The Bookseller reports that in an address to the World e-Reading Congress, Random House’s deputy chairman Ian Hudson said that he expects e-book sales to exceed 8% of trade publishers’ sales in 2011, and possibly to reach 15% next year. He also reported that e-book sales in 2011 were so far outstripping 2010’s by a factor of 10 overall, though some titles sell better electronically than others.
Hudson argued that traditional publishers are still going to be necessary into the e-publishing future because certain things such as editing will always be necessary to produce a readable book, and publishers are where the greatest concentration of expertise in that preparation process can be found. And he suggested fears that publishers may not be ready for the digital revolution are overblown:
"I’ve seen many bloggers, journalists and industry observers question publishers’ appetite, readiness for change and their desire to grasp the opportunities that digital offers them. But to those people I would say, don’t confuse our love of books and passion for their physical format with any suggestion that we’re not embracing change."
He said that publishers were innovating in the e-book space, and should continue to do so. He also saw a continued role in the future for retailers, including independent bookstores who could fill niches that open in the market as chains consolidate.
Of course, even as Hudson insists that publishers such as Random House are “embracing change,” they are also resisting it. As Paul mentioned earlier, Random House is imposing agency pricing on its UK e-book sales. Many observers consider agency pricing to be at least in part an attempt to protect paper sales by making e-book editions less attractive.
You can read Ian Hudson’s full remarks at the World eReading Congress here: http://futurebook.net/content/publisher-now-much-more-publisher
He also said: “So one way of publishers retaining their relevance and role in a digital world will be to continue to deliver editorial excellence. But quality alone will not ensure survival and success, time starved readers will need guidance and recommendations in order to discover the books they will enjoy or will meet their needs. … And here, of course, to return to our love story, the publisher is the matchmaker. We bring readers and books together, in unison with retailers, in all formats. In the digital era there is an ongoing evolution of the way we do things: making a potential audience aware of our books and getting them into reader’s hands.”
His talk is a bit more focussed on specific examples of digital offshoots of traditional books but still definitely worth a read.
Since the agency model was implemented over a year ago, I’ve learned to live without the traditional publishers and their books, thrive even. I don’t need them to tell me what I want to read, how arrogant!
So Random House is “embracing change”, eh? By implementing the agency model? The only change that resulted in for me is watching the prices go up on half of my wishlist, most of which is more than a decade old. Full price for backlist books? No thanks! They have now guaranteed that I will NOT be purchasing any Random House books.
I “embraced change” when the agency model was introduced and haven’t bought a book from the agency six since. They don’t need to just embrace change, they need to embrace the correct changes.