Tag Archives: France

Ebooks and ereaders have found their audience in France

2017-12-06

Large English-language markets, such as the US and the UK are leading the transition to ebooks, but large European countries, like France, Germany, Italy and Spain are beginning to turn to digital reading as well. A survey conducted in France indicates that ebooks are already well established (21% of French have read an abook), especially, among avid readers who like to use ereader devices.

Global internet giants who are marketing ebooks, like Amazon and Google have taken a strong position in the French market. These companies and for instance, Kobo provide ereading devices and reading applications for all popular computing platforms. According to the survey, book lovers in France tend to buy ebooks both from the reading application of their choice and directly from a major bookstore.

Here are highlights from the 2017 ebook survey results in France:

– 21% of the French population aged 15 and over have already read a digital book.
– Vast majority use dedicated ereader devices for reading ebooks (82%). Tablet is used for reading by 18%, smartphone by 10%, PC by 7% and a tablet/laptop hybrid by 6%. If we combine tablet and hybrid device numbers, tablet is used by 24%.
– Ebooks haven’t much changed reading habits or spending in books: 64% buy as much as before, 16% purchase more, 20% buy less.
– 73% have downloaded free ebooks.
– Three channels dominate the distribution of ebooks: the bookstore connected to the reading application (29% of ebook readers buy from the app default store), large global bookstores (27%) and French bookstores (24%).
– 63% of readers like to pay for an ebook when they need it. Only 7% is interested in paying for a subscription, and 20% in loaning digital books.
– The most read ebook genres: novels 61%, essays 28%, guides 23%, technical 21%, science 21%.
– Many people who read ebooks are avid readers: 21% of them read also more than 20 printed books per year.

The survey was conducted in France by OpinionWay in February 2017. First, 2006 people (aged 15 and over) were interviewed via telephone, and after that, 506 ebook users responded to an online survey.

Via Actualitte.

The survey results document in French below:

Barometre Usage Livre Numerique 2017 SNE SOFIA SGDL by ActuaLitté on Scribd

A fridge library at a tiny village at the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains

2017-08-08

I have seen many kinds of street-side libraries where book lovers let passersby and neighbors take a book from the selection. If these readers have books they can donate, they may return a title into the selection. A Bookcrossing box in a city park, a stylish birdhouse filled with books on a wall of an artshop, or a bookshelf at the gate of a fruit farm are a few examples of street-side libraries.

But this one in Luzenac-Pouech, France was quite innovative. The tiny village of Luzenac is located at the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. The lush environment indicates it rains pretty regularly in the region. A river flowing five meters from the library was filled with water in the middle of summer.

If you want to establish an outdoor library in an environment where it rains, cows eat grass next to the books, horses may check out the place from time to time, and fishermen walk up and down the riverside, books have to be protected from water and other risks.

What is better protection for books than an old fridge? Well, old desk is another place to have books, but the desk won’t last long outdoors. This one has metal drawers, but still. I have to visit this library in a year or two to see how it is doing.

Luzenac village as seen from Pouech.

Ebook news digest: recommended books for vacation, nomads’ favourite continent, Tour de France

2017-07-05

News on ebooks, writing and reading

Bill Gates Discusses His Lifelong Love for Books and Reading
Time

Bill Gates is the man who started the personal computing and software revolution in the late 1970s – early 1980s when his company Microsoft managed to make a deal with IBM. He became the world’s richest man, even though someone else may have passed him by now. When he was still the leader of Microsoft, he used to list the books he is going to read on his short summer break. The books, of course, became instant bestsellers. Time magazine has recently interviewed Bill Gates, and yes – he has more book recommendations.

Best e-readers
PCWorld

PCWorld is a computer magazine that has reviewed Kindle and Kobo ereaders. Good advice and terminology for the uninitiated included as well.

Publishers and Publishing: Why We Still Need Them
Writing and Pubishing My Book

While self-publishing, triggered by the rise of ebooks, is living its golden age, publishers still have the same old job as they have had for hundred of years. Here is a reminder on what they actually do.

Save Space in Your Suitcase and Leave These Things at Home For Your Next Trip
Popsugar

The first item on the list to leave home is a laptop. If you are flying, a good tablet perhaps with a small foldable keyboard (if you have to work a little) goes a long way. Instead of packing a paperbook, we recommend downloading thousand ebooks on the tablet for choice.

Ask a Digital Nomad: What Are Your Favorite Places?
The Ramble

Location independent writer Gigi asked a few fellow digital nomads what are their favorite places to stay, have fun, eat, to name a few questions. Interestingly, Europe got the most mentions for traveling professionals’ favorite continent with Asia as a solid second.

Tour de France is live and so is Riviera on the Mediterranean coast
Klaava Travel Guide

Tour de France is the biggest sports event in the world if measured by the number of spectators watching the live event where it happens. Here is a guidebook to southern France where the professional road cyclists pedal as well.

LG’s latest tablet is lighter than a can of soda
Android Authority

If you read ebooks on a tablet or on an ereader for long periods, and you are holding the device in your hand, you may notice the weight. Just like a paperbook, electronhic reading devices weigh a little, but less is always good. LG has announced an 8-inch high-end tablet (LG G Pad IV 8.0 FHD) that is really light.

6 books Wall Street is reading this summer
CNBC

If you are a professional, here are books that many cubicle heroes will be talking about in the autumn. The books are not only business stories, but also astrophysics. Yes, astrophysics. You know, black holes and stuff.

The modern libraries of Thionville, France and Seinäjoki, Finland have something in common

2017-02-15

Public libraries all over the world have a new problem to solve: how to provide the best possible services to citizens when the core service of a library – printed book – is transforming to digital format. Ebooks can be checked out from a library at home sofa, at beach chair or at hospital bed. We firmly believe libraries as public spaces are needed in the future as well, but how they will look like and what they might actually do is another thing.

One of the first real life experiments with next generation library is being conducted in Texas, USA. Bexar County has opened an all digital library called Bibliotech. There are no physical books for people to loan, but computers, tablets and ereaders where library card holders can loan and read ebooks (or hang out on the Internet). Library staff is always there to help with books and with technology.

The town of Thionville in northern France didn’t go all digital when it opened a new library in 2016. It is a beautiful modern building with plenty of space for activities, like sipping coffee, having a picnic on the roof, or playing instruments in soundproof rooms. The architects explained to Fast Company that the objective was to build spaces for the community. Printed books are available in the library, as well as ebooks and other forms of digital media.

Thionville doesn’t even call its new building a library, but Mediatheque.

Before we continue to Seinäjoki, Finland, take a look at a video introduction to the Mediatheque of Thionville, France. Mediatheque was opened in 2016. It was designed by the Strasbourg-based firm Dominique Coulon and Associates.

Let’s jump from Central Europe to Northern Europe in order to find out what kind of libraries are being built in Scandinavia. One of the most liked and celebrated new libraries in Finland was built in Seinäjoki, in the central region of the country. The Apila (Shamrock) Library, designed by Helsinki-based architects JKMM, opened in 2012.

The primary service in Seinäjoki library is still printed books, but community spaces, activities and digital media have their own nooks, rooms and corners as well. The shadow of Finland’s master architect Alvar Aalto was a factor in the design process because buildings designed by Aalto are located around the new library.

Now, take a look at the following photo gallery of the Seinäjoki Apila Library and compare the pictures with the video images of the Thionville library. There are a number of details and large design solutions that resemble one another in these two libraries, even though the architects are different. Perhaps it is a sign that libraries are finding one common way to serve citizens in the digital future.

Travel photo gallery 2016: Lapland, France, Belgium

2017-01-24

In 2016, my long project of photographing and writing a travel guidebook about Lapland was completed and the book will be published in early 2017. Since it was a long project, photos from Lapland has been included in earlier galleries as well.

Lapland covers the northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland, which makes it a large area to travel (geographically also Russian’s northwest region is Lapland, but it is not featured in the book). It has been called as the Europe’s last large wilderness and that is exactly what it is. Outdoors lovers’ and road travelers’ perfect destination.

View sceneries from north, south and central Europe: