The explosion of technology, the internet and other types of goods transportation in the Industry 4.0 era helps the book market become more and more vibrant. Along with the books sold in conventional bookstores, online books are increasingly diverse in form and content, meeting the growing needs of readers.

Books are increasingly distributed on many channels. Photo: X.S

Diverse online book market

Traditional printed books are becoming products on e-commerce platforms. There, instead of going to a bookstore, readers can search for a book with just one mouse click, one visit on a phone application (app) or a QR code. For example, Tiki, Shopee, Fahasa and Phuong Nam have all built sales websites in the form of online bookstores with a variety of introduced books. In particular, during the outbreak of COVID-19, the demand for buying books online also went up.

As a loyal reader of Kim Dong Publishing House, Ms. Le Thuy Xuan Duong from Thach Thang Ward, Hai Chau District recalls: “When the entire city of Da Nang implemented social distancing for COVID-19 prevention, the Publishing House Kim Dong built an online store and offer free book shipping services for readers in Da Nang. The beautifully packaged books were sent to readers quickly. From that point on, I started to get used to buying books online even though I still like to seek for favourite books by myself at conventional bookstores."

Also regularly looking to buy books online on Nha Nam, Tiki and Shopee systems, Ms. Doan Thi Xuan Mai from Cam Le District said that buying books on these electronic channels has the advantage of saving time at a lower price than buying at brick-and-mortar bookstores. In addition, readers also receive many incentives such as discount codes and gifts. “Buying books online only takes a few minutes to make payments, and the books are delivered to your home within a week.”, said Mai.

Another version of online books besides traditional paper books is electronic books (e-books). In this type, books are digitised into the image file format and can be stored on mobile phones, tablets and e-readers for reading. Many units such as Amazon, Kim Dong Publishing House and Comicola have allowed readers to buy and read copyrighted e-books online through their apps.

Evaluating e-books, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhan, a resident in Cam Le District acknowledged: “E-books are suitable in conditions where readers have to move a lot and are reluctant to carry a lot of books when going away from home or lack space to store books at home. Because just a thin e-reader, equivalent to the size of a paper book cover, can store hundreds or thousands of books. Many reading software are also designed to simulate book-turning gestures and a relatively realistic book page interface to create a close feeling like reading a paper book”.

According to the reviews of the above-mentioned readers, e-books purchased with copyright on online platforms have reasonable prices. Although there are currently many concerns about copyright issues when many e-books are sold illegally on forums or copied and shared freely, they all share the same opinion that reading copyrighted books is respecting the efforts exerted by the author, the editorial team, and the translator team (as for foreign books).

Parallel experiences

Although the online book market has developed with many conveniences, many readers are still loyal to buying books directly at higher prices at bookstores, buying printed books or going to book festivals to buy them at preferential prices, because there are things that technology cannot replace. That's a real experience.

According to Ms. Xuan Duong, being able to go to a bookstore and directly select books with attention to the form, cover, packaging and printing techniques also helps readers feel secure about the quality of books, although they can't always find the books they need.

“You have to touch it with your own hands and directly inhale the smell of new paper from the books to feel secure, because many times, books bought online are sent back with curled corners, broken spines, torn spines, or you can face fake, low-quality books”. Bad printing also greatly reduces the joy of reading. We can not check the true quality, and that is a limitation.”, said Ms. Duong.

Often buying books online rather than going to bookstores, Mr. Huynh Duc Y, a resident from Son Tra District, still takes the opportunity to visit book fairs held in the city every year to enjoy the traditional atmosphere of buying books.

Using memories from when he was a teenager, he skipped breakfast to save money to buy books and newspapers, he said: “At the book fair, there are autograph booths to increase the level of experience and interaction between readers and authors, and there are many great promotions”. Especially, the feeling of holding a traditional book in your hands is still intact, even though e-books have been around for a long time and are increasingly influential."

Nguyen Thi Nhan said: “E-books are quite convenient, increasingly optimised, but cannot bring the feeling that a traditional book brings about. It's the smell of ink, the feeling of flipping through each page of a book, placing bookmarks after each reading or carefully placing books on shelves. Not to mention, reading e-books for a long time also causes eye strain”.

The final-year student at the University of Education, a member school of the Da Nang University, still regularly buys books at bookstores in the city and hangs out at the used bookstore in front of the school gate, a place where students can easily search a document, textbook related to the subject or simply a story that's been haunted by time.

Buying traditional books or buying them online has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on each person's conditions, preferences and outlooks. There were pages of books that had turned yellow but the stories in the books lived forever. We realize that, no matter what form, books still a place containing the colours of life, the flows of time and human life.

Reporting by XUAN SON - Translating by A.THU