Ebook notes
From PLN
Ebook notes
|
Notes and comments on ebooks--book-length texts in digital form--as opposed to dedicated ebook readers.
Library use of ebooks
- by Leslie Dillon from Leader's Digest May 2008
The Primary Research Group has published the 2008/2009 edition of Library Use of E-books. Data in the report is based on a survey of 75 academic, public and special libraries. Key findings are available free on their website. Here are a few:
- The libraries in the sample had MARC records for about 74% of their e-books. E-book providers furnished MARC records for about two-thirds of those e-books.
- 45% of libraries surveyed make special efforts to help patrons reach free e-book sites.
- Over half of patrons reported either extensive or significant use of e-reference books. College libraries reported more extensive use than publics.
- Business books were among the most popular e-books.
- Fiction e-books were little used.
- Just over 10% of libraries surveyed owned an e-book reading device.
The full study costs $75 and is available in print or PDF. (Sarah Houghton-Jan, LibrarianInBlack, May 14, 2008.)
How the book publishing industry should reinvent itself
- by Leslie Dillon from Leader's Digest June 2008
Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece in The New York Times predicts that digital book readers will soon become the common, perhaps even preferred, method of reading books. The problem is finding the right business model.
According to David Balter, writing on the Harvard Business blog, Conversation Starter, “traditional book publishing is still primarily an old media business in a new media world.”
2007 book sales were just 0.9% above those for 2006. “Publishers … are finding it increasingly difficult to figure out just what’s going to work and what isn’t.” Foot traffic is down in book stores and authors can now have their books published and distributed via the Web.
Publishers need to get in touch with today’s economy, in which consumers are “the ultimate distribution channel.”
Balter suggests that publishers look at authors the way “savvy early-stage investors view emerging businesses,” investing in the ones that look like they’ll be successful. Here’s a scenario:
- Authors package their books and distribute free copies on their own.
- Publishers decide what books to pick up, pay for licensing and distribution rights, and “distribute a product that has developed an initial marketplace of buyers.”
- Publishers tweak the completed product as agreed-upon with the author, “print more and distribute them through the strength of their partners.”
“Here, everyone wins. Authors have to prove their ability to deliver a good book and build an audience before a publisher fully invested. Publishers greatly reduce the up front production costs and the risk of betting on authors that can’t produce, and increase the odds that what they spend on will provide results.”
Balter has done just that with his new book, The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II. We’ll see if it works!
(David Balter, "How the book publishing industry should reinvent itself," Conversation Starter from Harvard Business Blogs, Jun 13, 2008; Paul Krugman, "Bits, bands, and books," The New York Times, June 6, 2008.)
Freed from the page, but a book nonetheless
- by Leslie Dillon from Leader's Digest January 2008
Randall Stross, writing in the New York Times, predicts that widespread “digitization of personal book collections” is coming soon because “display technology” can now compete “page-to-page” with paper.
The article refutes Steve Jobs’ claim that ebook readers aren’t necessary because nobody reads books anymore, using statistics from the Book Industry Study Group, which estimates sales of 408 million books and revenues of $15 billion this year in the United States.
The article concludes that the “object we are accustomed to calling a book is undergoing a profound modification as it is stripped of its physical shell” and reminds us that “Amazon should be credited with … replacing the book business with the reading business.”
(Randall Stross, “Freed From the Page, but a Book Nonetheless," The New York Times, Jan. 27, 2008.)
2007 ebook Sales up 23.6 percent
- by Leslie Dillon from Leader's Digest March 2008
“American e-book sales in 2007, by ‘12-15 trade publishers,’ jumped to $31.7 million or 23.6 percent higher than in 2006.” Note that this is “just part of the e-book industry (no ‘library, educational or professional electronic sales’) and that the retail figure might actually be in the $60 million range.”
And Stephen Abram, SirsiDynix VP of Innovation, reports “seeing quite a few Kindles and Readers at the airport.”
("U.S. 2007 wholesale e-book sales: $31.7M, or 23.6 percent over 2006—but should they have been still higher?", TeleRead: Bring the e-books home, Feb. 18, 2008 via Stephen’s lighthouse, Feb. 18, 2008.)
What's happening with ebooks?
- Leslie Dillon from Leader's Digest September 2007
Amazon and Google will enter the eBook business later this year, but they’re taking different tacks. Amazon’s Kindle is a proprietary stand-alone device that will connect wirelessly to an Amazon eBook store. Google will simply index selected titles and charge for access to them (this project is separate from Google Book Search).
An article in the September 18 issue of BusinessWeek isn’t optimistic about Amazon’s foray into digital downloading. “The economics just don’t add up. And that’s unlikely to change with the company’s plan to ratchet up its digital merchandising this fall.” Usage restrictions are preventing wider adoption, and for Amazon, “there’s still much more money to be made shipping real stuff.”
(OPLIN 4cast #72, Sept. 18, 2007, “Amazon does downloads, sort of,” BusinessWeek, Sept 17, 2007 and “Envisioning the next chapter for electronic books,” New York Times, Sept. 6, 2007.)
A book is a book is a...
- Walt Crawford, Fall 2007
The discussion (argument, if you prefer) over book as package vs. book as story goes on, in and out of the library field. Summer 2007 saw some interesting back-and-forth among thoughtful libloggers on, as Iris Jastram calls it, the book-ish-ness of books. Her post is a fine entry point into the conversation, much of which took place on and around this post by Steve Lawson. Since I took part in this discussion, I'll only summarize to say that some of us feel that ebooks as general replacements for print books are non-starters (which leaves huge niche markets for ebooks and ebook readers), some of us feel that this view is a form of nostalgia and has no place in the younger generation--and some of us want to see books evolve to something different that doesn't work as printed pages within bindings.
Related articles
- Kindle and ebook reader notes - Facts and commentary on dedicated ebook readers.
- Digital audiobook services through libraries - There's more than one way to provide books in digital form. This item summarizes a Library Technology Report on digital audiobook services.
- Light my fire: thoughts on the Kindle - Joe Lucia's commentary on actual experience with Kindle and the nature of text and books.
- Can the latest ebook Kindle the market? - Earlier, LaRue considered the Kindle as a complementary resource for print books from the library.
- Google Book Search, Open Content Alliance and Live Search Books notes - The widest range of ebooks may come from the book digitization projects; public domain books are already becoming available for download or reading online. Various notes appear here.
