Bitchin' Blog Posts
Tools of Change in Publishing
by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | January 18, 2010 | Monday at 12:50 pm | 70 CommentsSmart Bitches Trashy Books LLC is a media partner for the 2010 O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference (and if you’d like a discount off registration, click that ad over yonder and use the code toc10sb for 15% off the cost), and I’m preparing for two presentations at the 2010 conference. Nervous? You bet your sweet bippy. Why? In both cases, I’m talking about digital books and digital reading, and while these are subjects that I’ve learned a tremendous amount about, I remain convinced that those who drive the digital reading and digital publishing industries are not always listening to the reader. So my brain is spinning with all the things I want to communicate - and I’m trying to make sense of everything I want to say, because I want to make sure I do a fair job of representing the feedback I’ve received about digital books, devices, and the experience of digital reading.
One panel I’m on is titled Test Driving the Digital Reading Experience, and it’s all about - you guessed it - the Smart Bitches Test Drive of Sony Readers in 2009. My part of the presentation will explain a bit about the demographics that made up the pool of Test Drivers, and the common frustrations each experienced during their Test Drive, as well as the enthusiasm. While the Test Drive was going on, I had a special email loop set up for them to talk to one another, and one of the coolest parts of the loop was that they served as community tech support to one another as they set up and started using their devices.
The other panel I’m on is Essentials of Digital Books from the Consumer’s Point of View and I’ll be presenting alongside Jane from DearAuthor and Angela James from Carina Press. The focus of this presentation is, obviously, the consumer’s wish list and check list for ideal digital books, from buying to reading to organizing, keeping and (GASPOMGWTFNO) potentially sharing with friends.
Because the audience for Tools of Change is very technically savvy - seriously, you will never see so many surge suppressor strips in one room for laptop plugging-in as in a conference room at ToC - and because the audience is also made up of publishing folks who specialize in digital and print production as well as those who mastermind software, hardware, and device prototypes, I want to give the best presentation possible, and I want to make sure I accurately represent the fiction readers who adore digital, and why, and those who aren’t interested, and why.
More than anything, though, I want to move past the digital vs. print mentality. I want to do away with the phrase “dead tree” as if books in print are something to feel guilty, un-ecological or just plain maudlin about. I want to move past the conflict rhetoric most of all because reading in any form is important, and book production as a profitable enterprise in any form is in danger economically. My favorite part of our proposal is the following:
The inability of print and digital marketing efforts to promote one another for greater collaborative success is the true cannibal of everyone’s profits.
It makes me want to get Biblical on people’s asses, by way of a simple question: do you want swords or do you want plowshares? Publishing in any form is a withering market every quarter, and if you want growth and profit, put the swords down and start working together on digital and print as a two parts of the same profit stream. Seriously, the digital vs. print war is old, tired, and makes me want to stab someone in the ass with a spear and a pruning hook.
So while I’m crafting two presentations about reading from a consumer’s point of view - and that by necessity includes print and digital - and about test driving the digital reading experience, what points do you think are the most crucial? Do you want to talk about the books you read? The devices you use, or the books you own? What key points must not be missed, in your opinion, in discussing any tool of change in publishing?
Chris said on 01.18.10 at 04:55 PM • [link]
I’d be most interested in discussing readers’ rights in the world of ebooks (what? readers have rights?! who knew??) and the lack of quality/lack of editing found in so many ebooks.
AM said on 01.18.10 at 05:21 PM • [link]
If you can find more than my evidence, I think it would be smart to point out that people who would prefer to read paperbacks are not all technophobes and vice versa.
I work on computers all day. I don’t *want* to be connected to anything fancier than a dead tree with ink on it at the end of the day, no matter how good the technology is at replicating that experience. (And really, that’s what the best e-readers tout..)
I totally understand other people preferring e-Readers. Since all printed materials originate on computers these days (except Jessica Steel *grin*), it should be a brainless activity to make both versions available for profit.
The (e vs. print) debate reminds of a an issue that’s close to home in my house, which is the supposed “death” of the newspaper industry. It’s changing, that’s for sure. It has to go online to survive and get smaller and smarter about what it chooses to print.
But I think the death of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated. I know people my age (Gen X) who get Sunday papers and read comics and do the crossword puzzle. It’s simply not the same experience online and probably never will be. Brain dead profits are not in the newspaper industry anymore, but there are still profits to be had.
joykenn said on 01.18.10 at 05:58 PM • [link]
AM, the debate isn’t really ereaders versus paperbacks but choice. We want some books in eformat, some in print. Right now each carries different rights. I just recommended a book to a friend but couldn’t lend it to her cause I bought it on Kindle. Sigh! OK but I got it cheap.
What I’m worried about is that if publishers get too greedy they will spoil it all. Embargos, proprietary platforms, all worry me. I’m reluctant to plunge in and replace all my
in digital format which I would love to do because I have a Kindle and don’t want to be stuck with only that format. My audiobooks account lets me choose the format I want and saves my access so when I discard on audioplayer I can still download the book on my newer device.
Greed is NOT good! Some level of cooperation and standardization would mean that ereaders could count on keeping their access through changes in devices and would eagerly raid the backfiles of publishers to get all of their favorite author, all the books in a series, older books by an author that they just discover. That means more money for everybody and a vibrant and healthy publishing industry.
joanneL said on 01.18.10 at 06:05 PM • [link]
Can you make them understand that if they’re so smart they should be able to make it easy for those of us who want to read books electronically without having to read manuals for their respective programs?
You can talk the talk Sarah—- I don’t have the right but I’m so proud—but can you help them to see that I, and people of my ilk,—har!—- don’t care about their infighting but about the product and the ease of getting same?
I but books, lots of books, in different forms. Make it simple and I’ll buy the book. Some in ebook, some in mm and some in hardcover. It won’t depend on the technology but the author.
So ask them why they can’t make it simple for me. ‘Cause it really is all about me and—- again, har!—- people of my ilk who want to read the damn books.
katiebabs said on 01.18.10 at 06:15 PM • [link]
Whoa, the $1500 + price of admission is way to much for me too attend. I guess industry people are more the types to go this this event?
https://en.oreilly.com/toc2010/public/register
SheaLuna said on 01.18.10 at 06:29 PM • [link]
For me it goes back to choice.
I choose paperback. Why? Because reading on a screen gives me a pounding, throbbing nightmare of a headache. Even the e-reader screens which are suppose to be nearly as good as paper. Nothankyouverymuch.
But there are so many really interesting books out there that are only available as e-books (and vice versa). Why can’t they have OPTIONS??? If Lulu and Amazon can do it, why can’t all publishers give their readers the OPTION to buy books in print or electronically? What’s so bloody hard about that? It’s not rocket science, people.
Carin said on 01.18.10 at 06:38 PM • [link]
Well, I’m impatient to get over this proprietary format crap. Let’s pick one and let everyone read it. I have a Sony but can’t get good Kindle prices or some of the formats on Fictionwise which are on sale because my Sony doesn’t speak that language. And even though I pay for a book, I’m not allowed to reformat it unless I do illegal things like stripping DRM.
As for sharing books, I don’t know if anyone else is doing this, but I lend my whole reader to friends when I want to share a good book with them. I usually have a stack of books from the library to read anyway, and I don’t miss it TOO much when it’s gone for a week.
As far as what I think is important about the digital reading experience… my experience with the Sony is that it’s too frustrating/difficult for a not tech savy user to figure out without help. I can’t recommend a Sony to my friends if I’m not sure they’d make it through the setup experience. It sounds like the Kindle is a lot easier, but I don’t know anyone with one, so I’m not sure.
And when I say make it easy, I’m talking about not just getting it up and running, but getting the reader to talk to stores and my library. Those need to be easy to do, not take hours of figuring out and frustration. That was my experience, anyway.
Polly said on 01.18.10 at 07:07 PM • [link]
I love the idea of digital books, and from what I’ve seen of the various digital readers, I’d love to have one someday (though I’m usually more of a paperback person because I already spend all day looking at a screen). But I’m too poor now for one, plus, until libraries can loan digital books, I’d have a hard time justifying the purchase of a digital reader. I’d love to hear what about what’s on the horizons, or not, for libraries and digital books. I never thought audio books and playaways would make it to libraries, but they’re huge part of circulations. Any word on digital books?
RStewie said on 01.18.10 at 07:11 PM • [link]
I’d love to see a universal format, I’d love to see some DRM issues resolved (preferrably so there is NO DRM, or, if there is, that it is not intrusive to the storage/maintenance/reading of my ebooks…you know, the one I bought with my own money to OWN), and also I would love to see some pricing that reflects the limited nature of the ebook (I can only download it so many times—even if it’s my Adobe Digital Editions that is screwing it up, and I can’t generally loan it, unless I’m loaning my laptop, and it has no resale or trade-in value, unlike a paperback).
Also, I love LOVE that you are focusing on the utter ridiculousness of the ebook vs paperback debate. The formats shouldn’t be anything except different formats of the same product, like hardback and paperback and trade size.
Laurel said on 01.18.10 at 07:21 PM • [link]
SB Sarah:
If you can reach just one of the dinosaurs and make them see that even without eBooks the industry has changed and needs to change more, and eBooks are a good thing in affecting this change, then an angel will get its wings.
It is an opportunity. Not the apocolypse. A product people want in a growing market. A way to publish books that you won’t have returned for pulping after you oversold all your national accounts.
Piracy is the only major, real objection and surely somebody somewhere can figure out how to slow that down. People are always going to figure out a way to steal crap, hard print or digital, so even piracy is not new. Just a new way to steal books.
Cat Marsters said on 01.18.10 at 07:48 PM • [link]
Yes! This is what so many producers of so many kinds of content so rarely understand. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ebook reader or a car, they need to listen to what the consumer wants. All too often I hear, “But that’s not our problem,” from companies whose problem it really is. FAIL.
On the flip side of my above point (I like to play devil’s advocate): from a publisher’s point of view it doesn’t always make financial sense to do both formats. There are far fewer arguments against creating digital content (once the book has been edited, all you have to do is format it correctly for each ebook format, which is very inexpensive). But if you primarily produce ebooks, getting them into print can be quite expensive, with little guaranteed return. Sure, you can sell your books on Amazon, but getting them into brick-and-mortar stores for browsers to come across is damn near impossible for small presses. Added to which, the costs of printing, storage, and more importantly distribution are overwhelming (and take a criminally large cut of your profits).
Then you have the rights issues. Some authors are really against ebooks, in large part because of the piracy issue. A lot of new contracts include digital rights, but depending on the stature of the author and his/her agent, they might simply not be granted.
Which brings me to…
The music industry has faced the same problems, and you’d think publishing would learn from them. Even iTunes has given up the fight on DRM. The attitude towards piracy seems to be rather like the attitude towards terrorism: that everyone’s guilty until proven innocent, when I’m pretty sure it’s enshrined in law in most Western countries that it’s supposed to be the other way around.
Some libraries already do this. I think it depends on where you are. I’ve heard from several US librarians that they loan ebooks, and I was quite surprised to find my local UK library network offering them (albeit a limited selection).
Terry Odell said on 01.18.10 at 07:55 PM • [link]
I want to read. I don’t want to be told “this book is only readable in the bedroom; if you want to read in the bathroom, you’ll have to buy THAT version.”
I want there to be a choice. Sometimes an e-reader is good. Heck, I write for 2 e-publishers as well as print publishers. Sometimes it’s nice to have a print book. I’d love to be able to pick and choose features (especially the back light, because I love the way I can use my eBookwise in bed) and end up with a ‘custom’ type reader that will still receive content in any format. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Formats should fit all readers. Would be nice to see the day when any book is available in print AND digital. Nothing more frustrating than to find a publisher has books 1, 2 and 5 of a series in digital available at one of the “supermarket” sites, but if you want 3 and 4, you have to get the print version.
Ros said on 01.18.10 at 08:06 PM • [link]
I want the publishers to realise that content is king. I don’t care how many formats you’re selling a book in; if that book is crap I don’t want to read it. I want them to focus more and more on finding great authors in all genres, editing them properly, and marketing them to readers. And then I just want to be able to buy the book in whatever format I choose as a matter of course.
I was listening to an interview with Terry Waite recently, talking about the time he was held hostage in Lebanon for several years. His guards agreed to get him some English books to read. The first one was a manual of breastfeeding - clearly the guards couldn’t read English. So he drew the Penguin logo and asked them to get him books with that on it, knowing that whatever they were, they would be worth reading. I’d like it if publishers could be proud of their own brands again, in a way that helped me to trust what I was buying before handing over my hard-earned cash.
darlynne said on 01.18.10 at 08:21 PM • [link]
Engineers create things that didn’t previously exist, which is exactly what they’re supposed to do. And this is wonderful, except when every engineer creates their own version of a widget, a proprietary widget that only works on one machine or in one manner.
This is the problem I have with ebook readers, which is why I read on a netbook and haven’t purchased a reader. I’m old enough to have lived through the VHS vs. Betamax days and don’t want to do that again. Please: Agree upon universal formats and DRM, agree on accessibility and portability, and, for crying out loud, agree that I am the reason they sell books in the first place.
Cyranetta said on 01.18.10 at 08:35 PM • [link]
As someone who took up e-reading just a month ago (on an IPod Touch, which I find quite satisfactory), I find it doesn’t take long to see advantages and disadvanages that I wish publishers would bear in mind.
Advantages
Storage—I’m already being crowded out of practically every room of the house by shelves and boxes and piles of books of various kinds; to be able to store a lot of my books “in the cloud” would be liberating (at least of elbow room).
Convenience —The IPod touch fits neatly in any purse or pocket, and having several selections from which to choose means I can truly read on whim and not have to plan carefully which book or books may suit my mood.
Diversity—It seems to me that e-publishing has the potential to overcome the deleterious effect of publishers’ having lost a wide variety of independent bookstores and needing to concentrate their physical books on what will move quickly in big-box stores and major chains. It should make it more possible for the abandoned midlist author and the neglected special-interest author to find their readerships.
Disadvantages
Complexity —as many others have mentioned, there are too many formats and too many required instructions (as opposed to the “1) open book to desired page number; 2) turn page when ready” almost-intuitive level of instruction of reading a physical book). Books are both impulse and purposive purchases; they are also both impulse and purposive activities—e-readers need to allow for both modes.
Technological Constraints—I still have to be aware of the little “depleting battery” icon and make sure I have some charging capability available.
Inability to Share—I cannot count the number of times I have passed along a newly discovered author’s book to a friend, with the result that now both of us purchase the author’s upcoming releases (and backlist, if available). E-mailing a link to an Amazon.com entry doesn’t have quite the same effect.
Carin said on 01.18.10 at 08:39 PM • [link]
@Polly - We’ve got digital books in the library in Kansas. And I can access it all from home. Beautiful. Now, if they would pick up a few more titles I’d be happy, but I’m patient. Finding out I had library access to ebooks was when I made the decision to buy an ereader.
Now that I own an ereader I’m buying more books than I used to. I don’t get why publishers are confused about this. Give me ebooks. I will buy them. I can’t remember the last time I bought a hard cover, but I’ll buy ebooks.
Rebecca said on 01.18.10 at 09:07 PM • [link]
I want to ditto what @Chris said in the first comment. As a Kindle owner, I think the epublishing industry should be ashamed of the quality of editing that sneaks through in a lot of their ebooks. Now, I’ve never read both an e-version and a print-version of any of these books, so I don’t know if the editing is just bad all around, but I doubt it.
Frankly, if I keep getting poorly edited books in e-format, it will deter me from buying them in the future.
Also, as a reader, I worry about the way authors are getting treated in this whole transition. I’ve heard more than one author on the radio lately talking about how their electronic publishing rights have been under scrutiny. And I just read a blog by a Canadian author (Cheryl Kaye Tardif) whose book was published for Kindle, and she didn’t even know about it, let alone get paid for it. So, I guess, as a reader, I want to know that when I pay for an ebook, the author of that ebook is getting the money they should be getting.
Polly said on 01.18.10 at 09:07 PM • [link]
I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the library e-books (though there’s still the problem of not having a reader). I don’t think my library has them, but I’m glad to know that some do. Thanks for the updates.
Gwynnyd said on 01.18.10 at 09:07 PM • [link]
I either want to OWN the book, with all the rights I expect from buying paper, or for the publishers to admit that I am only paying for access to those pixels and to give me a short term option. Frankly, if the book isn’t going on my keeper shelf anyway, why not embrace a NetFlix-like format and give me a month’s access for a low rental fee, or a monthly subscription price? I give movies back after I’ve watched them. I’m happy for most books to go away after one read and if I want to keep them for reading, I’ll gladly pay an additional amount for the right to own them, or pay another rental fee in the future.
Marianne McA said on 01.18.10 at 09:11 PM • [link]
I was using my Sony last week, and a guy sitting at the same table remarked he’d bought one for his wife last Christmas, and she hadn’t really used it, so he’d bought her vouchers this Christmas in the hope that it would encourage her to use it more.
I remarked that it was hard to get the books you wanted for it, and he said that’s what his wife said.
So, straw in the wind - and neither of us live in the US - but for me, that’s the huge problem. I’ve sometimes sat at the computer, wanting something to read, with money to spare to pay for it, and just given up, because there’s no intuitive way to find the books I want.
(I think I’d like something like the Literature-Map, except with books, so that you could plug in the sort of thing you felt like reading -Jasper Fforde, say - and other tenuously connected titles would float past, so you could spider-web yourself along the connections till you got something that you liked. And then, when you clicked on it, it’d be available straight away, in a format your device could read, at a sensible price.)
And, just an extra thought on the print book v. ebook thing: I would absolutely duplicate favourite books if it was economically feasible to do so. I’ve rebought all of Baen’s Bujold books, because they price them to sell. I already have all the HP series in print and audio versions, but I’d buy an e-version too, if they’d sell me one. So it doesn’t have to be an either or thing - as long as I’m not expected to pay a premium price twice for the same product, I’ll buy DIK books in both formats.
Rene B said on 01.18.10 at 09:19 PM • [link]
I am a diehard reader, and I’m pretty sure that I will always be. (Disclaimer: I’ve not tried digital reading yet, because I don’t just buy books to read; I buy to collect as well) Because I do collect books, both fiction and non-fiction and all of them having to do with Ancient Egypt, I want to make sure that I have a reader that can support all of them because not all of them are published in the same format. I don’t want to need to have a Kindle and a Sony and possibly others to support all of the books that I collect.
I am sure that no matter what happens, I’ll wind up getting an e-reader so that I can get my review copies of books, but I would love to use my reader for more than just work. Right now the market feels like watching the Blu-Ray/HD wars, and I really hope it resolves itself soon, because I really am eager to jump into the world of e-books!
Madeleine Conway said on 01.18.10 at 09:38 PM • [link]
I’m generally an early adopter, I love electronic gadgets except for mobile phone which is just a pain, and I am looking forward to a decent ereader which is around 100-150 euros, not 300+, which adapts to all formats, has colour so I can see covers just like on an ipod, can let me highlight, write notes - maybe like a mac’s stickies programme, and is wireless across borders…hahhahahahaha. I don’t think I’ll be buying any e-reader anytime soon. I have a friend who has bought a Sony and loves it, but he’s flat on his back after a really nasty back op, so the lightweight e-reader suits him plus he’s rereading all the free classics on the gizmo. He’s also rich enough to upgrade easily when there is better connectivity. He gave me a go on the Sony, and I didn’t see the point, to be honest.
Remote withdrawal of titles is also a big deterrent. I don’t want to spend money on books only to find them deleted because some corporate censor has decided we shouldn’t have access to e.g. tintin in the Congo…
Ros said on 01.18.10 at 09:40 PM • [link]
Also, publishers really, really need to recognise that these days they are dealing with a global market, especially for ebooks, and get rid of geographical restrictions on rights. There’s nothing that will drive piracy quicker than restricting access to legal, paid-for downloads of the books.
Cat Marsters said on 01.18.10 at 09:48 PM • [link]
Oh yes—pricing. I know Kindle takes a big chunk of the retail price, which means that to get the same profit, books have to be priced higher. However, a lot of larger publishers only offer their authors the same royalty rate on ebooks as on print, which means the author still gets little from it, while the reader resents paying for it. FAIL. No wonder piracy seems more attractive. Authors ought to be getting a much higher rate on digital sales than print; to do otherwise is just selfish, since the digital book costs much less to produce, and requires no storage or shipping.
Do you mean editing, or formatting? Editing is more about content—everything from character to plot, as well as minor issues like spelling. I know a lot of ebook formats have problems with formatting, such as lines missing or turned into italics (I was recently told by one of my publishers that double line spaces between paragraphs, such as might be used to denote a change of scene or POV, were simply erased in some formats. To this end they were replaced with asterisk breaks). I know my editors and I work very hard on making my books as good as they can be. Formatting isn’t the same as editing—although allowing formatting errors to get through isn’t excusable.
Moviemavengal said on 01.18.10 at 10:23 PM • [link]
I have a Kindle, and I still read and buy paperbacks and a few hardbacks. I’ve had my Kindle (one of the original ones) for a few years, and what I love about it is how great it is for travel. When I used to visit at my in-laws for a 10 day visit, I would pack 10 books, which gets a little heavy. I love knowing if I read one book on my Kindle, and HAVE to read the sequel immediately, I can usually order it in my PJ’s or in the airport or whatever, and have it in about a minute.
But, I’m not a commuter, so I don’t use my Kindle everyday. If I was, I’d probably use it on the train, because I also like how no one can tell that what you’re reading. I could be reading erotica for all they would know.
I still buy brand spanking new books on visits to bookstores, but mostly, to be honest, I use paperbackswap.com for much of my paperback needs. I don’t actually want to keep most of the romance novels I read, and paperbackswap is great because I know that novel is going to be passed on to someone who really wants it, and not taking up shelf space in my house.
Tell those industry people that offering free ebooks really does work as a marketing tool to get people to try new authors. It has worked on me more than once. When the second in a series comes out, I’ve downloaded the first book offered free, and then ended up buying the second book right after. Kindle also offers free sample chapters of many books, which is another great way to try before you buy.
I buy Hardbacks less and less, as there are not many books I can’t wait for the paperback or buy the ebook. But I think they will never completely go away because of people like my husband who loves to collect books. It just may become more of a niche thing with added features, like more expensive special edition DVD’s.
KathleenD said on 01.18.10 at 10:24 PM • [link]
Yes, yes, yes @Chris and @Rebecca.
In the course of my market research for my own projects, I downloaded several E-books from multiple publishers. I read them as PDF’s on my laptop.
Every one of these files contained spelling errors, duplicate paragraphs, and worse.
The things I’ve seen in the NYTimes suggest that e-readers tend to be financially secure (and pre-disposed to spend money on reading in general) and well-educated. Isn’t that the exact market you’d want to impress with impeccable writing and top notch quality control? My non-scientific sample suggested that the print books from the same publishers get the editorial loving and the e-books get slopped into the trough.
The idea of doing away with this insane division between print and digital could only help with the discrepancy I noticed.
Mary Stella said on 01.18.10 at 10:33 PM • [link]
Before I start, I’m going to make three declarations. 1) I’m a techno-goober and understanding electronic gadgets does not come easily. 2) I hate reading user manuals. 3) I have resisted reading e-books for years because I spend wayyyy too many hours every single day already reading/working at a computer screen.
Understand these three things about me and you’ll probably be surprised by the fourth statement.
I just got a Kindle. I have friends who would have bet good money that I’d bungee jump off a bridge before buying an e-reader. So they’re only slightly less surprised than I am that I bought a Kindle and, shocker of shockers, am loving it.
I now know why in March 2008, the fabulous Kate Duffy crooned to her Kindle.
It has even surpassed the item that used to be my favorite electronic device in my nightstand.
So, why did I buy it? I buy and read a hell of a lot of books every year. My bookshelves overfloweth and I’m running out of room for plastic tubs filled with books. I’ve already donated a huge rubber tub and three large cardboard boxes of books to the library and I still haven’t made a dent. You know how Sisyphus can never get that boulder all of the way up the hill in Hades? I’ll never be able to get the number of books in my house back to a manageable number.
A number of my favorite, auto-buy authors now publish in hardcover. I do not want to wait a year for the paperback versions, but economic times being what they are, it’s damned expensive to feed my habit. I do, however, want to continue to support authors and publishers and not switch to only buying used versions or going to the library. With a Kindle, I can support the biz and save $$, too, so we all win.
I live in the middle of the Florida Keys. From Key Largo (the first island) to Key West (the last), there is one chain bookstore, a small Border’s Express, in Key West, over an hour from my house. In my town there is a Discount Book Store and Health Food Store that sells some books. You can also find some books at Publix, CVS, Walgreens and K-Mart. Trust me. Many of the books that I want to buy as soon as possible are not readily available. Commonly, when I make a trip to the mainland (going off the rock as we call it here), I end up at Borders or Barnes & Noble buying a lot of books. Or, since I can’t wait for certain titles, I buy online and wait for several days for the books to arrive.
With Kindle, I can buy online and wait a few minutes.
I’ve really been pleased with the “readability” of the Kindle. I worried that I would get eyestrain or headaches after reading for an extended period of time, but that isn’t the case. The only problem, and problem is too strong a word, is that I read very fast so I hit that “Next Page” button many times in a short period.
I will continue to buy many books in print, but there are a lot of authors I might have had to pass on or wait on who will be purchased via the Kindle.
So, what do I want to see? A standard format that can be read on any e-book device. In the long run, I think the industry will wind up there. I’m sure Amazon’s done well since they made the big splash, but in the long run, if other e-reading devices are out there, why wouldn’t you want the consumer to be able to purchase content from you for their device?
Julia Barrett said on 01.18.10 at 10:39 PM • [link]
This is an incredibly important topic. I treasure the printed word. My home is filled with books - every single home of every single member of my family is filled with printed pages - we have books hundreds of years old. However, I am a realist. The publishing world is being forced to deal with changes coming at them at lightning speed. It’s kind of a shit or get off the pot scenario. The publishing world, both newspaper and books, must adapt and whether readers like it or not, ebooks are the wave of the future. That does not mean print will disappear. The next generation, the generation to which my children belong and their children will belong, will continue to rely upon technology - will increasingly rely upon technology.
I agree. This does not have to be an all or nothing situation. There must be a way to compromise so that traditional print houses can survive and epubs can improve. On line subscriptions, printing the best selling books, less emphasis on what traditional publishers hope will be the next big expensive blockbuster - in my experience, the publishing industry has been a very closed world. Perhaps it needs to open up a bit and widen its horizons. The average person has less and less expendable income and ebooks are far more affordable than a hard back book. In fact, there is no comparison.
I could blab all day about this so I’ll shut up now.
MaryK said on 01.18.10 at 11:05 PM • [link]
Since publishers are so allergic to sharing ebooks, how about a compromise that lets readers share part of a book, like a chapter maybe, of their choice. Then you could say to a friend, “this book is so great, you’d love it, check out this scene,” and send her a chapter. That’s no more than a good sized excerpt, really, and is free advertising without “losing a sale” of the book. Heck, I bought the latest Dahl based on a twitpic of one page.
Moviemavengal said on 01.18.10 at 11:16 PM • [link]
I think MaryK’s idea about being able to share a chapter or snippet with a friend is a fantastic idea, and a nice compromise!
I’d still wish I could share my Kindle books with a friend, maybe for a limited time or something, but maybe her idea is something e-publishers would actually not fight.
Tamara Hogan said on 01.18.10 at 11:28 PM • [link]
AM said:
Sing it, AM. Between a demanding high-tech day job and writing my next paranormal (my debut, UNDERBELLY, will be published in early 2011), I currently spend THIRTEEN of my waking hours sitting on my butt in front of a glowing monitor. THIRTEEN, dudes. So the very last thing I want to do when reading for pleasure is to pick up yet one more electronic device. However, as an author, I want my (future) readers to have every opportunity in the world to enjoy my book in their format of choice.
One issue I’d like to see discussed at the conference: the environmental impact of electronic devices. Let’s not kid ourselves about this. Completely disregarding for a moment the plastics and metals used to construct these devices, or hazardous waste disposal issues, these devices require electricity throughout their lifetime. And currently, electricity = oil, coal and gas.
Ros said on 01.18.10 at 11:29 PM • [link]
@Cat Marsters
The thing is, as a reader, it doesn’t matter AT ALL whether it’s the editor’s fault or the author’s fault or the formatter’s fault. It’s unreadable either way. So the industry need to sort it out and produce a better product for the customer. Period.
Julia Barrett said on 01.18.10 at 11:35 PM • [link]
I think I’ll get a little more specific - hurried my previous comment so I could get my dog out for a walk in the pouring rain and now my hands are frozen.
1. Epubs can learn how to put out quality products and how to provide and top notch editing and artwork from traditional publishing houses.
2. Traditional print pubs can learn an awful lot about marketing, empowering authors, decreasing production and distribution costs, and they can learn how to listen to reader feedback from epubs.
Okay…done!
Kerry D. said on 01.18.10 at 11:37 PM • [link]
As someone who lives outside the US, I want people to start focusing on the current ridiculousness that is geographic restrictions. There is nothing more frustrating than to find a book you want to read, have the money burning a hole in your pocket and then being told that you can’t buy it because of where you live.
Geographic restrictions might have worked in the paper book model, but they just don’t make sense in the electronic and download market.
SylviaSybil said on 01.19.10 at 12:07 AM • [link]
The consumers’ rights to own what they have paid for. This is why I will not invest in any ebook or ebook reader. I download and read free ebooks to my computer, but I will not spend a cent until I’m satisfied that the industry will respect me and my rights. That Kindle even had the ability to delete ebooks off their customers’ readers, let alone that they used that ability to delete ebooks that had been bought and paid for, says to me that I and other customers are regarded as nothing more than cash cows to be milked for all we’re worth.
When I buy paper books, they’re mine until I choose to sell them or give them away. If a publisher was to send someone into my house to pluck a book off my shelf and leave a check for $8.62 in its place, who would be willing to buy from that publisher in the future? Yet they can and have done that with electronic books. It infuriates me. I would love for electronic publishers to receive the message that I am important, that my rights are important, and if they want my money they’d better start listening to me.
Becca said on 01.19.10 at 12:20 AM • [link]
word for all the above.
I won’t get into ebooks (although I really, really want to) until the format wars and DRM issues settle down. I know I can load any mp3 file onto my iPod, or a Creative Zen or even my itty bitty Muvo—doesn’t matter who the creator of the file is, it’ll work on any player. Kindle books only can be read on the Kindle.
I don’t want to have to remember which ap will read which book on my iTouch or computer. I don’t want to have to remember a credit card number from a long-ago-expired credit card to read a book that I may have purchased with that credit card. I just want to read the damn book. And I want the book backed up on my computer, not in the cloud somewhere.
Kristina said on 01.19.10 at 12:28 AM • [link]
IMHO as a general newbie with a Kindle 6” I am really hating the way books are organized. I wish that I could organize my books like I do my music. A File for vanilla romances, a file for paranormal romances, one for urban fantasy and so on and so on. Plus in Kindle there is no way to adjust the size of the font (that I know of) on the home page. I see about 15 characters of the title/name of file and that’s it. The rest is wasted by either my email from which I sent the file or some gibberish. Not liking that. Other than that I’m all gooey and in love with my reader.
Scrin said on 01.19.10 at 12:41 AM • [link]
I wish I’d be able to attend this. It sounds interesting.
Okay, here’s why I like the physical media:
The feel, and the ease of operation (just need some light to see by), and how easy it is to (GASPOMGWTFNO!) share the books.
Seriously, I’ve got Beyond Heaving Bosoms loaned out. I’ve got a few others loaned out. My sister left to go back to college for this semester, and she took some books off my shelf.
Sharing is good.
But the feel is underestimated. I gave someone a book off my shelf, and they commented on how they loved how it looked. Worn, but taken care off. Heck, when I took a stab at reading Lovecraft, the collection was old enough to acquire the ‘old book smell’ and definitely added to the atmosphere of reading the stories.
Also, if they give you a Powerpoint or something similar, when you discuss sharing, please have a slide that says GASPOMGNO! when you talk about sharing.
library addict said on 01.19.10 at 01:18 AM • [link]
Exactly.
I don’t have much to add to what’s already been said. I would have purchased a dedicated ebook reader sooner (most likely a Sony) if they weren’t so expensive. That said, I do have quite a collection of ebooks already and will buy more this year as shelf space has become an issue. (And that darn Fictionwise micropay is EVIL - LOL. )
That said, I still love hardcover books and paperbacks and continue to buy them, too. Like many romance readers, I am book addict.
Henofthewoods said on 01.19.10 at 01:30 AM • [link]
Cat Marsters
Many older books are being scanned instead of retyped, and then clearly they are not being copy edited or proof-read. I just read a regency where the Earl wants to pass on his tide. After the fourth or fifth reference, I realized it was “title” scanned badly.This happens way too often. As the adult child of a former copy editor, “ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!”
If the book that is being scanned had a fancy initial letter for each chapter, the first letter may just not show up at all. Or it may be included as if it were a figure rather than part of the text. Changes in font are too difficult for some publishers’ software. There will be a “table of contents” but it is just a page that has the words “chapter one, chapter two, chapter three…” with no actual text links. Clearly no one at the publishers office even bothered to try out the ebook on a variety of devices using a variety of reading programs. If you sell a book in mobipocket, try to make sure it is working properly in mobipocket. How much extra work can that possibly be for the release of a novel? What are we paying for?
You are more likely to have a bad experience with the text with a big publisher who charges $8 for a book that was originally published in 1985 for $4. I have a hard time believing that they are paying the person who is feeding the text into the scanner an immense amount of money or that they are sending the author huge payments per book.
Small epublishers tend to let bad spelling through (lots of spellcheck homophones) but they do make the words available to the reader.
Actually one of the books that most disappointed me for formatting was Beyond the Heaving Bosom - I did not get the board game, the charts, or anything with columns of print. I can go back and read on a larger screen for those parts, but it was not convenient while I was reading.
Henofthewoods said on 01.19.10 at 01:40 AM • [link]
Totally embarrassed by my title mauling. Blush.
AM said on 01.19.10 at 02:42 AM • [link]
Tamira - we appear to be twins separated at birth *grin*. I intensely dislike the “think of the environment, don’t print this email” signature tags. Anyone imagining they are doing the environment any good by converting from paper to electronics is coming up with a darn good rationalization of their buying habits.
Warning: rant ahead on electonrics manufacture and disposal:
I live an area that has a semi-conductor plant. My father and husband both worked there and I toured the plant once. Making computer chips requires vaporized heavy metals and strong acid baths. And that’s just making the chip We haven’t made the case, hard drive(s), or batteries (which are the worst offenders in the heavy metals department).
Books, heedlessly tossed out the window will eventually turn back into soil, even within my lifetime. Paper can be burned for heat and I can personally recycle paper into a thousand other uses.
On the other hand, what do you do with a dead computer? When does it spontaneously return to the earth (other to leech heavy metals)? What do I use it for other than a door stop?
I’m not against electronic gizmos and gadgets. Actually, I have to admit I have a soft spot for them and have owned several computers in my short life span. I’m aware, though, that the environmentally correct path involves long hand or manual typewriting on paper, preferably in daylight. :(
Angela James said on 01.19.10 at 03:37 AM • [link]
Hi Sarah, nice place you have here. All it’s missing is the subscribe w/out commenting feature so I’ll just wave as I pass through…
Laura Kinsale said on 01.19.10 at 04:00 AM • [link]
Sarah? Honestly? Focus on the positive and the opportunities. Publishing isn’t a “withering” market, truly that is not the case, although it’s very chic to say so.
Fear does not result in good decisions. So don’t emphasize anger or fear or gloom, if you hope for good decisions to be made about the future.
The death of the publishing industry, and books in general, is greatly exaggerated. The numbers for book sales (and I’m not counting freebies) are quite decent, even good, compared to the economy as a whole.
Let the publishers worry about whether their industry or their companies will sink or swim. Just tell them what opportunities and visions you see that they might not have seen themselves.
Me, I adore audiobooks on my iphone, so I adopted that technology instantly because it served my needs so well. Ebooks, otoh, have drawbacks that overall outweigh their advantages for me personally. I’ve been buying MORE printed books and audiobooks since I started trying out ebooks, because I was reminded how pleasant it is to simply read a printed book, and it was so frustrating to read an ebook.
I am no longer buying ebooks, because it is not a pleasant experience for me; it makes me tense to read on a screen.
Christine M. said on 01.19.10 at 04:15 AM • [link]
Just passing through so I can follow the thread by email. Very interesting discussion and comments taking place!
Deb said on 01.19.10 at 05:32 AM • [link]
I would like to be recognized as the customer. I feel like a parasite after reading the negative comments from the Publishers, simply because I choose e-books. I made the investment primarily because the booksellers too often didn’t have the books I wanted in stock. This was often enough during the week of the lay down date. I started ordering from Amazon. I decided to purchase a Kindle and thus save shipping charges. I was then able to get the books in a very timely basis and saved some money. I’m happy to pay the going price of a paperback or trade ppb. I accepted the trade off of “rights” when I made the switch, but I now find I’m considered less important simply because of the format I choose to purchase.
I very highly respect Harlequin’s business model. Because of this, I have been reading many more Harlequin books than I had done previously. I will always support a business which recognizes my interests and needs and fashions their business accordingly.
As a positive, the e-reading devices (e-ink technology) are a boon to low vision readers. The ability to increase the font size gives these readers the ability to once again enjoy reading. The large print published books are simply not adequate in many cases, nor is the font adequate. San Serif fonts are much easier to read by persons with vision problems. Devices which offer audio as well as e-ink are even better. Offering the text to speech to low vision readers would also increase usage. Audio books are great, but expensive for persons on limited incomes. Text to speech can’t replace the audio books in quality or experience, but meeting these special needs would show a greater appreciation for the customer.
E readers have become an important device to our military. I’ve read many articles and/or comments in which our service men and women praising the ability to take these devices with them when deployed. They can’t carry enough print published books with them, but can handle an e-reader. Making sure they have books to take their minds away from the front line, is a way to give back.
In both cases, the low vision readers and our military, demonstrate the need to have the publishers recognize the readers are The customer.
Ulrike said on 01.19.10 at 05:56 AM • [link]
I think the most important point to make is: the easier it is for a consumer to get a legal copy of a book, the more likely that person is to PAY FOR a legal copy of a book (as opposed to downloading a pirated copy). That means making books available in a format that people can use (if I have a Sony Reader, and your book is only available in Kindle format? I’m not buying!).
It also means paying attention to international markets. I don’t know how well international copyright law has kept up with the new digital publish age, but publishers need to realize that if a book is available in the US, readers in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc, likely know about it, have friends who are reading it, and if they want to read it, they don’t want to wait weeks/months/indefinitely to get a copy. They can go online and get an illegal copy or publishers can sell them a legal copy. The easier publishers make it for people go buy legal copies, the more likely people are to buy legal copies!
Personally, I still prefer paper books, not because I wouldn’t love the convenience of using a small, digital device, but because I like to lend books to and borrow books from my friends (yes, the Nook has caught my eye!).
The last time I crunched the numbers, I was saving money by going with paper books over digital, as well, even without considering the cost of a digital reader. IMO, there’s no excuse for a digital format to cost more than a physical, sent it through a printing press and shipped it across the US, honest to goodness book. Until the price becomes more competitive, I won’t be making the switch.
~B said on 01.19.10 at 06:32 AM • [link]
Publishers just need to copy Baen and I’d be happy. No DRM, re-download anytime in many formats, good pricing.
Nadia said on 01.19.10 at 06:56 AM • [link]
I’m not sure what will eventually get me to drink the kool-aid. If the DRM and format issues resolve themselves, I can see solving my ever-challenging book space constraints with e-books (of at least new or new-to-me authors), even though I prefer reading from paper over screen. The thing is, I have paperbacks and hardbacks in my keepers collection that are closing in on 30 years of life and no end to usefulness in sight. With e-books, I have no faith that if I invest the money today they will still be viable in 30 years. Convince me that technology won’t leave my 2010’s editions behind like the floppy disk in Word Perfect that is my first resume.
Lisa richards said on 01.19.10 at 08:26 AM • [link]
I read and buy lots of books. I also swap on book swapping sites. Many authors that are new to me, I like to test drive their books. Swapping makes this more affordable and likely. There is nothing that pisses me off more than shucking out $20 for a hardback than to be disappointed in the storyline. This effects all the future hardback books that I might have been tempted to buy plus most definitely any books by that author. Neither do I want the over sized paperback at $15. I read a lot and the price has to be competitive. Why should I spend $15 for an over sized book when I can get 2 mass market paperbacks for that or 3 good Harlequins.
I surely am not going to spend $300 for a Sony and still fork out as much for the ebook as a print copy. The most crucial concern when buying that next book though is the quality of the story. There are many books that I pick up that I feel have been rushed to print to grab that next craze- be it vampires or werewolfs. Book blogs have helped more than anything to help me pick out my next books. Much more than the blurbs on the back of a book or Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” suggestion list.
Cat Marsters said on 01.19.10 at 02:33 PM • [link]
No, but if you want to make a complaint, they need to know what to fix.
Alesia Holliday / Alyssa Day said on 01.19.10 at 06:18 PM • [link]
Don’t know if this is what you’re looking for, but the obvious support e-readers have for an author’s backlist is immense, in terms of the one format supporting the other. When I discover new authors at the bookstore and I enjoy their books, I want all of their backlist RIGHT NOW. And now with my e-reader, I can do that. Really enjoyed Laura Resnick’s DOPPLEGANGSTER this week and the first in the series was out 4 years ago so probably tough/impossible to find in stores, but took 5 seconds to purchase and download. Win!
Danielle (no, not that Danielle, the other one) said on 01.19.10 at 07:07 PM • [link]
As a librarian, the most important thing to me is a standard format that can be read on any e-book device, PLEASE! I’m so tired of trying (& often failing) to help a poor library patron figure out why their device isn’t working with the proprietary software they have to download to read our loaner ebooks.
Not to say that the ability to loan ebooks & digital audiobooks isn’t a great thing—it is & I love it, but for pete’s sake can the publishers & vendors get a clue & make it simpler?
Further to the above, the biggest vendor of ebooks to libraries is OverDrive; check their website to see if your local library offers the service.
Danielle Yockman said on 01.19.10 at 07:48 PM • [link]
You should take an old school cattle prod and an electric cattle prod to show them how technology can improve a product. Then you can zap’em with it if they don’t get it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_prod
Joy said on 01.19.10 at 08:18 PM • [link]
I recently decided to try out e-reading and ordered a nook from B&N. It hasn’t arrived yet but I didn’t let that stop me. I downloaded Adobe Digital Editions, the Kindle PC app, and the B&N PC e-reader. I used Stanza, the Kindle app, and the B&N ereader app on my iPhone. I’ve read maybe 20 books or more electronically; some PDF, some epub, some pdb, some amz; some downloaded for free, some purchased, some borrowed from the library—Maryland has 1578 e-books available for loan as of last week, and the more popular titles have a waiting list. I have obtained everything legally and intend to continue that way.
PROS:
* I can find books I cannot find in print.
* Legally free e-books are a lot more accessible than free hardcopy books, and there seem to be a lot more of them.
* Reading books from a screen works fine for me.
* Registering with a provider’s site allowing for things like prioritized wish lists enables me to organize my book-buying much better than previously—my to-be-read pile gone virtual, and I can pay when I am ready to read.
* Instant gratification. I can finish book 1 of a series and have book 2 available to read within *minutes*.
* Out of print backlist titles seem to be coming into e-book and there was much rejoicing.
* I read a lot of romances. Not having the more-and-more explicit covers showing to everyone on the bus is kind of nice.
* digital publishing provides a lot of room for innovation and promotion. Baen’s free library and other free samples of partial (or entire) first books of popular series, etc. are great ways for a reader to taste—risk-free, instant-gratification-style—a product before investing in it. I have bought *many* books because of an initial free promotion. In terms of innovation, Baen’s Webscriptions have been around a while, and if you like their products you can torment yourself with pre-release serialized books. Baen will also sell pre-release digital Advance Reader Copies of books in their popular series for hardcore fans who just can’t wait. I’d like to see other publishers do what Baen is doing.
* most devices I’ve tried so far (PC and iPhone apps) have been easy to install and use.
* I am out of space in my bookcases at home so this provides me a way to feed my habit without collapsing my house into a black hole from the sheer weight of books.
CONS:
* Poor formatting of e-books. Words run together, italics not closing at the right place, syllable-line-break hyphenations in the middle of the line (“im-petuous”) diacriticals causing problems, etc. I paid good money for this book (in most cases). Quality Control, people!
* Speaking of formatting, there are distractions built in such as fiddling with fonts and themes, before settling into the reading experience. With a print book, you don’t have to choose! And if you read on a PC, email and google are a constant potential distraction.
* You can’t take your PC with you to the dinner table, on the bus, to bed, to the bathroom, etc. and even if you were able to cope with the unwieldiness of taking a laptop such places, the charge wouldn’t last the length of the book. Reading on a PC is a very stationary activity. The iPhone has the advantage of being portable but reading also drains the battery. Also reading on a tiny glowing screen causes me some eyestrain problems (the PC doesn’t really register as a problem with my eyes). I expect the nook to be able to resolve most of these problems, but I won’t be able to read my Kindle books on it, so…
* It seems you have to strip DRM (which is illegal) to read all your e-books on the same device if you have a lot of different formats.
* One e-reader (the B&N app for iPhone) was difficult to use in the sense that it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to open the books to read them. Also B&N’s PC app does not use the space bar to page down. Everyone else does and it has been my preferred way since my Usenet days! We need standards here!
* It drives me absolutely bonkers that there are a number of series of which, say, you can get books 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 from B&N (epub or pdb), book 6 from Amazon (amz), book 1 free from the publisher on a promotion that expired a year ago (pdf) or for purchase in hardcopy only. I would like to be able to get all the books in the same format. I realize this has something to with rights and contracts, but it is frustrating.
* I haven’t personally encountered a problem with this but being able to obtain e-books legally internationally is a huge issue. I have been that person, years ago, in a foreign country wanting English-language books desperately and only able to get them with difficulty at high expense. It might STILL be 1978 as far as e-book accessibility is concerned in this arena. I realize this is because rights are often granted geographically, but this needs addressing.
* One standard format. One standard DRM. Multiple merchants for each release. Worldwide. This is my happy dream world.
Castiron said on 01.19.10 at 08:36 PM • [link]
Henofthewoods:
I agree with you, but putting on my publisher’s hat to play devil’s advocate for a bit:
1. It’s possible that the publisher doesn’t have access to said variety of devices. I don’t think anyone in my office owns an e-ink reader, for example; I’m not sure how many people besides me own an iPod touch or iPhone and actually read on it. Sure, you can read a lot of these files on your desktop, but some formatting issues might not be noticable on the desktop but become blatant on a handheld. (For that matter, I don’t know whether Amazon provides a way for the publisher to read their own books in Kindle format without actually buying the Kindle versions; ditto other proprietary vendors and versions—I’ll have to ask about that.)
2. Proofreading one novel in one format may not add a large amount to the workload, but when you’re talking several formats and the digitization of a huge amount of backlist, it’s another story. If the proofreading of the newly digitized backlist would take the time and money that it would normally take to proofread the frontlist books for the next five to ten years, I can see why the publisher wouldn’t bother. (That said, checking the ebook versions should become part of the standard proofreading procedures for frontlist books. And it’d be nice to have a mechanism where the publisher can collect errors and offer a corrected version to the people who’ve bought the ebook.)
Kristina said on 01.19.10 at 08:51 PM • [link]
Funny example of words not scanning correctly when backlist books scan and go from print to digital. I’ve been reading all of Lynsay Sands old historical romance because I just love her and have only read her Vampire books. While reading Love is Blind the word “the” was ALWASY “die” and last night I had an OMGWTFBBQ moment when I was reading The Key. The passge read “She had seen a mans chest, anus and legs of course but never imagined men carried around an appendage…...” I boggled at WTF Ms. Sands was thinking. Then later on in the book the heroine was “fiercly struggling in Duncan’s anus.” Again, WTF?????? I figured with that phrase that “anus” was the mis-tranlation of “arms” by the OCR scanner. I HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AlyCatNat said on 01.19.10 at 09:13 PM • [link]
I am an avid reader, I have spent about $200 on (paper) books so far this month, I’ll probably spend more next month. I love the idea of a digital reader but the current system is too unsettled for me, I’m holding out for a few features that are not available yet. I will buy a digital reader when:
1) I can read ANY book that is published in digital format on whatever reader I own.
2) I can buy a digital copy of a book and be assured that it will not randomly diappear from my reader.
3) My digital reader MUST have a backlight, color, fast page turning, good bookmarking, font size choice, and a long battery life.
Whoever had the idea of a Netflix-like service - YEAH! I absolutely want the author and publisher to be rewarded for their efforts, but so many books will only be read once…is that really worth $10 ? If I had the service and my friend had the service I could recommend the book I’m reading to my friend and she could read it at the same time…how cool would that be?
Oh, yeah, I’m willing to learn a new gadget, even if it’s a little complicated, but I don’t want to have to learn a different complicated gadget two years down the road when the next big thing comes along.
So, go get ‘em Sarah! I am delighted that you have an opportunity to make a differnce in the world of digital publishing.
Polly said on 01.19.10 at 09:34 PM • [link]
@Kristina
You cracked me up! What a hilarious mis-scan! I love that a totally vanilla passage just went somewhere entirely less vanilla.
Elysa said on 01.20.10 at 01:06 AM • [link]
Re: Amazon taking books back.
They had an absolute right—no, obligation under the law to do this. Look, if you buy a flat screen tv from your neighbor who is moving out of state and said tv turns out to be stolen goods, the cops *will* confiscate the item.
Likewise, if you buy a Chanel purse from a reputable store, and if, say, the chain breaks and you take it back for a replacement or repair, and in the meantime they’ve discovered that shipment was counterfeit, guess what? You ain’t gettin’ that purse back. Because trademark holders have the right to demand that counterfeits are confiscated and destroyed.
The only mistake on Amazon’s part was not reimbursing any monies spent for the books. And I would hope they made financial restitution to the copyright holder. (Or maybe they did and I missed it.)
Copyright and Trademark laws do not always favor the consumer.
And I love my new Nook. I’m a point and click girl, don’t have wireless capability and have become well acquainted with it in the less than 24 hours I’ve had it. What I love about ereaders is that they are *flat*. Therefore, I can curl up on the couch and just prop it up against my knees with one hand lightly supporting it and touching the next page button. Or, lay on my side in bed and it stays “open” all by it’s little self. The screen itself looks exactly like paper under matte glass, so zero eyestrain here, and I have pretty severe astigmatism. Done reading? Just let it sleep, and when you touch the power button it takes you to the page you are on. Pretty nifty. I’m especially looking forward to reading the ginormous, weighty history tomes that I so love on it, because it is more comfortable to hold than a 500 page trade paperback, by far, especially since I’ve got a cover for it.
I suppose the lending feature is okay, but I’ve always been of the “buy your own damn book” persuasion, being well and thoroughly sick of people who use my collection as a lending library, which convienently saves them money.
Beau said on 01.20.10 at 03:02 AM • [link]
- Please stop treating ebook readers like thieves
- allow me to build keep and access my ebook library just like my paper one. I’d be happy to be responsible for keeping track/backing up of my own ebooks if it meant they would remove the DRM
- remove barriers to purchase—release the ebooks on the same day as the hard copy, wide distribution which allows all of the outlets and formats the same pricing structure and release dates.
- ditch the combative discussion. We want authors to make a living and keep writing books just like we want musicians to keep making music and artists to keep producing art. We don’t care about saving outdated publishing models or the “biz” of publishing. It’s not my responsibility to make sure pubs stay in business. Make the discussion about what I care about—the work, the writers.
Beau
Henofthewoods said on 01.20.10 at 03:28 AM • [link]
I want to be able to edit out mistakes myself.
I understand that authors don’t want me to change their text and publishers don’t want me to alter the text enough that I can pretend I think it is new. (That would definitely lead to piracy or Savage ePublishing[/b.])
When there are the mistakes that make me cringe (“die” is pretty common, “anus” I haven’t noticed) or places where a space is introduced that makes me completely confused (last night I read a sentence with “hu mankind’ - I was trying to think of what word “hu” was replacing instead of seeing the gap in humankind) I want to be able to fix it so I don’t keep seeing the same mistake again.
If I could just e-whiteout and retype, I would be so much happier. All of the programs I have that allow annotations let me put notes in correcting something, but I have to see the glaring error first. Why can’t I fix the glaring error instead of highlighting it with a few paragraphs of explanation about why it is wrong?
I reread a lot. I know that I will run into the same problems again. Maybe if there were functions more like the bookmarks that let you overwrite something that really got to you? I’m picturing something that would only change the text on your device, and not the actual author’s text that the publisher sold to you.
It might just take up too much memory space and slow down the device. I would not want to wait for 3 minutes while all my typing corrections on 700 titles (or tides) were checked at start-up each time.
As to not having many different readers and devices: This is where the “what am I paying for?” comes in. If I pay $18.00 for a new ebook at the same time as the hardback is released, is the author getting the difference in the cost of publishing? I severely doubt it. Could some of the difference in the cost of publishing go to actual quality? Whether or not your book has the first letter of every chapter is not a trivial matter.
Do you think they have a sweat shop somewhere with scanners and desks and little futons and people chained to the scanners? Faster, the backlist must go digital this month. Because if you read English, wouldn’t you notice…
Joelle said on 01.20.10 at 05:55 AM • [link]
If it all comes down to money, then the truth is, since getting my Nook less than a month ago, I’ve bought (and read) 30 books—a book every day or two. Prior to that, I had a great big bag of 35 loaner books I was working through, and before THAT, it was all library all the time. Thank God my library has ebook lending, but the selection is a little sparse—so, that means more money spent on books. I think to ignore/underestimate the ebook market would be the biggest mistake publishers could make.
This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t consider buying a print version, but that involves time, effort, and budget consultation, and clicking ‘buy now’ is immediate impulse gratification—who cares if the book is all that good—I can read it RIGHT NOW! (Can you imagine how expensive things could get if Zappos worked this way?!)
Also, nothing is more irritating that finding out the book you want to read is only available as a Kindle version. Does anyone know how to de-kindle an ebook for use on another device?
Wendy said on 01.20.10 at 06:36 AM • [link]
This article is almost a year old now, so possibly everyone but me has seen it before now, but it is an insightful look at ebooks and reader and publisher attitudes.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-future-e-book.ars/
Even if I wasn’t in the middle of setting up an ebook publishing company, I still would have found it a fascinating read. As I am finding this discussion.
Castiron said on 01.20.10 at 11:34 PM • [link]
Closing the bold tag.
I’ve now been told that if Amazon’s doing the conversion into Kindle format, the publisher never sees the converted version (and indeed can’t without buying a copy), and Amazon’s the one who’s supposed to take care of any formatting errors. Still don’t know whether this is true for other ebook vendors.
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Mezza said on 01.22.10 at 04:18 PM • [link]
1. An end to geographic restrictions I don’t bother with books on board or fictionwise anymore because of these (I live in Australia)
2. An end to DRM. Work gives me a computer to use at home but I don’t have permission to add software so can’t download DRM books. This means I buy from the small presses and publishers directly - I don’t pirate!!!! but I can’t buy from the mainstream publishers.
3. I buy pdf because I want the format to be supported and transportable between devices. There are too many propiertary formats/devices or ones the depend on having an e-reading device - I read on my laptop and can make folders and sort things.
4. An end to poor editing; ‘temper’ spelled ‘tempter’ throughout the book, or the intro paragraphs saying the heroine doesn’t own a car then the next chapter has her walking to her car, or in a lately published Lora Leigh, a character’s name changing in the big hostage scene.
5. Reader’s rights should be recognised; including ownership and sharing. To me these have an impact on pricing. If I don’t own the e-book in the same way I do a paperback with the rights to do certain things, then I am not going to pay the paperback price.
6. E-books available at the same time as other releases. I live in an apartment and I can’t fit any more paper books in. This means converting my fiction to e-books and saving the space for non-fiction. E-books are a valid purchasing choice for our lives in the 21st century.
7. I am reading more because of the internet. Blogging sites like the Smart Bitches and Dear Author lead me to new books and help me source them through links and naming obscure publishers. The availablity and capacity to shop at midnight mean that I am buying books when the urge to read hits, not when the shops are open and I can get there.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!
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Karen said on 01.24.10 at 09:39 PM • [link]
I recently bought a nook (B&N) and think overall it’s great.
However, I’ve already run into some technical frustrations:
1. Make reading an eBook like reading a book. IE - if I want to flip 10 pages forward because I want get to a good part, let me hit a button that says, “Go to page” and type it in. Really.
2. I would love to be able to scroll on the reading screen and not the tool bar at the bottom. The iPhone and iTouch technology of touching what you want has spoiled us tech geeks.
3. Backlight options, please. Even reading this in normal light can become blinding. I want to be able to adjust how bright the background is against the lettering.
4. Maybe this is due to my ignorance and laziness, but a little user help about what and where you can get ebooks would be FABU. (yes, i finally read the specs on line, but how hard would it be to add a little PDF on the reader that clearly says, “you can read these formats! and additional books can be found at these sites!”
5. I like to learn new words. I wish I could copy the definition or automatically add it as a note to the page the word is found on. I am no good at remembering and there’s no way to copy the definition (unless I use pen & paper, which sort of defeats the purpose).
I would also like to make a comment regarding purchasing habits. For compulsive shoppers, the ease of downloading on the spot makes it that much easier for someone to buy a book. How many more people would pick up that new release offered only in Hard Cover, if it were offered for $10 as an eBook? I think more $$$ would be made by making it accessible. There will always be people who prefer one format over another, but now that I have an ebook, I’m more inclined to skip purchasing the hard cover and hit the library if I absolutely cannot wait for the ebook version to come out. I think publishers need to be aware that their consumer’s spending habits are CHANGING with the new formats. The music industry is a great example - I tend to buy more music NOW (I’m an iPod junkie) than I ever did as a teenager (I’m in my late 30’s) because new music is so easily accessible. Plus, they have great marketing (oh, you want to workout? here’s a great list of 75 songs that work well together!). Think of all the holiday anthologies that could be customized!
I will say, I do love the ability to see the book covers, because many times, that is what first grabs me to read the synopsis. I also remember book covers, rather than authors/titles (horrible memory). I am also looking forward to lending my ebooks with a friend in San Fran.
I am hoping for the best in the future…technology always seems to get better as time moves on. Let’s hope the publishers finally understand that their consumer’s purchasing are changing with the technology and catch up!
pay52 - I’m gonna PAY for downloading 52 best sellers…ouch!
Mezza said on 01.27.10 at 09:35 AM • [link]
Just wanted to add to my list re e-book wants…
1. Good meta data and the capacity to sort and index against it.
2. The capacity to add comments and index books according to grade/re-read potential, what irritated me, etc
3. I like Jane @ dear author’s suggestion of being able to select style/format and perhaps covers, or even make and add covers and references via links.
Cheers!
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