Publishing Service and Pothi . Amazon’s Kindle Direct Programme became a greater attraction in August 2012, when the company allowed authors and publishers to set Indian rupee prices on the Kindle Store. For many of these new authors, ebook-first is a safe bet, requiring minimal investment. With Smashwords’ books now available on Flipkart in India, this platform is also likely to gain interest among authors looking to self-publish.
    Well-known author Ashok Banker , best known for the bestselling Ramayana series (Penguin Books India), set up his own ebook store, AKB eBooks .Com in 2011. For Banker, the attraction towards ebook publishing was not about the cost of production, but instead, it was the ease and the low cost of distribution and purchase.
    The success of self-published author Amish Tripathi , whose mythological fiction series, Shiva Trilogy , earned him a $ 90,000 advance from publishers Westland recently, has given hope to aspiring writers. Tripathi’s Immortals of Meluha, the first of the Trilogy, was first published by him in February 2010. The book was re-printed thrice within the following week, and by the end of July it