Amazon officially launched the traditional Chinese Kindle e-book platform on May 24. Now users have access to over 20,000 e-books in traditional Chinese through the Kindle app or Kindle-reader devices.
Of the 40,000 books published per year in Taiwan, with its population of 23 million, only 3 percent are electronic books. Amazon has previously announced its plan to move into Taiwan and enter the traditional Chinese e-book market.
Over a year ago, Amazon’s Beijing team, including its operational and technical department members, visited Taiwan to assess its market potential. They found that despite impressive publishing volumes, Taiwan’s market was too small, and exploiting its potential would present a challenge.
Photo: Screen grab from YouTube
照片：擷圖自YouTube
Although Taiwanese account for 90 percent of the sales of e-books published in Taiwan, readers of traditional Chinese books can be found all around the world. Amazon’s breaking into the traditional Chinese e-book publishing gives it access not only to Taiwan’s market, but also to consumers of traditional Chinese readers worldwide. The new platform will enable e-books to reach places paper-based books previously did not, so publications in traditional Chinese can now be distributed in large volumes throughout the globe.
With the clear potential for growth in the e-book market, many book-selling platforms have embraced e-books over the past two years. Reading this trend, publishers will be encouraged to increase publication of e-books, making the e-book market more vibrant.
Chinese-language books form an important sector for global publishing, and Amazon is one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies. Domestic e-book platform operators are optimistic about Amazon’s breaking into Taiwan’s e-book market as, with the clear upward trend in e-book sales, increasing numbers of Taiwanese books can be sold to the global Chinese-reading market through Amazon’s platform.
Photo: Screen grab from Amazon’s Online Shop
照片：擷圖自亞馬遜購物網
In addition to e-book content, many major e-book platforms have also developed their own reading devices, such as the Amazon Kindle and Rakuten Kobo from overseas companies. Taiwanese e-book company Readmoo has also developed its own reader MooInk, which is optimized for reading in Chinese.
(Translated by Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
亞馬遜五月二十四日正式推出繁體中文Kindle電子書市，使用者可透過應用程式或Kindle閱讀器，購買已上架的兩萬多本繁體中文書籍。
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報記者古德謙攝
台灣兩千三百萬人口每年出版量可達四萬本，但電子書市占率只有約百分之三。亞馬遜之前就宣布要進軍台灣，競逐繁體中文電子書市場。
亞馬遜一年多前從美國帶著北京團隊，營運、技術部門一行人來台考察，但即使台灣出版產量驚人，由於市場太小，要賣給誰、怎麼賣，一直是個大問題。
台灣電子書有百分之九十的購買者都在台灣，但閱讀繁體中文書的人散落世界各地。亞馬遜繁體中文書上架，不只是看上台灣市場，而是看上全球閱讀繁中書籍的市場。以前實體書無法到達之處，透過電子書平台皆可觸及，未來繁體中文書可大量輸出到其他國家。
未來電子書的成長趨勢明顯，這兩年很多購書平台走向電子書。隨著閱讀型態改變，出版商出電子書的意願也將提高，電子書市場變成一個熱絡的市場。
華文是全球出版重要的一環，亞馬遜是全球最重要的電商之一，對於亞馬遜電子書進軍台灣，國內電子書平台業者皆樂觀以待，認為電子書成長趨勢明顯，透過亞馬遜的平台，台灣書可以賣到全球中文閱讀市場。
除了電子書內容，許多主要電子書平台也開發出各自的閱讀器，例如飄洋過海來台的亞馬遜Kindle和樂天Kobo，以及台灣本土的讀墨Readmoo專為繁體中文閱讀而生的mooInk電子書閱讀器。
（中央社）
A: While year-end blockbusters hit cinemas, South Korea’s two-day 2025 Asia Artist Awards, known as “AAA,” is scheduled for this weekend in Kaohsiung. B: Saturday’s AAA award show will be co-hosted by IVE’s Jang Won-young and 2PM’s Lee Jun-ho. A: Apart from Park Bo-gum and IU from the K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines, the lineup includes Lee Jun-hyuk, Kim You-jung, Yoon-a and Japan’s Satoh Takeru. B: And the performers include IVE, Le Sserafim, Monsta X, Stray Kids and Singapore’s JJ Lin. A: Sunday’s ACON music show will be co-hosted by I-dle’s Taiwanese member Susan Yeh and Cravity’s Taiwanese-American
Whether they are a Siamese, Persian, Maine Coon, or Domestic Shorthair, there are hundreds of millions of cats living with people around the world. But despite their popularity as pets, the history of cat domestication has remained difficult for scientists to decipher. A new genome study is providing some insight into the matter by determining the timing of a key milestone in feline domestication - the introduction of domestic cats into Europe from North Africa. Domestic cats pounced into Europe roughly 2,000 years ago in early imperial Roman times, the researchers found, probably thanks to maritime trade. Some of these furry trailblazers
You’re half-asleep with your head resting on the desk during your lunch break. All of a sudden, your leg kicks violently, your head snaps up, and you’re wide awake in a split second. This __1__ sensation is called a “hypnic jerk,” a common phenomenon that strikes just as your body starts to relax, but your brain mistakenly hits the panic button. A hypnic jerk is an involuntary muscle spasm that usually occurs during the __2__ from wakefulness to sleep, especially during the early stages of sleep. As the body begins to relax, muscles loosen and breathing slows down. One
A: I went to see Wicked: For Good on Thanksgiving Day last Thursday. It was so interesting. B: I went to see Zootopia 2. It was also pretty good. My friends say I look like one of the movie’s characters: Officer Benjamin Clawhauser. A: Now that you mention it, you do look like the cheetah. What other blockbusters are coming out soon? B: Avatar: Fire and Ash, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere are the most anticipated movies. A: Plus, Hero! Hito! — a documentary film about Taiwan winning the 2024 “WBSC Premier
RSS