In order to avoid the high costs of sending books back to the stores, a number of publishing houses have offered discounts at Riyadh's International Book Fair.

Employees at a number of publishing houses claimed they have started to use various social networking websites to market their books, according to local media.

Nader Al-Najar, who works at Dar-Arabian Treasures for Knowledge, told a local daily that publishing houses have put their books at wholesale prices at the book fair, while others have reduced prices by 10 to 30 percent, depending on the quality of the book and the year it was published in.

"The cost of sending the books back forced these houses to reduce prices during the exhibition. Domestic and foreign publishing houses are seeking to avoid resending their books, especially foreign publishing houses that have to ship their books again," Najar added.

"The fair's administration prevented publishing houses from putting announcements and banners in their pavilions, making them turn to social media. Publishing houses also coordinate with some authors to promote their books on their personal social media accounts to attract more readers and clients," the book clerk said.

Amr Hatahet, a worker at Dar Al-Manara, also heeded Najar's words. "We offer discounts of between 20 and 25 percent to see if we can attract more readers who like buying books," Hatahet said.

But publishing houses are also having to adapt to modern times and give modern discounts. Many readers increasingly use their smart devices to read their favorite books, as the e-book trend takes over the Kingdom. "Readers prefer to read e-books via their smart phones and tablets and think the fate of traditional books will be the same as cassettes when CDs arrived,” Adel Mukhtar who manages a bookstore in Jeddah, told Arab News.

"I think this new technology will destroy the traditional industry for printed books. Technology has created several choices for consumers. However, most readers still prefer printed books," he added.