Korea grapples with shift to e-books

Korea`s e-book market has long been dormant. Even though there have been a handful of attempts to kick-start the potentially huge market in the past few years, the parties involved -- writers, readers and publishers -- did not pay much attention.

The chronic shortage of attention, however, is giving in to renewed public interest thanks to fresh developments in the long-sidelined e-book market in recent months. For starters, Samsung Electronics, the country`s biggest electronics firm, unveiled an e-reader that attempts to mimic what Amazon`s Kindle can do, except for the U.S.-based bookseller`s already sizable library. A smaller yet recognizable Korean firm iriver, known for its MP3 players, also put out a similar e-reader armed with 6-inch screen and a QWERTY keypad.

The e-book reader initiatives by the major device makers have helped create a growing list of news articles about the fledgling market in the past weeks, and Korean publishers are now duly set to focus on the topic of digital publication in the forthcoming Paju Bookcity Forum (www.pajubookcity.org), which will kick off its two-day run on Nov. 19 under the theme of "Evolution of Books & Future of Digital Publication."



"In the previous forums, we dealt with some ideological or philosophical topics, but it`s time to explore key issues regarding the digital publication and e-books, given that some progress is being made in the U.S. market thanks to the Amazon.com`s Kindle," said Song Young-man, executive director of Paju Bookcity Culture Foundation, which organizes the annual forum.

Song said the Korean e-book market was still in its infancy, but there are new signs that the market will see a major development as local publishers form alliances to develop e-book solutions and bigger digital libraries.

"The forum will provide a great opportunity to examine the positive and negative aspects in digital publishing as panelists from the United States, Japan and other countries are set to discuss the key issues," Song said.

One of the high-profile speakers at the forum next week is Carolyn Kroll Reidy, president of Simon & Schuster Inc., who will give a presentation on the digital publication market and strategies.

In the advance script, Reidy argued that "ebooks are still relatively small but are a rapidly growing part of our business, but could be significant (25 percent) within seven years."

<**2>

Despite the positive outlook, Reidy cautioned that building a digital infrastructure was expensive and that publishers may not see a return on this investment for many years. She also said that a turning point might come from the digital generation: "Young people will play a key role, and new generations that grow up reading on screen will create new forms that we can only imagine."

Yi In-hwa, professor of digital media at Ewha Womans University, said that the change in favor of a new digital format in the publishing market is irreversible and even destructive for paper-oriented publishers.

"Paper-based books are not mass media any longer," Yi said. "The publication market is currently moving toward content-oriented business model, not today`s dying model of a manufacturer, and print media is facing a critical juncture in which they have to embrace new platforms to survive."

Yi acknowledged that e-books will not overtake paper-based book market overnight, but the time-honored platform of traditional paper and ink is becoming obsolete and ineffective amid the revolutionary shift in technology that introduces a number of new platforms ranging from mobile handsets to e-book readers to laptops.

"Media convergence that makes content delivery seamless and ubiquitous is inevitable," Yi said. "Publishers should not complain about the shrinking paper-based book market but must find a way to a niche segment through new platforms," he added.

Lee Joong-ho, director of Booxen Digital, an e-book service provider, said publishers are scrambling to secure digital content to take a slice in the e-book pie, but they still remain uncertain about the market.

"Compared with the U.S. or European markets, Korean publishers are still reluctant to bet on the e-book market," Lee said. "But things are changing as new devices are introduced, and several publishers are forming a new alliance to launch a distribution unit for e-book services."

Lee said Booxen Digital will launch a commercial e-book service targeting the launch of Apple Inc.`s iPhone in the Korean market, scheduled for later this month, while developing other solutions for local e-book reader devices.

But experts said the e-book market in Korea will confront many difficulties before taking off. Among the thorniest issues are the standardization of e-book formats and new practices for copyright arrangements regarding e-books and other new platforms.

Baek Won-keun, chief researcher of Korean Publishing Research Institute, said that publishers will struggle for a while to come up with a viable vision about the act of reading itself at a time when other options such as video gaming, Web surfing and mobile texting are widely available. "At the heart of the problem is that people are spending less time reading books in general and we have to think about whether we can persuade them to read books again by offering a digital version."

(insight@heraldm.com)





By Yang Sung-jin