THE PROBLEM WITH E-BOOKS
Julie Duffy
16 January 2002
THE PAST couple of weeks have been bad
ones for the electronic book publishing industry. Some of the major
companies that got involved in electronic publishing have ceased
operations, citing the downturn in the economy and the low adoption
rates among readers.
There was a lot of hype about
electronic at Book Expo America and at the Seybold
publishing conferences a couple of years ago. Executives were promising
that electronic books would take over the world in five years. This
seemed like too short a time to me, a book lover and publishing
professional. I believed that electronic books would make a lot of
progress in those five years (certainly ten years) and they have.
E-books can be read on hand-held readers from specialized book readers,
to note-books, to hand-held Palms and Pocket
PC devices (also known as PDAs). Being able to load books on a PDA
is great for the traveler or for business people trying to catch up with
the latest hot non-fiction titles.
Display technologies are advancing and
various companies and universities keep promising us 'electronic
paper'. These things will combine with e-books' instant-delivery and
low cost of production to make them viable. But not in the mass market.
Not for a while.
People are buying e-books, but not a
huge number. The problems will remain
1, Display technology. It is currently
very hard to read a whole book on the screen because the resolution is
still a lot lower than that on a page. Microsoft's Reader software goes
some way to improving the display, as do higher-resolution LCD
monitors;
2, Pricing. The major publishers'
product developers do not understand technology and the online culture.
They see the intrinsic value of the intellectual property and price
the-books accordingly. Their business training tells them that they
should not 'devalue' the content by pricing e-books more than 10% less
than the first edition of the title (usually hardback). Consumers,
however, see that there are no printing costs, no distribution costs, no
reason for wholesaler discounts, when making an e-book. Consumers, quite
rightly, wonder why they should pay $18 for an e- book when the hardback
only costs $22.
3, Compatibility. Many e-book
companies have fallen for the fiction that e-book readers are going to
be the means of distribution for these-books. When telephone companies
are working with PDA manufacturers to make integrated electronic
organizers/telephones, why companies think anyone would want to buy a
separate e-book reader, is beyond me. This emphasis on the hardware has
lead to a variety of e-book formats being produced. The software and
publishing companies have got together to create the Open E-book
Standard, based on XML, but the standards continue to be wide.
4, Copyright Protection. Major
publishers put out the titles that have the strongest demand. Major
publishers are also reluctant to put out those titles in e-book formats
because of copyright protection issues. Some of the best e-book readers
(Adobe
Acrobat and MSReader)
do not have foolproof built-in copy protection. (Although Adobe
does have some, as does MSReader version 2). This means that the-books
can be copied and distributed freely. These fears leads to the
development of yet more proprietary software and formats that make it
difficult for readers to easily access titles.
5, Availability. Until the issues of
compatibility and copyright protection are solved, it will be difficult
to get a wide selection of titles for any given format.
6, Distribution. It doesn't seem like
distribution should be a big deal. Napster showed that it is easy to
store files on a computer anywhere and allow people to 'reach in' and
grab it. Add a pay- per-download front-end to this, and publishers could
distribute e-books more easily and cheaply than they do print books.
However, publishers don't seem to be interested in doing this. Instead,
traditional distribution companies are trying to find ways to aggregate
titles (at a discount, of course) and distribute them to store and
purchasers. This is an unnecessary introduction of middle-men that will
artificially drive up the price of e-books and goes against all logic.
The availability issues are a large
part of the problem. Readers are loyal to the format they like. I like
trade paperbacks and MSReader. Given a choice in print books I will
forego the hardback in favor of the trade paperback. Given a choice in
e- books, I will select MSReader, because it is my favorite software.
But not all e-books are available in this format. I don't have some of
the other e-reader software and the ones I do have, I don't like. If an
e-book is not available in my favorite format, I'll probably opt for the
paperback. And if the paperback is cheaper, well, there is no contest.
I like e-books. I put up with some
inconveniences because I like the instant delivery, the ability to carry
five novels around on my PDA, and yes, the coolness of being on the
cutting edge. Most people, however, just want a good book to read and a
comfortable way to read it.
The problems with e-books will be
worked out. But it will take time. The publishing and bookselling
industries are notoriously slow to change and adopt new policies. Until
they do, the majority of readers will not embrace e-books for any
reason. Eventually, even those who love paper books will find themselves
reading electronic books for some reasons – technical manuals, encyclopedias,
short stories while traveling – but I don't think we have to worry
about real, hefty, paper books, smelling of wood-pulp, ink and glue,
every going away entirely.
***
If you have any questions about getting published, email me at jd@jdwrite.com. If
I don't know the answer, I'll find someone who does!
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