Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - electronic publishing and decentralization

Baraka_Guru · 02-24-2010, 08:17 AM

For those who don't know, I'm a book editor for the trade industry---more specifically, for the small-press industry.

The book industry has been in transition for years now. The first indication was that the traditional distribution channel has been collapsing. That, and the bookseller industry has been consolidating. That was the first step.

Next, we have the digitization of books. With the advent of the Sony Reader, Amazon's Kindle, and now Apple's iPad, reading digital books is hitting the mainstream. The small publisher I work for has already digitized its entire backlist. We've signed multiple digital distribution agreements, and much of our revenue now comes from selling digital products into libraries.

Self-publishing is booming. The technology of print-on-demand is now so advanced that even major publishers are using it. So big corporations and individual author/publishers alike can have books printed at a reasonable cost and at as little as one copy at a time. Offset printing is quite expensive, making print runs of less than 500 virtually impossible.

Digital distribution can now be done easily. If I wanted to, I could publish a book in under an hour. I just need to set up a PDF and post it on a website. But that's not the whole issue. The issue, still, and always, is making sure you have a readership. The audience is the key. To monetize publishing, you need to find a way to get someone along the line to pay for what you're doing with publishing, and this is now the focus.

Not all books are affected equally. Nonfiction is affected the greatest. Fiction, the least. The informational nature of nonfiction makes digital products a prime vehicle. The ability to search, reorganize, pare down, redistribute, etc., is a high priority with this type of material. Fiction, on the other hand, is typically digested intact.

It might seem natural to compare the book industry to the music industry in this regard, but looking at the newspaper industry is important. There is a multitude of new business models that newspapers have adopted to keep their revenue stream intact. I won't go into detail, but the book industry needs to borrow some of these models, especially where nonfiction is concerned.

Even in the music industry, it has been proven that many people are still willing to pay directly for digital products. iTunes sells single tracks for $1 each. Even with current digital book models, people are buying digital books for as much as $7.50 and even as high as $15.

I think that many are willing to pay for quality, which is what it comes down to. Free stuff on the Internet isn't always the best stuff---your mileage varies. When digital products are produced by reputable companies along with celebrated creators, people are still willing to pay for that.

At this point, I am willing to admit that the biggest impact right now is the democratization of creation, publication, distribution, critique, and even consumption. But this doesn't necessarily mean everything is free. People are willing to pay for things even within a democratized system. Lulu.com is a prime example of that. As is a number of other web companies that act as agents to this kind of creation/distribution, etc.

Sure there are more writers accessing the field of publishing. But, remember, there are also more readers (arguably, due to reach) and, probably most important, more filters. Filters can be both human and technological. How does one find things they like on the Internet? There are many ways. TFP is one of them, as is Amazon.com. Both function in their unique ways, both have virtually limitless possibilities, yet one may still fairly easily find what they're looking for, and there are various ways to do it. And here are just two examples. The Internet is filled with wonderful ways to filter cultural content: niche is the new mainstream.

I'm going to stop here, because this is such a big and multifaceted issue. I just wanted to throw out some of my initial reactions to the ideas/questions posted in the OP. There are many threads that can be taken from it.

02-24-2010, 08:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	For those who don't know, I'm a book editor for the trade industry---more specifically, for the small-press industry. The book industry has been in transition for years now. The first indication was that the traditional distribution channel has been collapsing. That, and the bookseller industry has been consolidating. That was the first step. Next, we have the digitization of books. With the advent of the Sony Reader, Amazon's Kindle, and now Apple's iPad, reading digital books is hitting the mainstream. The small publisher I work for has already digitized its entire backlist. We've signed multiple digital distribution agreements, and much of our revenue now comes from selling digital products into libraries. Self-publishing is booming. The technology of print-on-demand is now so advanced that even major publishers are using it. So big corporations and individual author/publishers alike can have books printed at a reasonable cost and at as little as one copy at a time. Offset printing is quite expensive, making print runs of less than 500 virtually impossible. Digital distribution can now be done easily. If I wanted to, I could publish a book in under an hour. I just need to set up a PDF and post it on a website. But that's not the whole issue. The issue, still, and always, is making sure you have a readership. The audience is the key. To monetize publishing, you need to find a way to get someone along the line to pay for what you're doing with publishing, and this is now the focus. Not all books are affected equally. Nonfiction is affected the greatest. Fiction, the least. The informational nature of nonfiction makes digital products a prime vehicle. The ability to search, reorganize, pare down, redistribute, etc., is a high priority with this type of material. Fiction, on the other hand, is typically digested intact. It might seem natural to compare the book industry to the music industry in this regard, but looking at the newspaper industry is important. There is a multitude of new business models that newspapers have adopted to keep their revenue stream intact. I won't go into detail, but the book industry needs to borrow some of these models, especially where nonfiction is concerned. Even in the music industry, it has been proven that many people are still willing to pay directly for digital products. iTunes sells single tracks for $1 each. Even with current digital book models, people are buying digital books for as much as $7.50 and even as high as $15. I think that many are willing to pay for quality, which is what it comes down to. Free stuff on the Internet isn't always the best stuff---your mileage varies. When digital products are produced by reputable companies along with celebrated creators, people are still willing to pay for that. At this point, I am willing to admit that the biggest impact right now is the democratization of creation, publication, distribution, critique, and even consumption. But this doesn't necessarily mean everything is free. People are willing to pay for things even within a democratized system. Lulu.com is a prime example of that. As is a number of other web companies that act as agents to this kind of creation/distribution, etc. Sure there are more writers accessing the field of publishing. But, remember, there are also more readers (arguably, due to reach) and, probably most important, more filters. Filters can be both human and technological. How does one find things they like on the Internet? There are many ways. TFP is one of them, as is Amazon.com. Both function in their unique ways, both have virtually limitless possibilities, yet one may still fairly easily find what they're looking for, and there are various ways to do it. And here are just two examples. The Internet is filled with wonderful ways to filter cultural content: niche is the new mainstream. I'm going to stop here, because this is such a big and multifaceted issue. I just wanted to throw out some of my initial reactions to the ideas/questions posted in the OP. There are many threads that can be taken from it. __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 02-24-2010 at 08:28 AM..