Electronic Publishing Trends in Singapore

The electronic publishing (EP) trends of publishing houses in Singapore are studied to identify challenges, opportunities, problems faced by the publishing industry, and assess the acceptance of e-publications by Singaporeans. This was carried out by two separate surveys through questionnaires. The first survey with publishers aimed to seek their views on EP in Singapore while the second with readers was used to assess their views on using e-documents/e-publications as compared to printed documents. The publishers’ survey showed that about 74% of publishers in Singapore were or will be engaged in EP by 2004. Although publishers face problems and difficulties ranging from high costs, personnel issues, technology problems, pricing, sales and marketing issues, the general view was that EP and e-publications is the way to move forward in this digital era. The reader survey showed that Singaporeans were generally willing to use and read e-publications though they continue to prefer and use p-publications. The majority of readers (61%) were found to be willing to pay for e-content and e-publications. Of this, 26% of them would pay the same amount or slightly less than the price as p-publications, while 15% of them would only pay half or quarter the price of p-publications.