Penguin forays into eBooks

In its 25th year, Penguin Books India has launched its first tranche of eBooks, with over 240 titles including select bestsellers, to give a fillip to the digital book market. Indian readers can purchase the eBooks at international prices from all major international ebook retailers such as Amazon, Apple, Kobo and Google, Gardners, Sony, OLF, Apabi, Go Spoken/Mobcast, OverDrive, Txtr, Ebooks.com, IGroup and Baker and Taylor, according to a statement by the publisher.

eBooks from various brands now available through Penguin India

The first list of over 240 titles consists of all the books published in 2012 and select best sellers from the backlist of the publisher. "Over the course of the following months we will continue to publish the remaining backlist while publishing our front list simultaneously in both print and ebook editions. By the end of this year Penguin India will have the largest digital catalog of Indian ebooks to be available on sale," a spokesperson of the publishing firm said.

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At present India's publishing industry is growing at a compounded rate of 30 per cent annually and it is expected to grow at the same pace over the next three years according to industry body FICCI.

E-books are said to make up 9 per cent of total global book market today according to industry sources. Penguin India ebooks will be priced to respective geographies and the full list of ebooks will go on sale in the country at local prices when the ebook industry develops further here, says the publisher.

Penguin India, Asia's largest English language publisher has a cross-platform mobile app, available on Apple, Android, Blackberry and Nokia, a redesigned, revamped and upgraded website to a state-of-the-art, navigation-friendly, comprehensive brand portal.