Amazon is also negotiating with a major publisher to sell e-books in Japan within the year

America'sAmazon.comThe Nikkei newspaper in one aspect reported the news that the company will enter the e-book business in Japan even within the year.

Amazon, e-book in Japan by the end of the year: Nihon Keizai Shimbun

Amazon is negotiating with major publishing companies such as Kodansha, Shogakkan, Shueisha and Shinchosha, and he is aiming for a contract with several companies within one to two months. Among them, negotiations with Shogakkan, Shueisha etc. are entering the stage of stuffing in details such as price setting. In addition, the medium-sized publication PHP laboratory has already agreed and it is moving with a policy to provide about 1000 e-books.

The buyer accesses Amazon's electronic bookstore on the Internet, downloads the desired book to a smartphone, tablet terminal, e-book terminal, and pays the price with a credit card etc. In other words, nowAmazon.co.jpSo on the extension line to buy games and DVDs, you will be able to purchase e-books easily. Amazon is also considering considering introducing a new model of the e-book terminal "Kindle" to Japan for entry into Japan.

Left is the latest 4th generation Kindle, right is Kindle Keyboard (WiFi model)


On the e-book market in the United States, Amazon deals with a price of 90% discount, and in collaboration with writers, topics are pre-sold in electronic version, and price determination rights and other real rights are held. Publishing related companies in Japan do not agree with such a way of Amazon side, and Sony's e-book reader "Reader"E-book store corresponding to"Booklista"Or"Electronic bibliography publication"Although countermeasures such as" countermeasures "were launched, the result has not been raised. Because we did not unify the standards by misleading the service, the number of e-books that can be used was scattered and reduced, as a result, the convenience of the reader was not taken into consideration at all. For that reason, despite the fact that the domestic market of books and magazines is about 2 trillion yen, the market size of e-books is stagnating at around 65 billion yen in fiscal 2010.

List of major e-book distribution sites deployed in Japan


For publishers who are drawn to such hardships, Amazon is "A mechanism in which the two parties discuss in advance about the price setting at the time of the release of the electronic book and the timing of the price reductionIt seems that the negotiations have progressed at last. Each publisher is hurrying to digitize books, Shinchosha, Kodansha, Gakken Holdings has begun negotiations with writers by consolidating the policy to digitize all new publications. In addition, Shogakkan and Kadokawa Group Holdings are also aiming for electronic conversion of all new publications, and it is said that e-books will enter the full-fledged period in Japan as well.

By introducing Amazon e-books into Japan, it seems likely that the composition of the publishing industry will suddenly change and the spread of e-books will progress at a stretch. When you read the following article, you can see that Kindle is excellent as a terminal, has good quality different from paper books, and it is an awesome thing to make a big blow to the publishing industry around the world .

Coming thorough commentary on Amazon's Kindle strategy in the coming future of Japanese e-books - GIGAZINE