Media Do Holdings, the Japan-based E-book publisher, is planning to invest $2.8 million towards distributed ledger technology (DLT) for the distribution of its e-books, as many schools and bookstores still closed in Japan.
On May 17, it has been reported by the Nikkei newspaper that the investment by Media Do Holdings is planning to develop for the company’s e-books for the next two years starting in late 2020.
However, the company said that being able to have a reliable transaction history through such a ledger for e-books makes it possible to sell used copies and to return royalties to both publishers and writers.
The company also plans to first introduce the distributed ledger technology to My Anime List, an anime and manga social networking website, and one of its holdings.
Japanese-based e-book distributor Media Do Holdings hopes to satisfy the growing demand for e-books using distributed ledger technology https://t.co/KCkEZlDrF0 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 18, 2020
Kyoji Fujita, the President of Media Do Holdings, said:
“The strength of e-books lies in the convenience of being able to purchase and use them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The situation caused by the coronavirus will allow us to recognize the value of e-books and increase their use.”
Currently, the Japanese e-book distributor works with over 2,000 publishers and 150 online bookstores.
Even prior to stay-at-home and remote working recommendations, the company reported $600 million in e-book sales for the fiscal year ending February 2020.
Thus, Media Do Holdings reported a 20% year-on-year increase in e-book sales in April, which due to the bookstore and school closures caused by the recent nationwide state of emergency in Japan due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: PCWorld