E-Books Part 2

This evening there is a discussion on C-Span 2 (Book TV) about the impact of e-books in the publishing industry. The discussion took place this week at the 2010 Bookexpo America conference. Along with Scott Turow, the incoming president of American writer's association, were four other speakers were executives of publishing companies and a author agent firm. (Penguin; Farrar, Giroux, and Strauss; Ingram; Workman). With so many voices on the stage, opinions on a particular subject or interpretations of a situation differ. A couple of the speakers, including Turow, bemoan the possible decline of the printed book and envision doom for the industry. Others see opportunities in the digital realm, but recognize that the current business model must change to take advantage of them.

Here is a list of some of the topics of the discussion: author compensation, pricing of books in all forms in light of changing consumer expectations, increasing competition for the eyes of readers from other forms of entertainment, the cultural and economic value of books, the costs to publishers to purchase the technology to create an e-book, and authority control.

The decreasing prices for books was, unsurprisingly, extremely prominent. This is an issue that impacts all aspects of the publishing industry. What happens when book readers no longer think it is reasonable to pay $25.00 for a hardcover book? At what level are prices for e-books going to stablize? Responding to the demands of customers in the digital realm is significantly more complicated. Customers now have more options to purchase books, so the ability of the publishing industry to dictate what a customer is going to buy and how much money is spent is declining.

The possibility of embedded media in e-books I found extremely intriguing. For instance, if a customer buys a cookbook in a digital format, it may be possible to watch footage of the book's author cooking some of the recipes. The experience of reading a children's book could be completely transformed into a complete multimedia adventure; it could be more like watching an animated program than reading a traditional book. Interviews with authors could be included explaining the genesis and development of the book, not unlike a director interview on a dvd or blu-ray disc.