London light years

London in the UK is light years ahead of the rest of the world in encouraging ereading. Through the London Evening Standard, Barnes and Noble agreed to donate 1,000 Nooks to a charity (Beanstalk) and now major publishers are donating their books on those Nooks to make this cause — called Get London Reading — a success for schoolchildren. What a wonderful combination of collaborators — ereader-maker for the devices, newspaper for the promotion, and publishers for the content. It's a win—win-win for students. According to The Bookseller story: "Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House have signed up to donate titles from bestselling children’s authors, including Michael Morpurgo’s A Medal for Leroy (HarperCollins) and Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Penguin).

Bookless in San Antonio

I first blogged about a bookless library in San Antonio last January 16, 2013. Now it's getting closer. Bibliotech in Bexar County should be live in August, according to Goodereader. Update: "The publicly funded library has raised over $200,000 to finance its new digital library and will feature 48 computers, 300 e-readers, and three Discovery Terminals via 3M." This is a first in the world as far as I know.

Google's World Brain

I've often wondered how Google convinces libraries, such as Harvard, to allow the super-rich company to digitize books for free. Now I know. A new documentary "Google and the World Brain", which, by the way, is described by TechCrunch as a very anti-Google movie, explains: "They pitch it as a way to avert disasters like the burning of Alexandria or the flooding of Tulane University’s library during Hurricane Katrina." Of course, any librarian worth his or her salt would want to avoid a disaster. But authors, in particular the Author's Guild, have objected and asked the courts for $3 billion from Google for scanning copyrighted books. However the Guild settled for $125 million; but then a District Court judge dismissed the settlement. So we are unresolved. The bottom line to understand about all this is that Google is not interested in making books available for reading as much wanting to mine the data for all its worth.

Africa as in tiny

We've all seen people read novels on a tiny cellphone screen. Maybe we should realize that they obviously really wanted to read that title. That's called motivation and we often underestimate the value of motivation, or just plain need. So here comes Africa where cellphones are "a huge component of how consumption is happening," says Angela Wachuka, executive director of Kenya’s Kwani Trust, which publishes the popular Kwani? literary journal. Ms. Wachuka notes, in a Christian Science Monitor story, that she's seen Kenyans devour hundreds of pages of text on their tiny screens, plowing through tell-all memoirs and other accounts of the country's recent political turmoil. In the U.S. we are obsessed with the newest trend in e-reader devices (of which the newest is Microsoft buying Nook) as if the perfect device will render the perfect reading experience, as opposed to the perfect content rendering the perfect reading experience, the device be damned. Even here in the U.S. though things are changing: Microsoft, rumor has it, will use Nook to develop apps for somebody else's device. Mmmm.

Asia as in mobile

No surprise that when you look at ebook adoption in Asia it is mobile generated and not ereader-centric. Check out this report from Publishing Perspectives. that deals with Korea (see earlier post), Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Korea -- meaning South Korea, of course -- clearly is the growth center, but to put things in perspective in those four countries ebook sales remain less than 2% of the local book market. I would summarize: Just as in the Western culture, there is not enough time for people to enjoy long-form blogging; in the East there are not enough devices for people to enjoy long-from anything.

Library brouhaha

The controversial PEW report on libraries, has the information I deem most important: The report shows that parents are largely in support of expanding both e-book offerings (62 percent) and interactive experiences (54 percent). That information has just been ignored because of the so-called much larger brouhaha caused by whether libraries should focus on reading or other services to the community.

Change, no more?

Hard to believe that there will no longer be a Tools of Change conference. Although I never attended any one of the seven, because I am not really a technologist and am definitely a cheapscate, I had great respect for people who did. And I avidly read everything that I could understand that came out of the Change practice area, as Brian O'Leary described it in Magellan Media. O'Leary is very critical of Tim O'Reilly's decision, but you have to take O'Reilly at his word -- that it may be more important, more satisfying to create tools of change for publishers rather than host the discussion and dissemination of tools of change for publishers. I wish Tim Oreilly continued leadership.

Will Kobo Coop the Lead

Now comes the real battle. Who really builds the best ereader over the long haul? Not who has the best marketing, or who leverages best that first-to-market advantage. Wired weighs in with its choice: Kobo. Now that is surprising. How many of us have even considered buying a Kobo? Think back to cars. Was Ford an early apostle? Who had a Ford in the 1880's when the first cars were built by Benz and Daimler and Maybach. Absolutely noone. The first truly successful, longlasting automotive device (that was to force the replacement of horses and carriages) was Ford's Model T nearly 30 years later. So how does the venerable Wired.com come to its quick conclusion:"the (Kobo) Aura HD has the best screen on the e-reader market today. The display — a 6.8-inch, 1440 x 1080 screen with a density of 265 ppi — knocks the Kindle Paperwhite off its throne as e-ink emperor. Text appears crisper on the Aura’s display than on any of the other e-readers I’ve tested, not just the Paperwhite." And that's just for starters. Read all about the Kobo Aura HD.

Reading, Out of Our Minds

"Out of Print", a documentary to be seen in a few film festivals this summer, casts doubt on a successful future for reading, believing the internet has changed the practice forever. Calling "digital natives" "digital doofuses" pretty much sums up part of the movies' message: young people's brains are being Googled into nonexistance. Not so fast, I say. How do we know? My very upbeat feeling is that electronic reading is more public than private, as in the past (wonderfully designed to be shared in smaller chunks). And any electronic book today is like abstract art, to be defined more completely by the viewer (reader) than the painter (author). That's not bad, or dumb, or disappointing -- its just different. “Out of Print” screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival May 1, and now moves on to the Seattle International Film Festival on May 22 and 23, and the New Hope Film Festival in July. Odd to see a film about the revolution in reading. But then again, how else to capture the revolution, when the revolution in reading is all in people's heads. We've got to get out of our minds, which is hard to do.

Striding into China

Take a deep breath because ebooks may soon be hitting their stride globally. Amazon, according to The Digital Reader, has just added another country to the supported list for their Android app store: China. As you know, China holds 20 percent of the world's population. That's one out of every five people live in China. If they get hooked on the Amazon Appstore, Amazon, and then the Kindle and ebooks, the sky is the limit. Of course offering the appstore is only a small step in that direction. But, right now the Amazon Appstore is only available in the US, a handful of countries in Europe, and Japan, and the same goes for the Kindle Fire. But according to a press release Amazon will soon be selling Android apps in “nearly 200 countries” around the world, including India, South Africa, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and even Vatican City. Today’s news is leading some to speculate that Amazon is just about ready to launch the Kindle Fire in China.

Shatzkin's South American shake and bake

The blog The Shatzkin Files tackles one of the most difficult predictions imaginable -- what will happen with ebooks globally in the next 10 or 20 years. I am fascinated because I try to follow this subject and prior to reading Shatzkin's blog would not have ventured any of his observations: #1 What happened in America was unique -- unified audience meets effectively innovative company, Amazon -- and will NOT happen that way globally #2 The consequent destruction of bookstores (in America) by the ebook revolution will be replicated globally #3 “Enhancements”, like video or interactivity, will not pay off in bigger ebook sales or make it easier to command higher prices. Mike Shatzkin, in his shake and bake speech to the Buenos Aires Book Fair -- reinterpreted in his blog -- has confirmed the Tower of Babel as the old legend to explain the new phenomenon. And what is the primary cause of the old legend in South America: the lack of a credit card culture (which makes online purchases, i.e. ebook purchases, very difficult).

Magically making books

Ingram is the biggest book distribution company there is. Jeremy Greenfield, for Digital Book World, recently took a tour of Nashville plants that Ingram uses for print on demand distribution, i.e. distribution of books directly to retailers, libraries, schools and other partners. Interesting what he wrote: "I’ve never been on the floor of a real manufacturing or major shipping facility and I was completely wowed. The level of complexity and sophistication in the operations is mind-boggling. The size and scale of what’s being done there blew me away. And it was almost magical to see books being made, packed and shipped from this one place to points around the country, to know that the few books I touched in the process would soon be read and maybe loved by someone I’ll never meet." I assume the books that are being "magically" made are softcover books. Hardcover books, with special sewing and foil stamps, need to be made in a less automated way. So, what product do you think will be commoditized in the future and what product do you think will have true value?

Brazil's surprise

In Brazil, you'll need a dance card to keep track of the contestants. In the ebook world, Kobo, Google and Amazon opened their virtual doors in December 2012. The opposition, one would think, would be Saraiva, and digital distributor Xeriph. But seven of the largest publishers had banded together in April 2012 -- in anticipation of Amazon's arrival -- to create Distribuidora de Livros Digitais (DLD). According to Publishing Perspectives: "It looks like the DLD gamble has paid off. According to research by PublishNews Brazil’s Carlo Carrenho presented last week at the Digital Minds Conference during the London Book Fair, sales through DLD — which is believed to account for about 30% of ebook market in Brazil — more than doubled, reaching 39,210 ebooks in December."

Let's also print

Smashwords has been the leader for indie, ebook publishing for several years. Now Draft2Digital wants to end that, and, Good Reader puts some perspective on the development. Visit the Draft2digital website and see what you think. Draft2Digital is a free service and only when a new ebook sells on one of the online retailer sites does Draft2Digital make money, approximately 10 percent. It's unclear whether you can also print these books? If the new author can't also print, the new author is leaving money on the table.

Need? Resell digital

The overriding reason that people say they prefer printed books to electronic books -- anecdotally, that is -- is that the opportunity to give the printed book as a gift after reading is unsatisfying to nonexistant, with electronic books. I think this is the reason, that as EContent reports about a WorldPay survey: "Over half of UK and US consumers would like to have the option to resell the digital content they have purchased. . ." Remember we've already reported that Amazon has patented a process of being able to resell (give) epubs. Amazon may be one step ahead of us once again.

Flying Dutch

You've got to love the Dutch, traders and diplomats and collaborators and innovators extraordinaire. (This has nothing to do with pride in my heritage since my ancestors came from the town of Deventer in Holland, hence my Americanized name "Vandevanter".) Who else but the Dutch would come up with the first multi-platform title. Read Digital Book World's announcement of the title invented by Klaas Weima: "It consists of a hard copy book, a blog, a free iPhone app, an iPad app and social media accounts." What I love most about this is that it ALSO includes a hard copy of "Earned Attention".

Magazines also in the game

We've talked about how natural it is for newspapers to become ebook publishers. Now let's talk about magazines. The same rules apply. After all newspapers, I mean, magazines, have content, talented writers and self-defined audiences. The Atlantic, the magazine, is launching a new line of ebooks, “The Atlantic Books,” which will include “original long-form pieces between 10,000 and 30,000 words." Paid Content also reports content will include "curated archival collections that span the magazine’s 155-year history and feature some of the best-loved voices in American letters.” The Atlantic Books’ first ebook, a memoir called Denial by Jonathan Rauch, is available for $1.99 exclusively through Amazon’s Kindle Singles store, though The Atlantic says it will “soon” also be sold by Nook, the iBookstore and Kobo.

England on the ebook upswing

Digital Book World reports that the share of ebook sales in England continues on its three-year upswing. Digital formats (encompassing ebooks, audiobooks downloads and online subscriptions) accounted for 12% of the total invoiced value of sales of books in 2012, with this share rising from 8% in 2011, and from 5% in 2010. And Barnes and Noble has announced that it has donated 1,000 Nooks (ereaders) through English national charity Beanstalk to school children in the UK. Meanwhile, Peter Hildick-Smith, founder of The Codex Group, a book-publishing data firm, speaking at the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Leadership Conference in Nashville, predicted that the digital book percentage in the U.S. will be at the 30 percent level in 2013.

Libraries go live

Hachette Book Group has became the fourth major publisher this year to announce it was expanding its digital offerings to libraries, according to Book Business. Hachette, whose authors include Stephenie Meyer and Malcolm Gladwell, will offer its entire e-catalog to libraries simultaneously in paper and e-editions, a policy also recently adapted by Penguin Group (USA). Hachette, Penguin and other publishers had previously restricted newer works out of concern for lost sales. Awesome.

Printing digital first

What many people may have missed in the announcement that HarperCollins continues to add to its digital first offerings is that, as Paid Content reports: "In many cases, the books are eventually released in print; HarperCollins says that to date, more than 60 percent of Impulse titles have a print format, with thousands of printed copies sold for each of those books.” The report goes on to clarify that "in many cases this means print-on-demand books that don’t make it into bookstores". So HarperCollins has now added mystery books to its digital first offerings under the imiprint "Impulse," according to the report. Previously HarperCollins had released teen, romance, and sci-fi/fantasy novels.

Korea gone gangbusters

South Korea, what a contrast with the North. The ebook market is expected to grow like gangbusters, according to the Korea Herald. In the North you have a starving nation run by a 28-year-old fanatic. In the South, you have market freedom, perhaps, like no other place in the world. They are embracing a new way of reading to the tune of growth from $325 billion won in 2012 to $753 billion won in 2013, according to the Herald. Now part of the reason is that in Korea the smartphones often have more than a 5" in display, so they can be comfortably used to read books, in addition to making phone calls. To put simply, the Koreans have combined the phone and the tablet. That's a great combination that doesn't exist in the U.S., where we tend to have small display smartphones (3" perhaps) and then, as a separate device, an ereader with a screen at least 5".

And the beat goes on

Have you ever seen someone read a book on an iPhone or other smart phone? Of course. Not optimal, but happens. But let's don't count such new ereader devices because we have no good idea how many people actually use them for reading ebooks, in addition to the devices' primary role of phoning and emailing. Probably a small minority. (According to exclusive Simba data, about 63% of smartphone owners, 48% of iPad owners and 40% of non-iPad tablet owners do not use e-books. That means only about 37 percent of smart phone users read ebooks.) Let's just try to count people who have purchased ereaders with larger than 5" screens as book reading devices, and even those devices, as we know, could be used for some other function such as gaming or emailing. Does it help at all to keep track of the number of ereader devices sold? Yes, because it tells you whether the beat goes on, or not. But that's about it. That's how I interpret the news that Apple sold 20 million iPads in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 12 million iPads sold during the 2012 first quarter, according to Digital Book World. We have already reported that there are about 50 million ereader users out there, and counting.

The library state

There are more than 16,000 public libraries nationwide. What is their state, when it comes to ebooks? Let’s look at the ALA’s 2013 State of America’s Libraries Report, released during National Library Week, April 14 – 20. According to Digital Book World: "Digital content and libraries, and most urgently the issue of ebooks, continues to be a focus of the library community. Libraries and publishers of ebooks have spent much of the past year seeking some middle ground that will allow greater library access to ebooks and still compensate publishers appropriately. Just recently Penguin Group USA removed a six-month embargo on new releases licensed to libraries and instead will offer new ebook titles immediately after they are released in the consumer market. Although other terms are expected to continue, including a one-year expiration date on ebooks licensed to libraries, this new development comes at a time when the ALA continues to reach out to the nation’s top publishers to explore ebook lending models in U.S. libraries."

Software vs. artifact

Are ebooks software or artifact? Establishing their essence is absolutely necessary for there to be legal interpretation. So where do you come down? Myself, it’s easy. Artifact. I like the observation that software is function and ebooks are culture. But it’s not that simple, especially as ebooks become more interactive (involve more function). This is a hot topic in Europe right now, especially after a ruling by a German court, as reported by The Digital Reader, that because ebooks are not software (right) you can’t resell them (wrong). You see in Europe you CAN resell software, so if ebooks aren’t software, then you CAN’T resell them. Now does that really make sense? No. So expect the court ruling to change. Which brings us back to the real argument: can ebooks that are interactive be considered (static) culture? I hope so.

Heart of a Hart

Who invented the ebook? Michael Stern Hart, who at the age of 25, invented the e-book in 1971 and went on to found Project Gutenberg, according to The Hindu. Michael Hart died on September 6, 2011 at the age of 64 but his vision of the power of the internet continues unabated, perhaps even increased. In fact, what's the biggest problem for readers these days? Figuring out which e-reader to buy. ReaderRocket.com, a website that recently launched, intends to remedy that problem and help you pick out your next e-reader.

Europe's on board

Looks like Europe will not be a barrier. As we look at the world and the adoption of ebooks globally, Europe has removed its obstructionist tendencies. Apple and other publishers -- including now Penguin -- have promised not to “restrict, limit or impede” e-book retailers’ discounts or their ability to “set, alter or reduce retail prices for e-books” for two years according to details of the proposed changes as published in the EU’s Official Journal. That is good news. Now we've got the U.S. confronting unrestricted pricing of ebooks, as well as Europe, South America, Korea, China and Japan.Once again the Tower of Babel rules, because although these countries will not control prices, that does not mean they will all embrace the same ereader devices or the same coding or the same languages.

Saving ourselves

Nearly everyone has a favorite book, or a book that for some possibly transitional period of their life, led the way. That's why books are different from other commodities -- they actually save people's (spiritual) lives. So what about all those books that have done this for generations past. Are all of them inappropriate, useless, not applicable? Probably not. Thus backlists of currently out-of-print books can be valuable. But would someone just want an ebook of a lifesaver book, probably not. That's where ebooks and print books go together like peas and carrots. Get the ebook and then order a printed copy. Read Publisher's Weekly's fascinating look at out-of-print books revisiting as ebooks. Basically about half the out-of-print books studied had come back as ebooks. That's a good start at saving ourselves. Quoting: "Looking through PW’s archives at the top 25 bestselling books of both 1992 and 1982 in fiction and nonfiction (100 titles total), we found 56 books that had Kindle e-book editions."

Mashups for books

Finally a company that understands that readers rule: Bindworx. Go to bindorx.com. The UK company has just launched with, as Digital Book World put it: :"a twist that does seem novel: It will also allow its customers to create (and then buy) new works by combining old works and their own intellectual property. Think mashups for books." Ever since the internet allowed everyone to be an author, columnist, photographer, biographer, reporter, etc. the idea that content can be obsconded and/or manipulated by the receiver has been the theme of the day. The fact that it is finally possible with books, or rather ebooks (digital books), should not surprise anyone. Technology has not been the hindrance: people/culture/the law have been. This should not strike fear in the hearts of authors or publishers nor be cause for greed among copyright attorneys. This will only help them both out. This is just the future. Deal.

Don't be Turrowed

Don't be Turrowed, as in Scott Turrow, the president of the Author's Guild, who argued in a New York Times piece that ebooks would be the end of authors. Libraries have shot back, not wanting to be Turrowed. Mareen Sullivan, President of the American Library Association, has written, also in an oped piece for the New York Times: "It is not in the long-term interests of authors (or publishers) to deny library e-lending and the educational benefits it affords." Libraries are adamantly and wonderfully trying to make ebook lending a way of life for Americans. So everyone who can't see that ebooks and print books can coexist have been Turrowed. Don't be Turrowed.

Ebooks on the rise

I reiterate, all this reporting of the slowdown in ebook sales as some sort of talisman of doom is hogwah. Digital Book World today reported that ebooks account for 23% of trade publisher revenues from book sales in 2012. Overall ebook revenues increased 41% year-over-year. Adult nonfiction and fiction, children's and young adult and religious ebooks amounted to a $1.5 billion business last year. Remember, ebooks were hardly a blip just five years ago. And so as I blogged 3 weeks ago: Ebook "downturn" a lie.

Let's be indie

Although there were over 7,000 independent bookstores in the mid 1990s, there are now about only 2,000 bricks-and-mortar independent bookstores in the U.S., but that’s up from about 1,500 a few years ago, according to Digital Book World. Will they partake of the ebook psunami? At first they partnered with Google books to little avail, and then starting last October they switched to Kobo, and have been a little more successful. But the margins on selling either the Kobo ereaders or ebooks for the Kobo devices generate minuscule dollars. But imagine if when you bought the ebook, you also bought the printed book -- the rights and the price were blended. Then the indie booksellers could make more profit and, possibly, survive. Let's be indie in our ideas, too.

Amazon in any medium

Jason Merkowski's new book "Burning the Page" is where you should be able to read all about Amazon. Except it's not exactly a tell-all, according to BookBusiness. And there are no inside scoops. Instead, and in my mind, so much better, you get an ex-executive who still knows that books are special, in any medium. Here are some of the sentences, according to Laura Hazard Owen writing for Paid Content: “Books are priceless,” “Books can inspire us toward greatness,” “Books hold the repository of human knowledge, and then some,” “Reading is an act of bathyspheric descent into the depths of an inky-black ocean,” “For me, it really is about books. They’re not commodities, but soulful voices that actually speak to you”. In my book, well said Jason Merkowski.

It's not linear, stupid

We tend to believe that the evolution of ereader devices will be a straight line, as in more and more people prefer tablets to ereaders, so tablets may replace ereaders. Maybe not. Maybe the choice of devices is more like the choice of genres in reading, diverse and non-linear and uncompetitive. The annual Bowker Market Group study, called the Book Industry Study Group's "Consumer Attitudes Towared E-Book Reading survey", reports that ". . . those who prefer dedicated e-readers were more likely to select general fiction, mystery, literary fiction, or romance as key e-book genres than users of other types of devices. How-to guides and manuals were more popular with those who prefer reading e-books on personal computers. Consumers who prefer e- reading via smartphones were more likely to read travel books than either tablet or dedicated e-reader users." You may not be able to tell a book by its cover, but you may be able to tell a reader by his or her device.s

Swell France

Here's another country -- and not an easy one -- to add to the number of national libraries digitizing lists of books, according to The Digital Reader: France. Quoting: The list is the work of ReLIRE, a new division of the Bibliothèque National de France. ReLire was created and authorized by the French Parliament in February 2012 with the purpose of identifying out of print titles from the 20th century, digitizing them, and getting them back into the market. So, so far in 2013, we've reported in this blog, that the Dutch, English and French national libraries have begun to digitize hundreds of thousands of books. That's a huge swell. However, the Digital Reader author, Nate Hoffelder, writes: I’m not reporting on this list to criticize the French govt (sic) for this project, but I do want to warn authors that they need to start paying attention. In 6 months time the titles on this list will be digitized, handed over to a collection society, and released on to the ebook market.

Go, Kobo

Kobo's strategy is making waves: Join with the indie bookstores, who should be very happy. Until now Mom and Pop bookstores -- some of them not so small -- have been left out of the device game, and, inherently, given the cold shoulder by the ebook onslaught. Now they are joining in, partnering with Kobo. (In the past their only option was to sell Google books, without a device on hand.) The Kobo devices will be sold at indie bookstores, after a deal helped by the American Booksellers Association. Barnes & Noble is no longer the primary source of print books and ebook devices at one venue. Digital Book Review today notes this, however: While Kobo ebook (sic) way outsold Google ebooks, the overall numbers aren't inspiring. The most successful bookstores have sold a few hundred devices and a few hundred ebooks. At the profit margins Kobo is offering bookstores, that doesn't add up to enough profit to pay bills or salaries.

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. And libraries throughout the world should be following suit. Back to the Netherlands. So if you want to read a book in Dutch, you're in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. So if you soon want to read a national book in Dutch, you'll be in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Toshiba's Mono, a mano

Another one enjoys the fray. Toshiba has just launched their second ereader, the Bookplace Mono, so their experience so far must be a good one. The Mono has a 6″ HD E-ink screen (1024×758), with Wifi, touchscreen, 4GB of storage, a microSD card slot, speaker, and a headphone jack. The Mono will be first available in Japan, and will most readily offer Japanese books. It debuts April 16 at about $145. Wow, how many signs do we need that this device -- the ereader -- has global legs. Of course Toshiba will have to go mano a mano with some very big players, already in the business, such as Amazon. But let's remember that Japan's rich cultural heritage may very well dictate the need for its very own ereader.

Picture your picture as a book cover

While everyone seems to be mesmerized by the price war on ebooks, extended today by Amazon's plan to discount Macmillan ebooks, there was a truly big announcement: Amazon is working on a way to personalize your ebook icons on your ereader. It's in beta. Read all about it at Publishers Lunch. Essentially you may be able to marry your own pictures with well-designed book templates to make a personalized, professional looking book cover for your favorite books on the desktop of your Kindle. Amazon, you rock. This is one more step closer to allowing readers to rule.

Having your cake. . .

A printed book is a very personal item. I have books that are 40 years old, collected during my 20s when I had the first chance -- after the force-fed experience of high school and college -- to read what I really wanted to, slowly and completely personally (with no concern with accepted interpretation). Electronic books are public events. I belong to a church book group now. We read and email each other as we read the book so that as we are reading the book, we are thinking of each other and actually communicating with each other. I would want to experience both with an important book: the personal and the public. However, it would be impossible to have a public experience efficiently with a printed book. And it would be weird to have a totally private experience with an electronic book. However, buying the electronic and print rights to the same book at the same time would be like having your cake and eating it too. Why can't we do that?

Good for Goodreads

With Amazon buying Goodreads, the future could take many roads. But what is safe to say, I hope, is that Goodreads will be more open to encouraging print-centric readers to try reading on ereaders. That will bring electronic books and print books more readily to the inherent characteristics and values of each, clarifying for readers when one is preferable to the other. I think this is predicted by Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler who has spelled out why he's excited about the sale, as explained on Digital Book Week. According to Chandler, the sale is good for several reasons: 1. Expanding the reach of Goodreads with Amazon’s resources. 2. Bringing the Goodreads experience to an e-reader, a frequent request of members, according to Chandler. 3. Amazon will allow Goodreads to continue to operate independently.

New epublisher alert

The Shatzkin files this week writes about the new publishers. What intrigues me about the new publishers is that they are mostly print publishers turning to ebooks. But why totally abandon print is my question? Although I obviousy love electronic books I most like the combo of print and electronic together. I'm trying to imagine why these companies want to produce exclusively electronic books. And look how many of them are print-content (read "newspaper" or "magazine") companies, something I blogged about a few months ago by following up on a new year prediction from England's The Guardian, see Globalister 1/3/13. So here's the list from Shatzkin: "Most recently, Scientific American launched a series of ebooks. American Express Publishing launched an ebook line with Vook. The Atlantic began to publish its own ebooks. USA Today published USA Tomorrow, a collection of expert predictions about the future of America. Harlequin and Cosmopolitan magazine inked a deal to publish several ebooks a month together. Newsweek/Daily Beast entered into a partnership with Vook to publish ebooks. Playboy launched a series of shorts for the Kindle, the Washington Post announced an e-book program, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade publication focused on the higher education field, launched an e-book business. Other notable companies to jump into the space are magazine publishers Conde Nast and Hearst and NBC News, a division of NBC Universal. And the Wall Street Journal has recently rejuvenated its e-book program. In addition to these, we know of more: the New York Times, the Toronto Star, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, TED Books, Esquire, the Guardian, Wharton Business School, the US Army, Provincetown Public Library, the Saturday Evening Post, Xiamen Bluebird Cartoon Company of China, cartoon-producer Fred Seibert creating Frederator Books, and Scott Rudin and Barry Diller’s Brightline, and many others. Of course, all of these are content-producing entities; many of them are even print-content producers. But it simply wasn’t in their power to decide to become book publishers until the world changed. Three companies which started out with content-generation ideas of their own — Vook, Byliner, and Atavist — are frequent partners for these new publishers, as are existing publishers from Big Six players to Perseus’s Constellation, Ingram, new ebook publishers Open Road, Diversion and Rosetta, and other companies like INscribe and PressBooks. Actually, from my own experience, I would add The Denver Post and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Legacy vs. legacy

Digital Book World reports: "Barnes & Noble is pushing publishers for better terms, higher marketing funds and cutting back on their initial orders of books. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times both recently reported that B&N and corporate publisher Simon & Schuster are feuding." In my opinion this situation is a red herring. This is a perfect example of legacy companies fighting for legacy victories. Neither is a winner. The future of selling books will not be a battle for shelf space at a superstore bookstore or a mom and pop book store. The future of selling books is digital. That's where people will first read a book; where the word of mouth will begin; and where the momentum for sales will begin. Once the value or appeal of a book has been established, getting the book will take the path of least resistance, past whatever is sitting out on shelves.

New teen trend?

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting observation that teens may be "snapping back" to print. The website writes: "Could this ongoing preference for print be because the digital titles available to them are underwhelming in relation to competing forms of digital entertainment? Or is it more a question of the lower percentage of teens who have access to digital reading devices, with just 13-14% of teens owning an e-reader and 20% having an iPad or tablet?" No question digital reading devices are not as fast or smooth as other mobile devices, but close. The difference is scale. The 6 to 8" screen is small. And the content is harder to digest, demanding reading as well as listening and watching. I think in the end, the device of choice for a teenager may NOT be a digital reader. But in the past, so many teenagers chose TV over books. What's new? They all got older, and many changed.

Heady time

There is some discussion in some quarters now -- apropos schoolbooks -- as to whether ebooks are, in fact, books or software. Very interesting discussion and impossible to resolve right now. But what is more germane to me is whether or not ebooks that an individual consumer might download on his ereader is a book, or software. And that is quite easily resolved. In the case of one reader and one ebook, the answer is: that's a book. Not software. Perhaps if the book is heavily enhanced with audio, video and interactivity one might have an easier time arguing that the ebook is actually software. But if only one person is purchasing the creation it is then not a service but a product. In the generic sense, that person and only that person will utilize the creation, so whether that creation is a unified product or a multifarious service, it appears as one product: a book. Whew this is getting heady.

Ebook "downturn" a lie

So often stories about the future of printed books begin with the old Mark Twain adage that his death was greatly exaggerated. I feel that way about ebook growth stories, although as you know I am not ebook-centric, in fact believe that ebooks can't survive without print book options. But the Digital Book World daily report, which I love, has this headline: Ebook growth slows. The story goes: "Remember when ebook revenues were growing by triple digits month-over-month? Well, those days are long over. That's the bad news. The good news is that ebooks are still growing at a healthy double-digit clip - and on a much larger base. According to the latest numbers from the Association of American Publishers, ebook revenues were up about 21% in Nov. 2012 versus the same month last year. This is down from Oct. 2012, when ebook sales grew by 41% and from Sept. when they grew 31%. For the year, ebooks are up about 35%. Year-to-date, ebooks comprise nearly 20% of all trade revenues." Whew 21 percent growth. The newspaper industry, that I used to work for, hasn't seen 21 percent growth in more than 30 years. I'll take it. And please note, this growth is on a much larger base than before. Important.

Darwin ebook

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." That's according to Charles Darwin. Applying this concept to the ebook revolution, one might immediately jump on the bandwagon. But evolution does not work from a whiteboard like that. It utilizes given props -- such as printed books -- and changes them only so slightly into ebooks. Only over time does the evolution culminate. Sometime in the far future, the nature of a book will have changed. Mutated. Become a new species. But only then. Not now.

Not the chicken or the egg

Rumor has it that the next iteration in the ebook/print book faceoff is a print book with an embedded chip that has the electronic version, so when you buy the print book you get the electronic version, too. First of all, I love that the two media have been brought together. That's progress. However, I think this combo is backwards. I think people will want to get the ebook first, and read the book that way, and then decide whether to spend the extra money to get the printed book -- personalized for them perhaps, with their choice of cover, and their own dedication. If you pay for the print book and also get the ebook, but then read the ebook first and don't want a print version, you really had no need to have already paid extra for the print book. That overcharges the reader. If you sell the reader the inexpensive ebook first and then make ordering the print book easy, the cost of the print book should be happily paid if the desire is there. This is not an example of the chicken or the egg. It's clear which should come first: the electronic book.

Readers choosing

Salon Magazine has a fascinating article on the ebook/print book faceoff. The article by Laura Miller makes many points including: "New self-publishing enterprises are a godsend for traditional publishers because they can take much of the uncertainty out of signing a new author." Inherent in that observation may be a scenario by which many authors are "somewhat" successful at publishing their book electronically, so that a few can rise to the surface and be snatched up by New York publishing companies, like E.L. James ("50 Shades of Grey"), Amanda Hocking and now Hugh Howie ("Wool). The article points out that the growth of ebooks has slowed, and that three times as many people say they prefer print books to electronic books. The one reality the article overlooks is the reality of acceptance that the two media are here to stay -- together -- and there should be no nostalgia for one (print) or euphoria for the other (electronic). Once the two are wedded, so that you buy both the ebook and the print book rights together, reader choice will finally have arrived so that after the book has been consumed the reader can choose the incarnation he or she desires in perpetuity.

Where is the world going?

Book sales in the US in 2012 were down 9.3 percent, Spain -10.3 percent, South Africa -8.8 percent, Italy -7 percent, and in the UK fell by 3.4 percent. That's according to data presented March 21 at the IfBookThen conference in Milan, Italy, and since reported by Publishing Perspectives. The one bright spot around the world may be India, where book sales were up 16 percent. What could be the cause of the seeming worldwide withdrawing from reading literacy? Perhaps simple: Digital devices, that with broadband make video possible, are making watching rather than reading more popular. Does that mean the two media are equal in firepower? Probably not. My take would be that the world needs to make more of an effort to teach reading literacy. So communication can be more powerful.

A book-less library

You knew it was going to be recommended eventually: a bookless library. And now it has. According to Education Week, Nelson Wolff, a judge in Bexar County, Texas, where San Antonio is located, and Sergio Rodriguez, commissioner for the county's first precinct, have proposed a plan to create a library called BiblioTech that offers electronic media exclusively. This doesn't mean the books will all be ebooks, but close. The Bexar County Commissioners Court will consider proposals for e-book providers -- the plan is for BiblioTech to deal with integrated library systems vendors like Polaris Library Systems and 3M rather than with publishers or e-book retailers like Amazon. The court will also consider a project budget, construction services and the creation of a seven-member advisory board. BiblioTech intends to start with 100 e-readers that can be loaned out, 50 pre-loaded e-readers for children, 50 computer stations, 25 laptops and 25 tablets, with additional accommodations planned for the visually impaired. But it may not be long before libraries with books seem as unusual as garages with horses. "When you go into a public library today, people are gathered around computer terminals," Wolff observed. Here's the link: http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/a-digital-public-library-without-paper-b/240146262?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Government

Gifting yourself

Let me clarify. The newest book publishing model -- shortened version -- is ebook to hardback, as in "Fifty Shades of Grey". Yes, "Fifty Shades of Grey" also has all the steps in between: ebook to print on demand book, print on demand book to mass print softcover, mass print softcover (Vintage Books) to mass print hardcover (Random House). But if you shorten that evolution, you've got ebook to hardcover, digital to analog. NOT the usual: Analog to digital. How different (reversed) from the past can you be? First of all launching a major international book (which has sold 65 million copies) as an ebook on an obscure Australian website is pretty unexpected. And then after 18 months of downloading, deciding to print the book and sell that iteration, is surprising. Yes, ebook-to-hardback is way more radical than ebook to print on demand book, which when "Fifty Shades of Grey" was first launched in 2011 was radical enough. How many other authors in this world would like to go from ebook to hardback? Or, more importantly, how many readers in this world would like to go from ebook to hardback? In my opinion, more and more. It's like gifting yourself the memory of a prized experience. It's the newest (and safest, and most likely to succeed) book publishing model.

Can ebooks and print books coexist?

I think there is a real issue in whether ebooks and print books can coexist. Nothing is clear right now with everyone. Either you feel one way or the other. Either you prefer an ebook or you prefer a print book. And whichever you prefer is generally what you think will dominate. (Although sometimes you hear that someone likes both -- in fact buys the ebook and the print version of the same book.) I don't think this is an either-or situation. I think both ebooks and print books can thrive, in the future. Here is a very good video about this subject: http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/aggregatedcontent/video-can-print-e-books-coexist . Right-on is the video observation that the best analogy to this situation is the 19th century development of photography and its affect on painting. Photography thrived as a depiction of reality and painting thrived by becoming more subjective. But they both thrived; one did not replace the other.

2013 will be the year the ebook evolution goes global. Many countries, for the first time, will have the opportunity to get ebooks galore, or more accurately, be able to choose between ebooks and print books, to purchase one or the other, or both. Download for free "The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions and Future Projections" from O'Reilly and read for yourself. Here's the link:http://search.oreilly.com/?q=the+global+ebook+market%3A+current+conditions+%26+future+projections The UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Brazil, and China: all will experience the phenomenon. I love the ebook evolution because it makes the physical more virtual and the virtual more physical. My belief is that in every ebook file there should be a "Print Now" button so that people can buy and read the ebook first, and if they wish a unique keepsake, purchase the physical incarnation immediately and seamlessly. The "Print Now" button will link to an ordering page (URL) and the "ebook" can be designed (to a limited degree) by the reader; purchased; printed and delivered to his or her physical address.

First customer-dedicated book

2013 innovation begins with a book that allows readers to write their own dedication prior to its being printed so that, once printed, the book is personalized. It's as if the purchaser of the book met with the author in person and received a signed, dedicated book. Except the purchaser never met the author and instead ordered the book online with a customer dedication and a digitized signature from the author. Pictured below, the dedication ("Peter, The future is now") on the first page looks like this:

"Communicating with the Future," a book by Tom Frey, Google's top-rated futurist speaker and founder of the Davinci Institute in Louisville, CO, has been ordered 160 times by people who requested personalized dedication pages in the books they ordered. The dedications were printed on the first page of the book, which includes a digitized signature by Tom Frey as well as a dedication from Leaonardo Da Vinci: "It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." If you would like to order "Communicating with the Future" and input your own dedication, paste this URL in your browser: https://asoft8136.accrisoft.com/newsconf/index.php?src=forms&ref=Personalizing+a+publication&id=Personalizing+a+publication FYI, here are some of the dedications people ordered: Aaron -- Wishing you much success in the future / To Mark, Here's to Reinventing the Future / To the Clark Family, Never Stop Reaching for the Future. / To Gordon, Make the Future, rather than Predict It. / To Danny & Stephanie The past and the future are based in light. Ours is to live in the grey inbetween /