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‘At the End of the Paper Trail’
October 25, 2007 | 1:57 am
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By David Rothman
“Although e-books have not yet taken off because of limited content and inadequate screens, this is bound to change. Already HarperCollins and Random House have begun digitizing their entire catalogs—some 50,000 titles. Sony has created an e-book, the Sony Reader, with a screen that eliminates glare and flicker and has improved battery life. And just because the Apple Newton, regarded as the first PDA, was a bust, it didn’t prevent BlackBerry and Palm from eventually creating a $4 billion market.” – Adam L. Penenberg via the Media Post site (membership required, perhaps).
The TeleRead take: What happens if e-books eventually take away enough readers to reduce the chances of old-fashioned P editions or even POD editions, because the economics don’t make sense? This question is far from settled; POD may yet keep P books alive for a long time. Meanwhile some lovers of traditional books are more than a little upset. Hello, Rob? As a publisher trained in economics, what’s your take on this?
Related: Why I miss dead-tree newspapers, Farhad Manjoo’s essay in Salon.
Technorati Tags: Adam Penenberg , HarperCollins , Random House , Sony , Sony Reader , Apple , Apple Newton , BlackBerry
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Comments:
Hi David,
Can’t resist accepting your invitation to comment.
I absolutely agree that the traditional print media (newspapers, magazines, books) will move electronically. From the newspaper perspective, this is mixed news–people tend to search for news that confirms their prejudices rather than challenges them–and that is not always a good thing.
I’m not a huge fan of POD technology (call me one thumb up). I think it’s a great way for a small publisher like me to dabble in the not-yet-dead world of print, but it is frightfully expensive on a per-book basis, squeezing margins. Part of the beauty of POD is that you, uh, print on demand. But bookstores still require returnability, which means you can have a pretty good sellthrough and still lose money if you use POD to hit the bookstores. (If you hit the industry average of 50%, you pay $3 for a book, and you sell the book for $12 with 50% bookstore/distributor margin), you end up just covering printing costs, with nothing left over for shipping, disposing of returns, paying the author or, heaven forbid, paying yourself.
I do quibble with the ‘everything’s free’ part of Adam’s prediction. Sure there’s an ad model, but it’s not the only model and I’m not convinced it’s the best model for books. Highly affordable prices (minor plug–like BooksForABuck.com sets) seems like a better solution for both authors, readers, and publishers.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com