2020 was an unprecedented year for all. Ways of working and living changed for most of us.  It  was an year of “DIGITAL”. Every business has taken a step towards being digital. The ones which were already digital saw an extra ordinary growth. eBooks was another area which grew during this phase due to prolonged unavailability of physical books for a long duration due to Covid Pandemic. eBook conversion took an upward swing during this period as there was a high demand for eBooks.

Some major trends that are going to continue in 2021 as well are:-

• Online Education: With the shutdown of school for almost an year now, over 1.2 billion students globally utilized the e-learning as a new means of education. Interactive eBooks and digital medium has proven to be equally effective and this form of education may continue for some more time as well or the standard schooling may be supplemented by online classes as well. Many educational publishers will seek eBook conversion services from vendors to meet this new demand.

• Online Reading: Lockdown changed the way how the books were being read. During global lockdown, bookstores, printing press, warehouses etc were shut down. Book readers who were earlier fond of reading only print copies jumped to eBooks. The growth in eBook sales is stable despite lockdown being released. Major publishers seek services of eBook conversion companies and set up their own eBook stores. Other publishers will have to follow this trend to stay in competition.

• Audiobooks:  With growth in eBooks, another segment which saw un paralleled growth is audiobooks. The global audiobooks market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24.4% from 2020 to 2027 to reach USD 14.99 billion by 2027. Audiobook & eBook Publishing companies provide such services wherein audiobook can be created for any language. Though you don’t read these books, but they are gaining popularity across the globe.

• Interactive enhanced eBooks: Though these have been in use for many years but now with the new “normal”, many readers became acquainted to this form while exploring newer ways of reading online. These books have animations, assessments , etc to make reading more engaging. Major eBook conversion companies provide this service and incorporate audio, video and interactive content to make reading fun for readers specially kids and students.

Since each cloud has a silver lining, here we can see that this pandemic has brought a digital revolution and has open up newer ways of reading and education among others. E-publishing companies have helped many publishers and authors in this time to go to market quicker and in a unique way with interactive eBooks, audio books and animated eBooks. These trends are here to stay for long and we should all gear up towards a balanced Print-digital reading experience