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SEPTEMBER 26, 2010theage.com.au THESUNDAYAGE11

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books?E-books are set to revolutionise theway we read, writes JohnElder.But plot twists may savepaper books from goingthe way of the dinosaur.

If you are a geek, youalways have your iPad withyou, which means you

always have your librarywith you.GRAHAMCOTTEW,web designer

chapterfor

Is this the

finalFOR15 years, punditshavedeclaredthe old-fashionedbookto beasdoomedas theorang-utan.Justaswe willonedayhaveto visitthelast

ofthatsadspeciesinazoo,thedog-earedpaperbackisdestinedfor a similar freakshowstatus. Perhapsalong thelinesofcollectableWedgwood orsilverspoons.

Itisntonlythe smugfuturistswhoholdthis view:someof Mel-bournes most devotedbiblio-philestoldTheSundayAgethebookis destinedto belittlemorethanan ornamentas technologyincreasinglytransportsCharlesDickens andDan Brown intothedigital age.

Ifthisistrue,thelocaldeaththroesoftree-sourcedliteraturebeganin May, veryquietly, whentheBorderswebsitepostedthefirste-bookbestsellerlist forAustralia.Forthe firstcoupleofweeks,aNo. 1hit meant20copiessold.Fourmonthslater,Borders Australiaand itssistercompany,Angus& Robertson,havesoldmore then100,000e-booksand 20,000Koboe-readers,andseen 200,000e-book applications downloadedfree(for iPhone anddesktop

computerreading)fromtheirwebsites.

Whileonerival booksellerqueriedtheKoboe-readersalesfigures,REDgroup,thecompanythatownsBordersand Angus&Robertson,thinksthey couldhavesoldmoreifmoreof themhadbeen available.

Butfor aboutsixor sevenweekswecouldnt get[enough]devices intoour shops,RED-groupcommunicationsmanagerMalcolmNeilsays.

Wewere justgettingordersandmanagingdemand. . . ahugelatent demand.

Asklocalpublishersandbook-sellers whatthesales meanfor thefutureofreadingand theyllsay:Wedontknow yet.

Ononehand,thefactthattheapplications (web-basedsoft-ware)areavailablefreeon theBorders websiteis justone partofanaggressivestrategy byRED-groupthat,for themoment,is allbutlockingup thee-bookmarketinAustralia.On theotherhand,thefact therehavebeen twiceas

manye-readingapplicationsdownloadedas actualbookssoldbyREDgroupsuggests therevolutionso faris ageek-ledphenomenon.If theres a newgadget going,thetech-nerds willtendto snapit up.

GrahamCottew,a webdesignerwho specialisesin riskandcompliancemanagementforthefinanceindustry, describeshimself asanearlyadopteroftechnology, yethes only readonee-bookso far,TheArtofWar,andonhisiPad,notona ded-icatede-reader.Hereckonshewonttaketo stand-alonee-readersbecausetheyrea one-trickpony.I wouldneverpickatechnologythatdid justonething.

Asfor theelectronic readingexperience,he says:Atthe time,Ireally enjoyedit. Thesimulationofturning pagesis great,theclar-ityoftextisfineandI didntgetanyeyestrain.AndtheonethingIhaventseenmentioned:mywifeandI oftenfightaboutturningthelightsoutwhenI wantto readonemorechapter. Becausethe iPadisback-lit,she couldhavethe lightsoutand I couldkeepreading.

Cottewsees e-booksas havingtwoadvantages overpaperbooks:portabilityandcost. Ifyou areageek,youalwayshave youriPadwithyou,whichmeans youalways haveyourlibrarywith you.Thatyourevirtuallytakingalongkilogramsof paperwithno extraweight isa fantasticadvantage.

Theother thing:Ivejustbeengiventhe Millenniumtrilogy(theStiegLarssonjuggernaut)aspaperbooks. . . butIwas goingtobuythemas e-booksbecausethee-book version was$US9 [$A9.40pervolume]whilethe AlbertPark

bookshopsellsthem for$27 each.Itmightbe overthetop tosaythisspells thedeathknellfor tradi-tionalbooks,butitsboundtotakea bigshareof themarket.

Cottewadmitsan emotional

attachmentto hisfavouritepaperbooks, includinga number ofbeaten-uppaperbacks.

Theymean somethingto mesitting onthe shelf.Sometimesbooksmeanmoreto youthanjustthewordswrittenin them.Theymighthavebeenpartof yourlifeor inspiration.

BUTdoes thisold-schoolsentimentalitywash withayoungergenerationsuckledon digital techno-logy?Cottews son,Tim,

19,isalsoa geek.Towit,a scienceandengineering studentat Mon-ashUniversity.Hehas readacouple ofsciencefictione-booksonhis computerbut isnta fan,largelybecausehe alreadyspendstoomuchof histimelookingat ascreen.

Iprefer readingto beadifferentexperience.I loveapaperbook.I love[that]theyallhavedifferent covers,whereIthinke-books wouldtendto alllookthesame. Soyou dontgetthesameattachment.Witha

paperbook,itsmoreintimate.Of course, thedeathof intim-

acytendstooccurinstages,andcatchesits victimsbysurprise.

Forthe moment,e-booksalesmakeup lessthan1 percentoftotalbooksalesin Australia.However, Australiais twoto threeyearsbehindtheUS, wheree-booksaccountedfor 8.5percentof allbooksalesasof May,comparedwith2.9percentinthesameperiodlastyear,accordingtothe Associationof AmericanPublishers.

Bythe endof theyear,e-booksareexpectedtoaccountfor 10percentof theUSmarket,andbytheendof 2011may reachupwardsof15 percent. InJuly,Amazonannouncedthat StiegLarsson wasthefirstauthorto havesolda mil-lioncopiesvia itsexclusiveKindlee-reader. Inthe sameweek,Amazonsaid itwas selling moree-booksthan hardcoverbooks.

Thegrowthin theAustralianmarket willbe onan equallyexponentialcurve,saysRED-groups MalcolmNeil. Everynew

deviceandapplication addstothesizeof themarket,he says.

Twoweeksago,REDgroupsignedadealtomarkettheSonye-reader. Myer hasalso signedon,butotherbooksellersare lockedout.

WhileREDgroup hastrum-peteditsdominanceof themarket,Neil doesntbelievehiscompanyhas takenit hostage.Thisis thenew world,he says.Everyoneis stakingouttheirclaims.But itcosts moneytodothis, biginvestment.Wecando itbecausewerepartners withothermarketsaround

theworld,whichmeansweresharing

costs.Iwouldntsay were

tryingtotie upthemar-ket;weretrying toobtainas

muchcontentas possible.Contentis king.If youdont

havecontent,youcanthaveashareof themarket.

Whichis preciselywhathashappenedso farwith theinde-pendentbook shops theyhavenoeasy accessto e-titles.Fromaconsumers pointof view, youcannotgoto anindependentbookshopswebsiteand buyane-book,becausetheydonthavethemin stock regardlessofhowtooledupyou mightbewiththelateste-readers orapplica-tions.

Surely its a simple matter ofthestoresbuyingthe filesdirectfromthepublishers?

Well,no. Its a delicateandcomplicatedissuethat,as TheSundayAgediscovered,many

peoplein theAustralian publish-ingworldfind difficultto under-stand, letaloneexplain.Hereistheshortversion,as relatedbyStephenMay,presidentof theAustralian PublishersAssociation : Thee-booktradeis complexbecauseof technicaland legalissues related tofile integrityandcopyrightprotection andthewaya couple ofbig companieshaveexploitedthesecomplexitiestocorner themarket. Forthe pastthreeyears,somepublishersandbookstores, suchasDymocks,havebeen sellinge-bookson theirwebsites butinformats suchas PDFthat dontdeliverthe truee-bookpage-turningexperience.Thetrueexperienceis deliveredvia ane-reader(suchas theKindleorKobo) ore-readingapplication(asoniPad). WhenAmazonlauncheditse-titlesin 2007,it investeda hugeamountofmoneyinbeingabletodigitallytalkto allthe publishersandgainaccesstothetitles.Itwas

thenableto virtuallymonopol-isethe marketbecausepeople

couldonlybuyand readthebooks through Amazons

Kindlee-reader.The com-panyhas sincedomin-

atedthe market viaaggressivepricingand

convenience. Borders internationallyhas like-wiseinvestedin beingableto talktoall publishers andBordersAustraliahas benefitedfromthis.Itthendida dealwiththeCana-

diancompanythatproducestheKoboreader, ineffect copyingtheAmazon model byinitiallyadopt-inglimitedaccessvia onetype ofe-reader.However,Borders hasnowbegunsellingthe Sonye-reader. Thereare2000 Australianbook-sellers.Veryfew ofthem couldaffordtodeveloptheirowne-readers,andtheydnevermaketheirmoneyback.Meanwhile,thereisno pointin apublishersimplyemailingbook filestobookshopsthat donthavethetechnicalsupportfor theircon-sumerstoaccess theirbooksintheformatthey choose. However,therearenewe-readerscomingon tothemarketandthe number ofdevices isexpectedto growradic-ally and,increasingly, theywillbeopensystemsthatcantalktofilessoldfrom anyoutlet. Whatsmissingis a newkind ofintegrateddistributionsystemakinto theold-fashionedware-house, butin digital form thatwillserveas a protectedlink

betweenpublishers andbook-stores, andwill digitallytalktoanydevicethe consumerchoosestouse. Thesewarehousesarealreadybeing establishedintheUSand Britain.

SaysStephen May:Theonlywaytogeta fileintoan e-readerhasbeen througha bookstore.Sofar,thats meanteitherAmazonorREDgroup.Theyhave themarchonit.Buteveryweektherewillbea newe-reader out,and thatswhatwereall dealingwith atthispoint.

Asone industryinsiderexplains:the independentsexpectedthe publishersto brokerindividualdealswith retailers,whilethepublishers hopedtheretailersmightamalgamateintoabigenoughgroupto funda ware-

house.Victoria Nash, digital strategy

manager forPan Macmillan,saysthereis talkof an industry-basedsolution butit willtaketime.

Themost immediatesolution(or,at least,thebigwhitehopefortheindependentbookstores) restswiththe Google Editionslibrarygetting onlineandserving asawholesaler.Google Editions,whichhasscanned21 milliontitlesfrommajorlibrariesaroundtheworld,couldessentiallyserveasthe missingwholesalerlink.

Althoughin recent yearsGooglehasprovidedaccesstomanyfreebooksthatareoutofcopyright,GoogleEditions, whichhasbeen negotiatingwithpub-lishers aroundtheworld,includ-ingAustralia, willessentiallybeanother onlinebookseller sim-ilarto Amazon butwillingto openupthe marketbyallowing userstoaccessbooksfromabroadrangeof websitesusingan arrayofdevices.

MarkTanner,GoogleEditionsmanin Australia,saysthe com-panyis planningto selldirecttoconsumers,butwerewillingtoworkwithretailers,includingtheindependents. It was widelyreportedthat GoogleEditionswouldbereadyfor businessinJuly. Two months later, Tannersaysthe companyis keepingitslaunchdateunderits hat.

MarkRubbo, managingdir-ectorof Readings,believesGoogleEditions willbe thegame-