The first ebook subscription platform has just launched in the Czech Republic from Grada Publishing. It features 4,000 digital titles to start and thousands more will be added over the coming months. The monthly fee is around $9.99 US and the intention is to kickstart the ebook market, where they only account for 2% of all book sales. There are only 15,000 ebooks available in the Czech Republic from publishers and indie authors. It is a very small market, but it grew 12% in 2016.
Bookport currently has a wide selection of titles from Jota, Galén, Epoch, Vyšehrad, Portal, and others. Users access the content via smartphone apps for Android and iOS. The platform uses both PDF and ePUB formats, once the app is installed. What about e-readers? The founder of Bookport said “our surveys show that most ebooks are actually read on computers, tablets and cellphones, making e-readers the least-used devices for reading. Nevertheless, we’re currently looking for a way to be more device-friendly.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
