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Will e-readers be able to renew interest in papers?

For a festival devoted to the joys of the printed word, a sponsorship deal with a consumer electronic giant seems unlikely. But as the literary great and good descend on the English town of Hay for its literary festival, they will do so under the banner of the Sony Reader — the ebook reader which, alongside Amazon’s Kindle, is touted as the answer to book publishing in a digital age.

Publishing executives are watching developments carefully as sales of ebooks grow.

“I don’t think we are approaching a tipping point quite yet,” says Gail Rebuck, the chairman and chief executive of Random House. “If you look at ebook sales, they’re less than 1 percent of turnover.”

There is, however, long-term potential.

“Can I conceive of a world where digital reading takes up 20 percent or 25 percent of people’s available reading time? Yes I can. Could it be as much as 50 percent? I don’t know,” she says.

It is for this reason that newspaper and magazine bosses are also keeping an eye on proceedings. As advertising disappears and newspapers agonize over charging for content that would have previously been free, portable reading devices offer a glimmer of hope for the embattled industry.

Already newspapers are striking deals with Amazon to offer US readers subscriptions with the Kindle (the reader is only currently available in the US).

Rupert Murdoch may have said earlier this month that he doesn’t believe in the model — “but I do think it is interesting people are going to that to view content” — but the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the Times are both available on the Kindle. So, too, are the Financial Times (FT) and the Independent.

“Personally, I believe newspapers have a strong future — and that future is as part of a broader family of formats,” says John Ridding, chief executive of the FT.

Other UK newspaper groups are also believed to have had discussions about getting their product on to it when the Kindle launches in the UK.

The potential size of the newspaper — or even book — e-reader market, however, is difficult to gauge. Amazon will not disclose how many of its Kindle readers it has sold since the device was launched in October 2007, or how many readers are subscribing to newspapers through it. However, the WSJ already has more than 15,000 subscribers, and is bullish about its prospects.

“[The] preferred format for reading the news will likely move more and more to digital. We think the act of reading, sitting down to catch up on the day’s news, will continue to be an everyday activity for people,” says Cinthia Portugal, a spokeswoman for Amazon.com.

While sales of the Sony Reader are “really starting to take off”, according to Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business, the device, which is not wireless like the Kindle, does not offer newspapers and magazines. News that Apple is reportedly looking to launch a tablet computer that could compete with the Kindle, however, adds to hopes that the e-reader will become publishing’s iPod.
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