Are ebooks the future?

And what about the present?Clays 08.11.2010

WELL....FIRST, THE PAST

• Ebooks have been around since the late nineties – first time round they failed• In 2007 things started picking up again • Publishers began assembling their digital teams, it no longer seemed mad that someone might buy an ebook• We started to think of digital publishing as something beyond just books

Jeff Gomez (ironically) published this book. Made the case that the market had finally changed. This was it.

A small company called Sony decided to launch an e-ink device and ebook store in the US, supplied exclusively through Borders….

The Web 2.0 boom was in full flowInvestment piled in ($455.5 million into web 2.0 start ups in Q1-3 2006 alone) and the poster boys- Youtube, Facebook, Flickr etc, went from success to successSuddenly the web was the future. Again.

But not that much really changed.

Until....

2010(the year of the ebook)

What’s happened? This:

And this...

And this...

Not to mention these:

BUT WHAT DO WE MEAN BY AN EBOOK ANYWAY?

• The main format is the .epub, an open standard that is formed from XML

• Mobipocket (.prc) is another main standard – Amazon converts files

• Books are also apps for mobile platforms (usually Apple, but Android is also making waves)

• Or even other formats (CDs, games, PDFs, websites etc)

What does that mean for publishers? And printers?

Content is changing

• The model of DVDs is coming in to play- many publishers looking at adding value

• Bundling and chunking mean that text will not be tied to the length and format of a book

• Multimedia elements will start to come into play

• There will be new interactions between print and digital- like O’Reilly

Producers are changing

• Opens up new long tail, crowd sourced and networked opportunities for content creation

• Publishers have to redefine their intermediary role

• Retailer consolidation with the big players on one side

• Grass roots distribution on the other

Marketing is changing

• From broadcast to conversation• Viral possibilities opens up a new frontier• Social media tools are free• But are “owned” by their users• Allows consumers to kick back as well as

appreciate

Readers are changing

• Want frictionless delivery• Do not like industry measures like DRM

software • Are increasingly expecting things for free• Are talking to each other online• Expect digital to be cheap and easy

New challenges:copyright, pricing and retailer lock in.

The good news: Books are going nowhere fast.

We still need the old supply chain.

Copyright darwin2009

This

Not this

But with some of these on the way...

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

1. Think like a publisher. Many of them are

panicking. How can you help?

2. Ebooks create a market for new kinds of print product. What will

they be?

3. Digital has a supply chain, and it’s just as difficult as the physical one.

Where can you fit in?

This is how the world looks now

Michael Bhaskar

Digital Publishing Manager

Profile Books / Serpent’s Tail

michael@profilebooks.com

twitter: @ajaxlogos