The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced plans for a new digital distribution system for local ebooks.
The distribution system, which it expects to be operating in the first half of next year, will be available through the APA's Title Page program.
'Customers wanting to buy ebooks can go to a participating retailer, check the title they want is available in the right format and price using TitlePage, then give the store their email address and pay for the book,' explained the APA in a press release. The system will then email customers a unique web address they can access to download the book.
APA spokesperson Jose Borghino told WBN that it was in the APA's interest for the system to support ‘as many [ebook] formats as possible', though he said other aspects of the system were still under discussion and would be decided in coming months. These include the question of where customers would be sent to download their ebooks.
‘Obviously there are a lot of technical issues to work through and that's one of them,' he said. ‘One option is that [they] will go to a virtual electronic warehouse where all those titles will be managed. But we're looking at a number of options.'
‘A lot of the details of how the system will run remain open ones at the moment,' he said. ‘We need to talk to publishers, to website and database designers, and to booksellers to make sure that the new service makes sense to as many of the stakeholders as possible. We'll keep everyone informed as this development proceeds.'
APA CEO Maree McCaskill said that the new system would give booksellers 'an industry solution' to enable them to participate in the ebook market. ‘Right now, take-up of ebooks in Australia has been hampered,' she said. ‘Sales of ebook readers have been slow because of cost and availability issues, and there is no simple system for ebook distribution. This new system will allow Australians to download digital books quickly and simply via participating bookstores. This will make a wider range of ebooks more freely available.'
Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Malcolm Neil welcomed the announcement. ‘This innovative initiative taken by the APA will ensure Australian readers have access to the choice of retailer which suits them in this exciting new market,' he said.
The APA expects to be working closely with the ABA and individual booksellers on the implementation of the new system. ‘This whole thing is being put in place so that the relationship between Australian publishers and Australian booksellers [is maintained],' said Borghino. ‘It's a way of consolidating that channel of distribution and publishers are keen to make sure booksellers are on board.'
The APA statement follows Amazon's announcement that its ereader, the Kindle, is now available to Australian consumers.
