You might recall that a couple weeks ago I reported on the first literary ebook in Japanese. I came across slaes data. Nikkei.com is reporting:
The electronic version of the latest mystery novel by Natsuhiko Kyogoku has sold 10,000 copies in five days since its release on May 28, publisher Kodansha Ltd. said Thursday.
That is impressive. The question that comes to my mind is: Was this a sign of real demand, or did most people buy this because it was a novelty? We’ve seen the novelty effect with GQ; each month they’ve sold fewer iPhone editions than the month before. This might be the same.
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You are right. There is a euphoria among the publishers, media, and the consumers inspired by the iPad. But they are recently a little shocked because Apple banned Kodansha’s skin book for iPhone. Of Japan’s a half billion eBook market, 80% is comics and pornography.
There really are not many Japanese ebooks available. Most of what is out there seems to be either manga or romance and short light fiction. There seems to be almost no longer format, more serious fiction yet. My wife reads in Japanese and I’ve been trying to find something for her but so far nothing tempts her. Maybe when Sony and pals get their distribution co set up…