The Future of Publishing

[marguerite]

Interesting article here from The New York Review of Books (dated March 11, 2010, although it's still February—go figure), by Jason Epstein, who has long displayed wisdom and insight regarding publishing and its quirks (see his The Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future [2002]) on the digital future and why publishers are ill equipped to cope with it.

Best,

Marguerite

[Steve E]

Good article, M. There may have been more there than in the Future Of Publishing conference Steve just went to (and hopefully managed to come back from despite the snow). Of course Jason Epstein is right when he say that no one now knows what form our digital future will take, but I for one do not relish the idea of my e-library's self-destruction when my subscription expires (or when Amazon decides not to carry a particular publisher, or when politicians decide that the public shouldn't read a particular book for its own good). There is still something to be said for the relative permanence and comforting solidity of a bound, paper book.

 

Not a tree hater.

- Thoth.

[orrenm]

I for one do not relish the idea of my e-library's self-destruction when my subscription expires (or when Amazon decides not to carry a particular publisher, or when politicians decide that the public shouldn't read a particular book for its own good). There is still something to be said for the relative permanence and comforting solidity of a bound, paper book.

 

That was a good article, thanks!

 

There are more than two digital choices: you're not limited to either physical books, or a "subscription" service (of which the Kindle basically is, although they don't bill it as such). There is "digital ownership," in which you buy something, and the content is transferred into your possession. This is the iTunes model for everything (Music, Movies, Apps). In other words, it's not possible for Apple to wipe something you buy from them, you can back it up on your own hard drive and then store it on a shelf (or in my case, I'm paranoid about data--I have both in-house backups and an offsite backup!).

 

The irony of the Kindle being a subscription service (in which Amazon controls ownership, and you simply pay for access) is that Amazon's own MP3 store is based on the ownership model.

 

I took a little umbrage to the Epstein's assertion that all publishers are trying to run away from (or hold back) the digital future. Obviously, O'Reilly is not--they're embracing it. I work for textbook publisher Cengage Learning, and we too are wholeheartedly going digital with a vengeance. And both O'Reilly and Cengage are billion-dollar companies.

 

I bring this up because many people—the author included—like to compare the record companies to the publishing companies. The comparison definitely works to a point. Both industries find their traditional landscape changing in "revolutionary" ways. But the record industry has literally being trying to hold back progress with lawyers, and cutting off it's nose to spite it's face. As someone on the periphery of that industry, it is literally mind-blowing how tone-deaf they are. While we all know better, it really does seem at times like the record industry is actively trying to destroy itself, committing itself to actions that it's own employees must know are wrong. Just the other day, the new CEO of Universal said "the CD format will outlive me." Assuming he wasn't signaling an imminent suicide, this is wrong on so many levels. On a technical, level, the compact disc really isn't a format—it's a delivery medium. The format is "16-bit PCM digital audio" (which is why when you look on optical drive data sheets they list "CDDA" (compact disc digital audio) as the format. I wouldn't have expected him to know that, it's just that the material on the CD is already digital, all that's changing is the delivery medium. But second of all, even his own people know that CDs are losing ground, and digital downloads are picking it up.

 

I don't think the publishing industry is this blind. Even the ones who aren't as forward thinking as O'Reily know that the landscape is changing irreversibly. They may not know what to do about it, but they can see how the recording industry's head-in-sand approach is destroying the industry and they don't want to make the same mistake. That's why I think they're jumping all over the Kindle and iPad and anything that might look like might be the future, just so they're not left behind. I hope they're smart enough to make the right choice about DRM and scrap it but we'll see. O'Reily is leading the "just say no to DRM" choir with facts and figures to prove it, and I think they're right.

 

And of course this won't leak down to the self-published novels for an extremely long time. Major publishers will still control the industry for probably decades to come. But it's definitely in a state of flux!

 

Orren

[marguerite]

The Kindle connects to a Mac or PC as a hard drive (just like the iPod). There's nothing that actually prevents users from copying files off the Kindle and storing backups on a computer, CD, or whatever. In fact, it's a good idea, since Amazon stores copies only of stuff you've bought from them. Delete a book downloaded from Project Gutenberg, and it goes pouf until you download it again.

 

So yes, the Kindle is in one sense a subscription service: you buy books from Amazon.com, and Amazon.com can delete them without your knowledge. Books you buy with DRM are also limited to e-readers/computers/apps that can read the DRM. But you can also download any MOBI file in the world, as well as files converted from ePub, .doc, and various other formats, and read it directly on the Kindle.

 

I'm still hoping the iPad will make it possible to read not only Amazon books but B&N books, free books, and books sold through the iBookstore on one device. That would be a vast improvement over the current setup. But even the Kindle is not as limited as you might think.

 

The Epstein article did mention that smaller publishers are responding to change more rapidly than the conglomerates. And we can hope that the example of digital music will encourage others not to follow the same path. Of course, no one can tell what will happen till it does. Then you'll be surprised how many people say they saw it coming!

Best,

M

[orrenm]

I'm still hoping the iPad will make it possible to read not only Amazon books but B&N books, free books, and books sold through the iBookstore on one device.

 

I would be shocked if this were not the case. Considering that the iPhone OS already offers a Kindle app, all readers can read non-DRM eBooks, that is basically everything except B&N and Adobe custom DRM ePubs.

 

Adobe has said they're already working on a custom reader for the iPad. Which I don't even think is necessary, as Stanza can read Adobe DRM ePub books anyway, I believe.

 

I'm going to guess that B&N will do the same thing. I can't imagine B&N wanting to sit this one out, and I can't imagine even in their CEO's most wild drug-fueled hallucinations he could think that the Nook will sell more than the iPad.

 

Orren

[thealtruismsociety]

Here is another good article.

 

http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/

 

I excited about dynamic stories that digital books could bring forth, I'm thinking about how to do it as we speak.

[Steve E]

Here is another good article.

 

http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/

 

I excited about dynamic stories that digital books could bring forth, I'm thinking about how to do it as we speak.

Interesting (loooong) article. Thanks.

 

And I see you've loaded a new, more realistic icon for yourself.

- Thoth.

[thealtruismsociety]

Interesting (loooong) article. Thanks.

 

And I see you've loaded a new, more realistic icon for yourself.

- Thoth.

 

That's the M F'ing Raikage!!!

 

Which means nothing if you don't read Naruto, hehe.

 

I guess realistic as we are both Black, hehe.

[Steve E]

That's the M F'ing Raikage!!!

Which means nothing if you don't read Naruto, hehe.

I'm thinking of retiring to Konohagakure.

 

Love the goatee.

- Thoth.

[thealtruismsociety]

I'm thinking of retiring to Konohagakure.

 

Love the goatee.

- Thoth.

 

I am a giant Manga reader, hoping they come to iPad.