Just a month ago we carried a story about e-reading not being popular in India. However, it looks as though that may not be the whole story. According to a report from Indian newspaper The Hindu, e-readers are causing a change in reading habits, especially of the young, in India.
The article is a little hard to read, but there are some interesting tidbits. The e-book market in India is giving rise to whole new categories of literature, such as the teen-oriented “metro reads”.
Self-help books and those dwelling on emerging market trends have takers aplenty. Serious non-fiction books, like those on international polity, defence strategies or social anthropology, are doing just about average. Interestingly, the resurgent book market falls back heavily on the glitz and style of new-age children’s books, which go off stands like hotcakes.
Market observers hint at a declining interest in Harry Potter, as it has been amply substituted by the Percy Jackson series and the Wimpy Kid series.
And even people who prefer traditional books are doing more buying on the Internet.
Another interesting thing is that much of the increase in e-reading is being driven by tablet sales rather than dedicated e-readers.
“With the price of tablets hovering around Rs 7,000 [US $131], they have come to dominate the digital market. The State sells about 1,000 tablets every month and the figures are set to skyrocket in the next few months,” says a digital shop owner.
That’s rather cheaper than most decent tablets are over here. I wonder which tablets they are talking about? Even without the $50 tablet initiative, India seems to be doing a bit better in that regard than the US.
