The e-book and the Spanish publishing industry

Abstract

This study reflects on the concept of the e-book. It reviews the available literature and uses a comparative approach to develop forecasts about publishing in Spain. We take our figures from industry reports for the years 2008 and 2009 which contain information on the publishing market, reading habits, and e-book availability in Spain. We present detailed descriptions of the typical readers of printed books and e-books, studied the current standing of the Spanish publishing industry with respect to the electronic book, and conclude that in the short term, the e-book will have considerable growth but that it will not replace the printed book.