Notes from the eBook Summit in New York
Last week I attended MediaBistro’s inaugural eBook Summit at the New World Stages Theatre in Manhattan. For the whole day, my inner geek girl got to curl up with my inner bookworm and look at what lies ahead in the world of books and the move towards digitization.
For the book industry, just like music, film and photography beforehand, the move towards digitization brings with it a massive shift in user experience, and distribution. Along with this, obviously, comes major disruption to the business models of the publishing world, affecting not only authors and retailers but also publishers and agents whose roles are quickly morphing as authors find ways to self-publish online.
The summit delved deep into some of the issues that lie ahead and the change the industry will face. The prevailing attitude was summed up by Steve Wasserman of Kneerim & Williams, who said, “its all a little too early to tell”, but I think that based on the precedents set by the music industry we can anticipate some of the changes that lie ahead and what publishers need to do to capitalize on the opportunities that are there for the taking. For instance, without the physical need to print and truck books to retailers anymore, publishers need to quickly find a way to offer value to authors (such as multimedia eBook content and promotion resources) to remain relevant, otherwise, just as we have seen in the music industry with record labels, there will be increasingly less seats at the table for middlemen such as publishers.
A few of the panelists at the event called 2010 “The Year of the Tablet” and big developments are expected over the next few years in terms of eBook devices, most likely in the forms of convergence with other multimedia devices particularly the Web. However, with the preference being for ever-smaller devices, how an eReader will comfortably work within an iPhone-type device is yet to be seen. One panelist at the event said that they were aware of a dozen new eReader devices to be unveiled at CES in January 2010, with plenty more, such as Apple’s rumored Tablet device expected later in the new year.
So far, eBook device makers such as Sony understand the effort needed to ensure that readers are able to fully immerse themselves in a comfortable and immersive narrative experience, with cozy lighting and lightweight devices without too many bells and whistles. That said – they are not ignoring the possibilities that lie ahead for the book when color touch screens, digitization and 3G connectivity come into the mix.
One of the most fascinating (and possibly ADD-inducing) aspects of eBooks will be what the industry is calling the next generation of reading (Reading 2.0?) with built-in Web and interactivity including search, dictionary, multimedia content and Web connectivity. Imagine reading a book on your Nook/Kindle/iTablet, and being able to instantly Wiki/YouTube/Dictionary.com a word, phrase or scene? Or instantly search for a favorite passage? How will this change the formerly linear world of reading? Will we ever be able to get through a book again without being tempted to jump into the Web to find out more?
Just like filmmakers and musicians, authors (or their publishers) will now be expected to be full content powerhouses, producing “special features” such as author interviews, character sketches, possibly even music and video components to embellish and complement their written work. Publishers and agents will need to stay on top of this content to propel their authors forward in the new world of eBook sales, the content will be both a marketing tool and an additional revenue stream. An example of the new iteration of books with multimedia add-ons is LaunchSquad client Vook which, combines videos with books to create a whole new experience.
While the new world of digital books and Web-enabled reading is exciting, the path ahead for pricing and distribution is not yet set in stone. This week, major publishing houses Harper Collins and Random House, both announced plans to delay the launch of eBook editions, following hardback and paperback releases – an interesting move that most of the panelists saw as a stop-gap measure until they get a real eBook strategy in place. As we saw with digital music, if you do not make a product available to purchase, people will find a way to get it whether legally or not. Sony’s Head of Digital Reading, Steve Haber, put it best “We can’t be afraid of cannibalizing our physical book sales by treading too carefully into digital, because if we don’t cannibalize our sales, someone else will do it for us.” (I’m paraphrasing but that was the gist).
Pricing is of course, another pressure point within the emerging eBook market. While there is potential for experimental pricing (e.g. 99c for the first chapter of a book or $5 for additional special features material), panel members were not afraid to call out Amazon’s $9.95 pricing as a bully-tactic, a power-play to be the big shot in the industry to replicate the success that Apple had with MP3 players and their iTunes digital music sales arm. Most people in the industry see $9.95 as an unprofitable margin for authors and publishers that is ultimately unsustainable.
Just as we have seen with music, DRM is an increasingly prickly pear for the eBook industry that could determine which devices and distribution platforms become big, and which ones ultimately fail. Significantly, the move by blockbuster business author Stephen Covey to sign an exclusive eBook deal with Amazon.com (with exclusive DRM) could greatly bolster sales of the Kindle, particularly if Amazon is able to sign enough blockbuster authors upfront so as to disable efforts by iTunes or Barnes & Noble to make a play in the eBook world.
As an avid reader, book lover and geek girl, I am excited about the world of digital books and will also treasure my physical book editions as a relic of the printed past. It would be magnificent if eBooks could encourage more reading and literacy, and that as the price of production comes down, eBooks will be more accessible and the digital divide can be gapped in a joint effort between libraries, schools, device makers, governments and non-profits.
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Eveda