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Interview with the publisher Guy Boulianne who share his thoughts concerning eBooks and eReaders

Here is an interview taken by the author and literary agent, Thierry Rollet with the publisher Guy Boulianne, of Editions Dedicaces. This interview is published in the ‘Scribe Masqué’, distributed to the company’s subscribers of Scribo-Masque d'Or, in France. Guy Boulianne shared with us his thoughts concerning the digital book and the market for for tablets and eReaders.

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Thierry Rollet: Hello, Guy BOULIANNE. Can you tell us which is in your opinion the main interest of the e-book and the reading tablets ?

Guy Boulianne: The main advantage of the digital book is its affordable price. In general, the digital book is always less than its paperback version. On the contrary, it’s true certain publishers sell their digital books at the same price as their paperbacks, sometimes even more expensive! At Editions Dedicaces, we have always thought that is an absurdity, taking into account the very low cost of production and distribution of these dematerialized publications. On our part, we sell our digital books at half the price of their paperback version, while giving a proportionate share to the authors.

The other advantage of the digital book is its lightness and mobility. Myself, I consider the paperback as being a heavy object. I prefer to read in bed with an e-book reader than a book of 450 pages! The tablet (or the e-book reader) allows you to put in its library many books, which is very convenient when traveling. This is a definite advantage.

TR: Do you see, however drawbacks of the e-book itself ? For example, certain people complain that the publishing software doesn’t include illustrations or doesn’t provide a good presentation of the text… What do you think?

GB: Most e-book readers allow the reading of color images, or at least in black and white. So I see no problem at this level. Regarding the layout of the book, you have to pick the right software to accomplish this task. For a publisher or an author, it’s possible to create well accepted digital books using the free software Calibre. There are also publishing services offered by professionals. Obviously, this all depends on the budget you want to allocate to one’s publications.

Everything is going pretty well for Editions Dedicaces, as our digital books are accepted by most major platforms such as Kindle (Amazon), iBookstore (Apple), Kobo (Rakuten) and Nook (Barnes & Noble).

TR: Some people think the digital book will « replace » the paperback. What do you think ?

GB: Personally, I never thought the digital book will one day replace the paperback. Several people fear its disappearance, with the arrival of the digital books, but from what I know, this is still not the case! People are too attached to the book-object for it to disappear overnight.  Myself, I still buy paper books. I love the paper book, even though I often prefer to read with my digital device, due to its lightness. The digital book is the complement of the paper book. Neither one nor the other will disappear.

TR: As general director of the Editions Dedicaces, you created an e-book reader on which you have published several of your authors. For what purpose did you do it?

GB: We have been looking for a long time for a new way to promote our author’s books. After having thought of several projects, the idea came to us to launch our own e-book reader. We never thought to compete with the big players like Apple, Samsung, Amazon, PocketBook, Bookeen or other companies. The only thing we wanted was to make an original product to help us promote our authors. Therefore, we have been, and are still the only publisher with its own digital book reader.

We began with an e-book reader model, monochrome no-touch screen. Thereafter we marketed our current tablet with a color touch screen. People seem to enjoy it because some customers have returned to buy a second or a third device. To date, we have sold a hundred units. It’s not much, but at least we made it and we’re very proud. Several newspapers, television channels and radio stations spoke of our e-book reader. It was even featured on TV5 Monde, which made us known internationally.

TR: You live in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and you have a branch in the United States. Do you think the digital book sells better in American than in France ? Why ?

GB: Indeed, we have created in the United States - not a branch - but an independent company with the same name: Editions Dedicaces LLC (www.dedicaces.us). We have already published several books in English, written by authors of different countries, like the United States, England, Ireland, Serbia, Sweden and Australia. To date, we see no difference regarding the sale of digital books. I believe that everything is equal.

That said, the digital book is very important because it multiplies the sources of revenue. Often, more digital books are sold than paperbacks. So it is a market not to be neglected!

TR: Do you have other personal remarks to make, as a reader, author and / or publisher of eBooks and eReaders Tablets?

GB: LesNumeriques.com wrote that sales of e-readers doubled in France now with an estimated installed base of 500 000 pieces (in 2013); that's what the GfK study revealed, announcing 2 million downloads, an increase in revenue of 80%, representing 0.6% of the total book market. This share of digital books could reach 3% in 2015. If the offer is still insufficient, it will also grow: Le Monde recalled that "More than 90% of the 646 titles in the literary season 2012 were available in digital version at the same time in hard copy, and concomitantly". So the digital book is here to stay... just like the paper book!

Thank you very much, Guy BOULIANNE, for participating in this interview.

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