It’s a similar story around the world where ebooks and digital audiobooks are readily available. Whether because of compulsory lockdown or just an understandable wariness of venturing out more than necessary in a period of global plague, consumers are turning to digital books.
And in Iran, one of the hardest hit countries, Fidibo is reporting a 4-fold increase in ebook and audiobook downloads from its platform since the virus took hold.
With bookstores closed, online and streaming services are working overtime to meet demand, and Fidibo Managing Director Neda Baradaran told the Tehran Times that Fidbo was seeing a lot of first-time users.
We can safey assume that Fidibo’s main rival in the Iranian digital books sector, Taaghche, is experiencing a similar boom in interest, leaving the big question – how many of these digital first-timers will stay digital once the bookstores re-open?
That’s a question that will be being asked around the world as affected countries ponder the new publishing normal that will emerge once this pandemic fades away.
