Why E-Books Failed In 2000, And What It Means For 2010

Excerpt from post: I had a front row seat for the last generation of ebooks: In 1999 I was at Softbook (one of the early ebook reader companies), and later I interacted with the folks at Peanut Press (an ebook publisher) after they were bought by Palm. My short summary of the lessons I learned: Although some of the barriers that stopped ebooks in 2000 have been reduced, most of them are still in place. So I think the market isn’t likely to grow as quickly as many optimists are predicting. However, the economics of traditional publishing are very vulnerable to a paradigm change. That change is likely to happen later than most people expect, but once it happens it’ll probably move very quickly indeed. So stay out of the avalanche zone.

Full article here

March 19, 2010 by Uncategorized 3

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3 Responses

  1. Walt says:
    March 19, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    Leaves out some issues, but overall an unusually good commentary
    The author doesn’t really deal with the extent to which most readers find “formless books”–mass-market paperbacks and the like–comfortable and inexpensive. They may be ripe for the picking, but only when we’re convinced to move to something better.

    Oh, and lots of magazines work very well as presentation systems–and, in print, ads can indeed be added value, particularly because they’re there when you want them and not when you don’t. (Don’t tell me that subscribers to most niche magazines–cars, PCs, cruises, horses, you name it–don’t find value in the ads!)

    That said, this is one of the best discussions on these issues I’ve seen.

    Reply
  2. Bibliofuture says:
    March 19, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    parasitic scum
    Interesting section from the article:
    What is it about the tech industry and authors? Both Amazon and Google have shown a unique ability to make authors bond with publishers, people they otherwise tend to view as parasitic scum.

    The relationship between Amazon and Macmillan is very complicated, and I don’t want to get into the details of their contracts here. There’s ample evidence for labeling either one of them a villain and/or idiot if you want to. But my point is that ebook pricing remains screwed up today. Maybe not as uniformly screwed up as it was in 2000, but it’s still a mess.

    ————————

    Publishers are often not the best buddies of authors. In Publishers Weekly there is this current story:

    Authors Guild Warns Again on e-Book Royalties
    http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/453656-Authors_Guild_Warns_Again_on_e_Book_Royalties.php

    Reply
  3. Bibliofuture says:
    March 19, 2010 at 8:29 pm

    Another line to watch for
    Look for this line in the article:

    The project is called BookServer, and 1,000 more books are being digitized every day (link). It’s the most hopeful thing I’ve heard about the future of libraries in years.

    Reply

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