Many industries in a capitalistic, consumer-based society are based on quantity production, services and sales rather than quality. With new green initiatives and technological advances though, there's no choice but for the established businesses within an industry to evolve into what the market requires. Sometimes, businesses are resistant to change even when the market asks for it - this new deal between 6 of the top publishing companies setting wholesale print and e-copies of books at the same price is proof of the struggle against the e-revolution of the book industry - at the expense of readers.
Ridiculously high prices for simple, practically-scanned e-versions of physical paperbacks will only deter potential new readers and revert book lovers back to traditional books that can be shared and gifted for a lower price. After all, some e-books are now even more expensive than their print versions; an e-version of Ken Follett's Fall of the Giants is at the fixed price of $23.68 on Amazon, while the hardcopy is $22.23, the paperback is $16.50 and even the audio version is at $19.77, with even cheaper prices available.
Instead of indulging in the potentials of the internet, e-books, digital prospects and a new market, it seems that most book publishers are trying to control the changing industry to continue making the highest possible profit with the least possible effort at the reader's expense.
"For a run-of-the-mill paperback book the prices have gone from $3.99 to $8.99 or $11.99. We spend more money for less content, plot, ink, and changing covers for the same books so you think you haven't read it." says Jennifer Rova.
Joseph Gelfer thinks that between the ability to write exactly what you want to write, receive immediate feedback from a variety of readers during the writing process, and being able to make the text available almost immediately in both print and Kindle formats, the whole idea of publishing with a traditional publisher becomes rather puzzling. In fact, the Washington Post claims that thousands of new and established authors are self-publishing through companies that offer print on demand services.
When it comes to the publishing and book selling business, the market demands change, evolution and readjusted expectations in the practices, development and formatting of books in order to be sustainable for the long-haul. Though many readers prefer print copy books, there is an untapped, budding audience for digital, audio and interactive books waiting to be capitalized on. Like book critic David Ulin says, "traditional and new media models not only can, but must, coexist."
Considering the vast amount of creative ideas and untouched content on the internet that have yet to be morphed into truly accessible and readable forms, print or otherwise, there are many potential avenues that could ensure quantity and increase profits in delivering quality creativity to a widened audience. For example, this beautiful, informative and interesting compilation of previously unpublished pictures and history captions on The Battle of the Bulge could be manipulated into an interactive photo-history ebook or app.
When the ebook format makes proper use of the available technology, the finished products are far more elaborate and interactive than ordinary e-books that simply reproduce printed content. With interactive applications of integrated audio, video, picture and text, electronic books could threaten the conventional form of learning, if not revolutionize reading entirely.
Canadian publisher Scott McIntyre of Douglas & McIntyre Publishing knows that with the growth of ebooks, the old model of real estate is over - but there is still an important place for the publishing house. "The traditional value of publishers is, they add value. You take intellectual property, you add value to it, and you distribute it and market it. But essentially, it's still about editing. It's about storytellers telling stories, and readers wanting them." D&M recently launched a digital startup called Book Riff, a publishing application that allows people to customize books from online content, similar to making a mix tape for books.
New publishing house models are being developed to consolidate the market gap between digital and print books and deliver the reading the audience requires. Unbound Books, formed on the basis of online pledging in the music business and old-fashioned subscription publishing, acts as a forum for authors to pitch books directly to readers. If the readers like the sound of a project, they can pledge money by buying the ebook (generally £10), purchasing the hardback (usually £20) or a signed copy (£50), or buying an invitation to the launch party (typically £150), before the book has even been written. Each book has a target number of pledges it must receive to be viable (generally between 500 and 1,000), but if the book doesn't receive the required number of pledges, the project is scrapped and everyone gets their money back. "We know before the author bothers to write the book that there's enough money to make it worthwhile," which means that Unbound can spend more on production (its hardbacks are typically three times more expensive to produce than a conventional publisher's) and can pay authors a higher percentage of royalties. This reader-based model is the beginnings of the book publishing industry revolution. Even more functional models will be developed where the free market decides what should be written, the publishing company still offers value and digital and print versions of books can find themselves in the hands of the readers that want them.
Publishing houses are responsible for creating the form of communication between the authors content and readers experience. Effort put into the quality and innovation of book formatting, whether in traditional print or digital versions, will ensure the sale of larger quantities of books, which in turn will ensure high profits by keeping readers satisfied and interested. The market demands evolution, and as the publishing giants are refusing to comply, newer ventures will revolutionize the reading experience - one way or another.
- Posted using BlogPress from Jacob
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