Format Choice for Popular Fiction Books in Japan

摘要

In Japan, comic plays a leading role in electronic publishing, whereas e-book sales generated from novels are small. This study investigates format choice, such as pocket-sized paperbacks and e-books for popular novels on bestseller lists in 2010. The results show that almost half of novels are not released as e-books and Japanese authors who already have strong sales performances are not positive about releasing e-books, whereas all foreign novels are released as e-books. One reason that electronic publishing other than comics has not developed in Japan may be that many novels written by popular authors are not provided as e-books.