There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting every segment of our lives, urging us to start reflecting on our everyday habits. We are aware that all aspects of our future will be affected, from personal, social to economic. But this doesn’t necessarily need to be negative.
The coronavirus pandemic is motivating us to embrace the benefits of digitalization. Taken the eBook industry as an example, there are a plethora of advantages for both publishers and readers to go digital. Although some publishers are still fearing to get out of their comfort zone and resist changing their perspective, this is the ideal moment to do it. They need to embrace digitalization and consider distributing their books in a digital format in order to bring out the best of these challenging times, increase their profits, and provide seamless reading experience. And the following factors contribute to the reason why:
Changed customer behavior
As the coronavirus-related lockdowns and curfew restrictions continue, people are continually changing their customer behavior and buying habits. Constantly sitting in their homes, has encouraged them to adopt different ways of entertaining themselves because they try to avoid public spaces, as the trip to a bookstore at the moment isn’t a lovely afternoon errand, but an unpleasant one. And the readers out there will always want to have something to read available at hand. As they are restricted to go outside and visit libraries and bookstores, they are making their move onto switching to eBooks.
Various recent studies and research have shown a substantial increase in the demand for eBooks, and this is due to the social isolation the coronavirus imposed on us. The eBook market is rapidly growing every day now, and eBooks are selling better than usual. Publishers should take advantage of these challenging times and reap the benefits of e-publishing.
Reduced production of printed books
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic plays a pivotal role in the production and distribution of paper books, as well. The uncertainty around the status of centers for printing and distribution of books, as well as the shortage of supplies, puts additional pressure on publishers and their everyday work. They are forced to put on hold or postpone the releases of their new books, which presents a further concern for the future of the publishing industry. Having this in mind, the digitalization of books is the optimal solution for publishers to boost their sales and profits.
Digital publishing as a better alternative
There are a plethora of advantages that e-publishing itself brings for publishers that are not only connected to these difficult times. So, left the coronavirus pandemic aside, the following are some factors one needs to take into consideration and accept digitalization as a practical solution.
Cost-effective: Digital publishing is a cost-effective alternative to traditional publishing as it is less time-consuming and it eliminates the costs that are usually associated with traditional publishing. For example, costs of transportation, printing, publishing, distribution, cover creation, and other additional costs.
Eco-friendly: EBooks can save millions of trees. Did you know that only in the USA in one year, approximately 2 billion books are produced, which equals to 32 million trees? All these trees can be saved if you decide to go digital and publish your books digitally. By saving the trees needed for the production of books, you contribute to reducing paper consumption and decreasing the levels of pollution on a large scale.
Wider audience-reach: With the ever-changing technological advances, the internet and mobile devices now are even more accessible for millions of people worldwide. This makes it very easy and simple for everyone to get instant access to the online information and content they are interested in. This is where eBooks come in hand as they are available for purchasing or downloading through numerous digital platforms. By giving a digital transformation of their books, publishers could reach a wider audience as everyone anywhere in the world can access them fast and easy.
Better reading experience: Nowadays, making user experience interactive is very important. When it comes to eBooks readers can really enjoy numerous advantages of reading digitally. Today’s digital publishing platforms provide eReaders with customizable settings in order to provide maximum reading convenience. They allow choosing between fonts and their sizes, day or night reading mode, portrait, or landscape mode.
Storage convenience: In contrast with paper books, eBooks are super-easy to store because all your readers will need is a digital space and we all have that in abundance. Storing books in an electronic format is a way to avoid pilling up books at home but also in the public, or school and university libraries. The latter requires complex systems for storing and arranging books, which is energy and time-consuming. Digital libraries, on the other hand, are versatile as they can offer different types of content (eBooks, audiobooks, and more), save space, time, and money.
Possibility for sales and readers’ behavior monitoring: The perks of going digital include having the opportunity to analyze your sales and your readers’ behavior. Rather than sitting idle and waiting for valuable information on your eBooks’ performance, you can get instant information on how many people have downloaded or purchased your book, or in what manner they have interacted with it.
Explore e-publishing with Reading.Digital
Having explained the details of the advantages that e-publishing brings, the next step is to explore the possibilities for creating your own branded digital eBook store. In this context, Reading.Digital is an innovative solution that provides the whole package for publishers: production, distribution, and consumption of eBooks.
The platform is designed as a closed model that enables each publisher to have its own branded digital store at a convenient price. It is composed of Back Office, Admin Panel, eReader, and reading applications designed for your readers to enjoy the perks of reading in digital form. By providing the following benefits, Reading.Digital can help you to keep up the pace with the ever-evolving digital publishing world:
- Unlimited Number of Users
- Real-time Monitoring
- Complex Reporting
- Fast and Easy Backup
- User Administration
- E-books Management
- Banner Managment
- User Data Import
All the above-mentioned benefits Reading.Digital provides are with the goal to enable publishers, regardless of the language their books are written in, the opportunity to create their own platform and publish and distribute copies of their eBooks to everyone, everywhere and at any time.