I’ve been following the whole Google Editions progression with interest. As a strict ereader (no DTB), I would love to buy some of my old favorite books. The ones that remained on my shelf no matter what, the ones I never loaned, the ones that I bought again and again over the years, ending up with 3 or more copies. I would also like to be able to read books that for whatever reason I never got around to, but which are out of print.
In 2010 there will be an embarrassment of riches as far as ereaders go. There are ereaders set-up for casual, general and business use-from the iPhone and other cellular devices, to the Sony & Kindle readers to the big-boy Que and Kindle DX readers. Why aren’t the publishers taking advantage?
What is up with the majority of ebooks being new books or (really) old public domain books? The Kindle and the Sony readers have been mainstreaming for a couple of years now–does no one in the publishing world have any vision? Hire some folks to get those out-of-print books out into the Amazon, Sony and B&N ebook stores. Instead publishers seem more focused on limiting the capabilities of the ereaders. Random House has listed all it’s Kindle books with text-to-speech disabled, and if you think there is not going to be similar action on the (somewhat limited) lending feature on the nook, just wait.
A few publishers gave ebooks a weak welcoming hug, but overall it seems to be hit and miss. Harlequin & Baen have been dishing out ebooks for years, Orbit offers a single $1 book each month, many times by an author that will be releasing something else soon which is a smart strategy. Even smarter, some of the other houses offer free books for a limited time, often the 1st of a series. This has skyrocketed those books to the top ten list for Kindle, with the subsequent books in the series getting a bump in sales. All of that is promising, but for the most part ereaders are stuck with 1/2 of a series, very few out of print books and weird pricing & availability dates.
Publishers don’t seem to be able to make up their minds on whether ereaders (devices and people) are a benefit or a threat to their business. Instead of embracing the digital age, they’re acting like my grandma who when she finally got an answering machine, refused to use it.
It seems that publishers are up in arms about the mean green–ebooks will drive down the cost of books. Have they not been paying attention? What do they think paperbacks are? I am a voracious reader, but I haven’t paid full price for a hardcover for decades. I have many friends and co-workers who won’t even buy a hardcover–they either get the book at the library or they wait for the paperback; and many times even those get discounted if you’re in one of the many bookstore memberships. I won’t even go into the discounts that Amazon offers (and Walmart, and Target and…).
Unfortunately, the publishers are going to have to wake up to the fact that despite their asking price, the real price of anything is what the majority of the public will pay for it– despite what Mr. Grisham says; they are going to have to change their business model before external forces change it for them. And forced change is usually ugly, indiscriminant and ruthless.
Publishing houses need to start taking the long view. Have they noticed the stats showing that ereaders (people, not devices) generally read and spend a lot more on books than DTB readers? That book apps are the greatest growing sector for iPhones? That the independent self-published authors, many of whom are their so-called ‘rejects’, are finally able to get their books into our hands fairly easily now? Overpriced, traditional advertising is fine, but user ratings, blogs, tweets, FaceBook and other methods are becoming just as viable a method to get attention–and sales.
I understand the fear of ebook piracy. I’ve stated before, book piracy is way more damaging to authors than music piracy ever was or will be. There are some folks that will pirate no matter what, but the majority of people I know who hit the torrents for ebooks do it simply because the one(s) they want to read aren’t available in ebook format anywhere else.
The publishing industry should get proactive and take hand in shaping the future of ebooking. Figure out how they want to deal with it instead of acting like a deer in headlights; their business will be the better for it.
And for goodness’ sake! Get your catalogs out there on the ebook market! Where else am I going to get a decent copy of The Captains & the Kings by Taylor Caldwell?
