As currently imagined, the e-book market, and even the very concept of the e-book itself, are designed to protect publishers’ legacy print businesses
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | Download
On Tuesday, Arnaud Nourry, Chairman and CEO of Paris-based Hachette Livre, the global publishing giant, found himself in the headlines over remarks he made to India-based news service Scroll.in.
In that interview, Nourry called the e-book a “stupid” product. Not surprisingly, that colorful comment kicked off quite a discussion in publishing circles.
“We should note that Nourry’s comment pertains to trade e-books – novels, mostly – and neither educational nor informational texts,” Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer, observes.
“And he is absolutely right—with the key word here being product. And that’s not because e-books don’t have more digital bells and whistles, as he suggests, but because, as currently imagined, the e-book market, and to some degree the very concept of the e-book itself, are designed more to protect publishers’ legacy print businesses than to serve the needs, wants, and expectations of digital readers,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
