Academic digital books: The publishing industry VS Openness in book reading

Abstract

The Federation of Publishing Guilds of Spain published at the beginning of this year a report on reading habits and book sales in Spain in 2017. It shows that the number of digital book readers is only at 27.2% (vs 65.8% who read paper books). Although e-readers are the most specialised devices to read books, less than 10% of people choose them to do so, preferring to sit in front of a computer (49.6%), or to do it in a tablet (32.8%) or a mobile phone (20.2%). When it comes to obtaining digital books, only one third mentions buying them online as an option, whereas most respondents mention file-sharing websites and friends as their sources. We will examine the context of digital books, especially academic books, and will point out some restrictions imposed by the publishing market that could explain the figures mentioned above and show the need for changes in the market that would benefit both, the industry and the users.