The saga of e-book revolution arrives in India finally and in this regard two Indian books have made their unveiling in the virtual world. Being converted into the e-book format, both these books can now be downloaded on the e-book reader, Kindle. Lots of veterans of the Indian publishing industry have termed the trend as epoch-making. These two books, “Mantras: The Sacred Chants” by Swami Veda Bharati and “Yogini: Unfolding the Goddess Within” by Shambhavi Chopra, have been published under the aegis of Indian publishing house Wisdom Tree and can be downloaded on the e-book reader without effort.

What can be the possible time of downloading? It within minutes! However, it must be kept in mind that the e-book versions, which have been uploaded on online retailer Amazon’s website, can only be downloaded on Kindle. There is simply no other option.

Commenting on this and also the response to the e-books since last week, Shobit Arya, publisher at Wisdom Tree, said: “The results in the first week itself are absolutely amazing. We sold the first Kindle version of Mantras within hours of it being available and sold eight copies within the first three days itself.” As per Arya, Wisdom Tree has sent 15 of its books to be e-formatted on Kindle and among these, by now, two have been done with success; the rest are still under way.

Will the sales of Kindle be good? The question is obvious since the device, unlike in the US, is not popular in the Indian soil. But none is ready to lose hope and Arya states emphatically, it’s just a matter of time before the rage learns the changing reality and these e-book reader gadgets are readily available here.

“Online retailer Amazon whose initiative Kindle is, started shipping these e-book readers to almost a hundred countries, including India, recently. According to statistics shared by the company, they sell 48 Kindle copies for every 100 physical copies of books that they offer in both formats,” Arya said.

“Five months ago they were selling 35 Kindle copies per 100 physical versions. Amazon thinks that ultimately they will sell more books in Kindle editions than they do in physical editions because it’s easier and faster to acquire, don’t need physical space to store like normal books and more eco-friendly,” he added.