e-Books are Books
Dr. Joe Webb, industry pundit said in a column last week “E-books are not books, they’re e-commerce sites that let you read books.”
In a sense, he’s certainly right, but if you print books, the idea that e-books are not books and will not replace books is a dangerous concept. What e-books replace is not the idea of a book which will persist. If you are a writer or a publisher, e-book technology offers up new opportunities, and challenges as well as new marketing and distribution possibilities.
But none of these opportunities mean much if your bread and butter is putting ink on paper and your customers are book publishers. For those folks, e-books ARE books and their electronic delivery eats into their core business. The fact that writers and publishers can build business models on electronic delivery systems does nothing to help them.
For the immediate future, book publishing trends are fairly clear. People are buying a huge number of e-books and not only is the number increasing daily, but also the percentage of e-books versus ink on paper books is increasing. In other words, people are consciously deciding to go with electronic delivery and e-paper editions.
The net effect is that ink on paper book publishing is rapidly becoming a short-run, on-demand business for many types of publishers, particularly in the educational book market. Mass market hardcover and paperbacks will still be printed in large quantities, but new authors, scholars, many children’s book writers and niche market offerings will see a huge impact from e-books in the coming few years (particularly when color and video capable versions become available).
The new Nook from Barnes and Noble wisely incorporated a color touch screen with an e-paper screen. It will only be a matter of time before e-paper screens are color touch screens, which may be what Apple will be releasing soon. Folks might quibble that such books are hybrid computers and not actually “e-books,” but how you define the technology really is not the point. The point is that electronic delivery is going to replace ink on paper delivery for a huge number of readers, and the impact on ink on paper book printers will be significant.
Even Joe Webb is hoping for some kind of e-reader in his Christmas stocking.
So I’m not quite sure what he means when he says an e-book is not a book.
If you’re a book printer, it is.
In a sense, he’s certainly right, but if you print books, the idea that e-books are not books and will not replace books is a dangerous concept. What e-books replace is not the idea of a book which will persist. If you are a writer or a publisher, e-book technology offers up new opportunities, and challenges as well as new marketing and distribution possibilities.
But none of these opportunities mean much if your bread and butter is putting ink on paper and your customers are book publishers. For those folks, e-books ARE books and their electronic delivery eats into their core business. The fact that writers and publishers can build business models on electronic delivery systems does nothing to help them.
For the immediate future, book publishing trends are fairly clear. People are buying a huge number of e-books and not only is the number increasing daily, but also the percentage of e-books versus ink on paper books is increasing. In other words, people are consciously deciding to go with electronic delivery and e-paper editions.
The net effect is that ink on paper book publishing is rapidly becoming a short-run, on-demand business for many types of publishers, particularly in the educational book market. Mass market hardcover and paperbacks will still be printed in large quantities, but new authors, scholars, many children’s book writers and niche market offerings will see a huge impact from e-books in the coming few years (particularly when color and video capable versions become available).
The new Nook from Barnes and Noble wisely incorporated a color touch screen with an e-paper screen. It will only be a matter of time before e-paper screens are color touch screens, which may be what Apple will be releasing soon. Folks might quibble that such books are hybrid computers and not actually “e-books,” but how you define the technology really is not the point. The point is that electronic delivery is going to replace ink on paper delivery for a huge number of readers, and the impact on ink on paper book printers will be significant.
Even Joe Webb is hoping for some kind of e-reader in his Christmas stocking.
So I’m not quite sure what he means when he says an e-book is not a book.
If you’re a book printer, it is.
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