Digital Ehon Award Interview Series, Vol. 9

“What Do Digital Ehon Mean for Publishers?”

　Nippan Co., Ltd. (Nippan), a specialized book distributor that connects publishers and bookstores, has been actively pursuing digitization from an early stage within the publishing industry. We spoke with Yuko Shodojiri, who is in charge of this initiative.

　Ms. Shodojiri explains that they create picture book apps with a conscious effort to “carry forward the concept of paper.” They began developing picture book apps in the summer of 2010, launching the brand “tocco.”“tocco” means “to touch” or “an artist’s touch” in Italian. The name was chosen to embody their desire to create new picture books that allow users to “experience the world of picture books” through digital means, while preserving the warmth of paper picture books. They are producing works that help users discover the unique appeal of digital media and serve as a catalyst for rediscovering the charm of paper picture books.Additionally, the company is working with publishers to advance digitization and aims to develop collaborative models with bookstores.
Currently, the number of children’s books published in print annually is just under 5,000. As of 2012, there were already more than 1,000 picture book apps available. Since then, their numbers have continued to surge rapidly, and they are on track to nearly match the number of children’s books published.

　Nippan’s approach to developing picture book apps is fundamentally based on digitizing existing print picture books. Compared to developing original picture book apps, the advantage of digitizing existing titles is that, because they are already well-known, parents can purchase them with confidence.“Currently, the digital-native picture book apps on the market are a mixed bag, and as a result, the overall reputation of picture book apps could suffer. Best-selling print picture books, on the other hand, guarantee quality as works of art. I believe that even when converted to digital format, many of them will still satisfy customers.”

　Now, the work that won the Grand Prize at the 1st Digital Ehon Awards, “Chon Chon Chon,” is also a digital adaptation of a masterpiece by Akio Kashiwara.
“Chon Chon Chon” is a picture book that focuses on “pointing” and “language development.”For this reason, when digitizing it, we decided to “carry forward” the concept of “nurturing the brain through the index finger.” So, we aimed to create an app that, even in its digital form, would make users want to touch the screen with their index finger. What kind of work makes people want to touch it? We decided to express this by varying the sounds and illustrations.We discovered a unique kind of fun that differed from previous approaches, and the original author’s reaction was very positive.

Mr. Shodojji explains that the two key features of picture book apps are “the ability to set prices freely” and “low visibility.” When prices fluctuate, app sale information is picked up by blogs and Twitter, which leads to publicity.In fact, he employs various sales strategies, such as holding a two-week half-price sale to coincide with the app’s launch or the release of a new series, or starting at half price at launch and raising the price by 100 yen every week. Even during a half-price sale, sales are three to four times higher than usual during that period, so profits still increase. On the other hand, he says he struggles with the lack of exposure.With print picture books, when a new title is released, bookstores can display them prominently on shelves, creating opportunities for customers to discover the book. However, with apps, unless they’re featured on the App Store’s homepage or rank high in the charts, people won’t even notice they’ve been released.
“Publishers aren’t opposed to digitization. Everyone shares a sense of crisis. However, not only do they not know how to tackle it, but with limited human resources, they can’t allocate staff to digital initiatives. The fact is that, as of now, print sells better than digital. Isn’t it a business decision to allocate limited resources to print publishing?”

　Nippan began developing apps in 2010, as the iPhone was becoming increasingly widespread. At the time, with “e-books” being the buzzword, they discussed which categories—paperbacks, new-style books, picture books, or practical guides—Nippan should focus on. Publishers and authors can produce paperbacks and new-style books on their own.However, picture books aren’t engaging when simply displayed as PDFs. Furthermore, many specialized picture book publishers are small operations with limited staff, and Nippan wondered if it would be difficult for them to tackle digital publishing on their own. “We thought that if publishers would outsource their digital operations to us, Nippan would be able to support them, so we decided to target the picture book sector.” In other words, they aimed to serve as a support partner for publishers’ digital transformation.

　“We don’t yet have the numbers to confidently say, ‘You can make money with digital!’ but we do sense that it’s gaining traction,” he says. When they won the Grand Prix at the Digital Ehon Awards, they ran a promotional campaign offering winners a choice between “the original book or the digital version.” At that time, almost no one opted for the digital version.However, when they recently ran a promotion offering “either a paper book or an app bundle as a gift,” about half of the users chose the app bundle. “Since it’s a set consisting of one paper book and three apps, it’s not a perfect comparison, but previously, the app bundle wasn’t even considered.The fact that the group of people who want it has grown to half the total likely means that device adoption has increased and parents’ resistance has decreased, doesn’t it?”

“I’m often asked, ‘Are people switching from paper picture books to picture book apps?’” he says. “That’s not the case.Paper picture books have their own merits, and there are forms of expression that can only be achieved through them. We’re selecting only those stories that are well-suited to digital formats—or that offer a different perspective or new ways to play when digitized—and we plan to continue doing so in the future,” he explains.

　The challenge, he says, is that the term “app” inevitably tends to evoke a “playful” world similar to that of video games.“When children play with an app, I want them to say, ‘The story was interesting!’ or ‘I figured it out all by myself!’ rather than just, ‘I had fun touching everything!’” He also expresses a desire to create works that blend the digital and real worlds, such as animating drawings made by children within the app or bringing digitally created elements into the real world to play with.

　The possibilities for picture book apps are still limitless. “We want to transform cherished content into new forms so children can enjoy it even more. We hope this will spark their interest in other books as well. We’d love to collaborate with you on this,” he says, appealing to those in the publishing industry.
　Our job is to expand the market sufficiently so that everyone can easily enter this field. Mr. Shodojiji says, “I want to provide picture book apps rooted in everyday life.” Many people still can’t imagine parents and children spending time together using picture book apps. He hopes to present a “scene where picture book apps are a part of daily life.”