HONG KONG (SE): The Diocese of Hong Kong will launch a digital platform at the beginning of next year on which videos, Catholic e-books and periodicals in digital formats can be viewed. The platform will be managed by the Catholic Truth Society, along with the Catholic Centre, which will follow up on its sales.
A briefing session on the e-book platform was held on September 30 at the Diocesan Centre for organisations and publishers who are interested in joining and wish their publications be sold there.
Father Peter Choy Wai-man, chairperson for the board of the Catholic Truth Society, said during the briefing that the diocese began the project more than a year ago due to the need to keep pace with the increasing digital media development of the times. “We hope that when people think of buying Christian books online, they will look for this platform and a brand name can thus be developed,” he said.
Father Choy believes that the platform can also be a good tool for evangelisation as e-books can reach readers worldwide. He said while Catholic publishers have been invited to join for now, other Christian publishers will be welcomed at a later stage.
Sophia Chan Yuen-kwan, editor of Catholic Truth Society, said the project welcomes suggestions from the Catholic press before its official launch. She believes publishing of e-books together with paper books is attractive to customers as they satisfy different needs. At the same time, e-books can save postage costs and eliminate delivery problems.
Visitors to the website will be able to read brief introductions, listen to audio versions and find links for relevant information concerning an e-book they buy.
The platform welcomes Chinese as well as English Catholic e-books and digital publications for listing on the website. It will also cover updated news of the diocese.
