 The popularity of E-readers and E-books seems potentially at a tipping point. But publishers and some prominent authors, in our humble opinion, are doing everything they can to keep the new dawn at bay. And why wouldn’t they? With the publishing industry showing record profits, growing like crazy, and connecting so well with customers, what possible incentive do they have for change?
Tap your sarcasm meter now if your needle didn’t register the tone of those remarks by flicking into the red zone. In the meantime, let’s think about what publishers are trying to accomplish by raising e-book prices and delaying e-book release dates….
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The Kindle is becoming increasingly common as a reading tool. The iPhone is getting high marks as well. We’re seeing a migration from a print-bound world to an (excuse the plug) unbound one, in terms of how we access the published world. Like the record labels in the past decade, the book publishing industry is resisting the inevitable and overlooking the opportunities for reaching markets in new ways.
Have you ever pre-ordered a new book on Amazon? They’ll charge your card and ship it to you as soon as it’s ready. If you didn’t have that option, you might forget to make the purchase or change your mind. With e-readers, you’d think that access to a new book would be instantaneous. Technically, yes. But publishers are so set in their traditional business model that they’re actually trying to push back the release dates for e-books to give the paper versions a chance to hit the market. Read this article to learn the details.
Slate.com argues that publishing is going to get Napstered as a result. We think they’re just missing a huge chance to fulfill an actual need. Instead of selling more books to people who want them, they’re telling customers to buy them in ways that fit their century-old business model. Way to go guys.
Book Expo America is one of the three major annual events in the world of publishing, along with the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair. This year BEA is taking place in New York City. And the buzz is all about e-books.
So far e-books represent 1 to 3 percent of total book sales. But they make up the fastest growing part of the industry, and publishers, authors and booksellers have no idea just how big they will become and how they might affect profits and reading habits in the future.
People will always want paper, but buy-click-download is going to revolutionize the way readers read and authors connect with the market.
It may not seem as noteworthy as two railroad giants merging in the late 1800s, but we did see an interesting move in digital publishing yesterday:
Maybe Steve Jobs doesn’t think there’s a market for e-books on the iPhone, but Amazon seems to. On Monday, it acquired Lexcycle, the company that developed the popular Stanza iPhone and iPod-Touch e-book reader application, for an undisclosed sum.
Alas, the competition between the two services seemed promising, but Amazon probably recognizes better than most that when it comes to digital content, consumers want a good e-reader, but they also want flexibility to move between devices. Stanza and Kindle can actually sync your bookmark even when you use your iPhone and your Kindle to read the same book.
This NYT article profiles Bradley Inman, a rare entrepreneur who combines Silicon Valley and New York publishing experience. His Vook.tv is a platform for embedding video and twitter feeds with text, a melding he thinks will be the natural evolution of the digital reader.
Although many thrillers seem “film ready” even on the page, we’re less sold on the idea that fiction should be merged with video and other communication tools. But the idea of turning a business book into a box containing text, online tools, video-cast lectures, and Facebook-style interaction seems not only plausible but exciting. Open the book and the author pops out, along with a social network of other readers with whom you can share and exchange ideas.
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