Phuket Lifestyle: Thai firm aims to be e-book center for Southeast Asia

PHUKET: Dedicated readers of English-language books in Phuket and throughout Southeast Asia can now enjoy carrying a well-stocked bookstore with them wherever they go.

Asia Books, the 42-year-old bookstore chain and distributor of English-language books in Thailand, has launched an e-bookstore service for its 150,000 existing members and newcomers.

The company, which handles distribution for the Phuket Gazette in Bangkok and three other Thai cities, says It aims to become the e-book center for Thailand and all of Southeast Asia since its new e-store is already the biggest repository of digital content in the region.

Readers wishing to buy e-books must first register as members of asiabooks.com, where there are currently 500,000 titles available for download. The company plans to double that number of titles to one million by the end of this year.

At present the website receives about 2,000 visitors per hour, with about 95% of them making a purchase, the company says.

Asia Books managing director Sirote Jiraprayon says the e-store aims to give readers the convenience of not having to carry heavy books with them.