Booklovers will not only have to dream about reading a book on a computer screen. E-books entered the Danish market a few years ago, but never really caught on. So a small portable e-reader will shortly be available in Danish to enhance readers’ experience of reading electronic books. E-book sales have exploded in the USA in recent years, a development that is duly observed by Lindhardt og Ringhof, as e-readers have been available in the UK and USA for quite some time.

“In 2010 we will see a variety of e-readers for sale, and buyers will start wanting content,” says Anette Wad, managing director of Lindhardt og Ringhof.

Chicken-and-egg syndrome
The challenge facing Lindhardt og Ringhof is finding the patience to wait, until the e-readers make a proper market breakthrough.

“We’re up against the chicken-andegg syndrome at the moment. Without e-readers, people won’t buy e-books, and without e-books, they have no reason to buy e-readers. We expect e-books and audio-books to be really big, so we have to start somewhere,” says Jakob Larsen, Supply Chain Manager.

Easier access to e-books
Lindhardt og Ringhof has indeed started somewhere, with the acquisition of Publizon. As part of a digital strategy, and the first step towards increasing e-book sales, Lindhardt og Ringhof teamed up last year with competing publisher Gyldendal to acquire the digital distribution channel Publizon.

“The retail trade has to be able to offer customers titles from as many publishers as possible. We want to support this ability, by offering a single, integrated distribution system that can replace all the separate publishers’ systems. For book retailers, it will be like shopping in a supermarket instead of going to lots of speciality stores – far easier,” says Jakob Larsen, and Anette Wad adds:

“Customers will have a vast selectionof e-books to choose from, and authors will be guaranteed sales, and thus income. Bypooling their rights, publishers will produce the largest possible volume, the true key to success,” Anette Wad stresses.

Everyone wins
“Our acquisition of Publizon has created the digital highway Denmark has lacked, and which is a must for selling digital products.Our distribution solution will benefit the entire book industry, because it is open to everyone. We will be creating a meeting place, a hub, where everyone who wants to deal in digital products can find a large selection in one place,” says Anette Wad, who believes this is the first step towards convincing readers that electronic books are here to stay.