At least 90% of books on e-readers are acquired for free through illegal downloads or from friends, according to research agency GfK.

There are 1.1 million e-readers in the Netherlands each containing an average of 117 books, of which 11 have been paid for, the GfK research shows. This means e-books account for just 4.5% of the total Dutch book market when that figure should be much higher.

Novelist Saskia Noort, for example, discovered that her latest book had been downloaded 15,000 times from an illegal website, news agency ANP reports.

Now the Social Bookcompany, a platform for writers, publishers and readers, is launching a campaign against book piracy under the title Ik lees legal (I read legally).

Novelist Susan Smit told the Volkskrant there needs to be a Spotify for books: a Bookify.

Last week Annet Bakker, owner of The Hague bookstore Van Hoogstraten told DutchNews.nl book piracy is a major issue. ”Probably the book trade has not learnt from the music industry … that’s very worrying,’ she said.