News Kobo tops the table for Canadian consumers E-READERS
KOBO TOPS KINDLE IN CANADA M J Deschamps
Te majority of Canadians still prefer print, and more than a quarter of book purchases were made online in 2012, are two of the top line results in BookNet Canada’s survey, Te Canadian Book Consumer, released today (10th October). Te survey also revealed Canadian consumers are more loyal to the home-grown Kobo e-reader. The report—part of BookNet’s
ongoing research with a panel of thousands of consumers, covering January to June 2012—shows that in terms of devices consumers are purchasing, Canadian-developed (though now Japanese owned) e-reader Kobo was found to be the most popular, with 27% of respondents surveyed saying they planned to use a Kobo
LITERARY AGENTS WILBUR SMITH MOVES TO TIBOR JONES
Literary agency Tibor Jones & Associates has acquired Te Charles Pick Consultancy, the agency solely dedicated to bestselling thriller author Wilbur Smith. Tibor Jones co-founder and
managing director Kevin Conroy Scott struck the deal with Martin Pick, Smith’s agent, and a chairman at Tibor Jones. Pick has now retired from both positions, though he will continue to work with Scott on the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize. Scott has been consulting on
Smith’s marketing and brand development for the past three years and said he wanted to increase the market for the author’s work. “Wilbur’s always been a household name in the UK and Commonwealth,” he said. “We want that to be true across the world for generations.” Smith’s next novel, his 34th, will
be the sequel to Tose in Peril in the Hector Cross series, and is scheduled for publication in the UK by Pan Macmillan in spring 2013. Meanwhile, Tibor Jones co- founder and director Landa
device to read their next e-book. Kobo’s popularity was followed by Kindle (19.1%) and the iPad (14.34%). Te study did find that the majority
of sales—86%—are still in print format. Tat figure, however, is expected to shrink significantly, according to BookNet c.e.o. Noah Genner. “Tere is definitely going to be growth in the digital channel… [currently] a lot of content is only available in print—and not digital—but that gap is slowly eroding,” Genner said. “We are seeing more and more content available all the time,” he said. Te study also revealed that 19% of
respondents purchased electronic formats exclusively and 7% buy both. However, Genner said that while the
BookNet has been keeping an eye on the latest trends in Canada
digital rate of growth had levelled off slightly in Canada lately, the market is predicted to grow, from a combination of device-driven and content-driven
sales. “I imagine we’ll be at US levels in a year or two,” he said. Te Canadian market is currently
trailing behind the US in digital adoption among book buyers, said Genner. While Canada is seeing 14% of the trade market moving to digital format, the US is seeing between 20%–25%. Te study also noted that although
the penetration of online shopping continues to grow across consumer industries, with almost 28% of all Canadian book sales made online (including mobile) between January and June 2012, in-store purchases were still more prevalent, with non-book retailers accounting for 36% of sales, and traditional bookstores, 36%. At least for the foreseeable future, according to Genner, a large portion of people are still expected to buy books in bricks and mortar shops.
From left, Tibor Jones’ Kevin Conroy Scott, Landa Acevedo-Scott, Sophie Lambert and Martin Pick
Acevedo-Scott has returned from maternity leave to lead the business development division, Tibor Jones Projects, with rights consultant James Pusey moving from Aitken
4 THE BOOKSELLER DAILY AT FRANKFURT | 10 OCTOBER 2012
Alexander to take over translation rights across the Tibor Jones list. Director Sophie Lambert has now moved into an expanded role of literary agent across all authors on
the Tibor Jones list, and assistant to the directors Sophie Hignett is now managing the prizes for Tibor Jones and is in charge of talent spotting.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32