From Today’s Zaman:
As the electronic book market continues to thrive around the world, particularly in the United States, e-books are slowly gaining popularity in Turkey.
The first electronic book was launched in Turkey in April 2010 by idefix.com, now one of the most popular online bookstores in the country. The website offered 25 e-books for free to booklovers, in cooperation with the Can Publishing House. There are now 2,964 e-books for sale on idefix.com, a modest figure compared to the number available on Amazon.com, one of the biggest online booksellers in the US. Amazon now boasts almost 2 million e-books available for download, announcing that sales of e-books surpassed printed books in January 2011.Although there are people in Turkey who have never heard of e-books or e-readers, there is a large group of people who are keen on reading and welcome new developments in the sector, such as the advent of e-books.
Following the introduction of e-books to Turkey by idefix.com, many publishing houses have decided to support the e-book market in Turkey. Some publishers convert paperback books to e-books by scanning them, while others release e-books in conjunction with the printed edition. The Turkish Publishers Association has established a digital publishing commission in order to spread news about recent developments in the e-book market to its members.
