Economic Models in a Growing Market: The Electronic Book [CP-2010-2]

Whilst the market for electronic books (or e-books) is still stuttering into life in France and represents less than 1% of publishers’ turnover, the commercial strategies being implemented by both traditional and new players in the book publishing industry are laying the foundations for various possible publishing industry configurations. Dematerialisation is leading to changes which are likely to affect whole industry, e.g. the emergence and the disappearance of various industry players, the loss, creation and transfer of value and industry restructuring. The market faces issues such as technical constraints, i.e. interoperability between file formats and reader hardware. It is also subject to legislative support or change governing the publishing trade in France, covering such matters as intellectual property rights, taxation, price-fixing methods, etc. This snapshot aims to summarise the possible futures of the e-book economy.