In the middle of the e-book hurricane, it may be time for some calm thinking – along with a little debunking. Founder of Unlimited Publishing and book industry analyst Danny O. Snow tells Chris Kenneally now is a good moment for publishers and authors to stop all the rushing about.
“Having observed what happened in the music business ten years ago, we are on pins and needles not to be left in the dust of technology,” Snow says. “Actually, publishers are very lucky to be behind the curve, which is kind of surprising, but we can learn from the mistakes, and the good things, that are done by others.”
Without denying that the time has definitely come for book publishers to take e-Books seriously, Snow seeks to debunk some of the more prevalent myths about e-Books under current market conditions and technological realities. These are:
- Myth #1: e-Books: will soon overtake tree-Books in the marketplace
- Myth #2: EPUB format is a cure-all
- Myth #3: e-Books Will Always be Hard to Publish
- Myth #4: The Market for e-Books is Peaking
A senior research fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and a board member of the Independent Book Publishers Association, Snow admits that e-Books solve serious problems in traditional publishing, nevertheless, and that those benefits virtually insure continuing growth for e-Books.
I like the way Snow steps back to look at the broadest context of the e-publishing revolution. I was heartened by his view that small publishers can have a strong position in this world by paying attention to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that have beset the music industry.
e-books may well be an industry-leveling development just as e-music has been to music publishing. The independents can compete at the level of the biggest publisher once the historic distribution channels are flattened.
Interesting stuff, Danny. It’s coming, no matter how much publishers resist such progress. But it’s not going to fully overtake tree publishing for awhile. As an author and small publisher, I’m trying to work with both epub and treepub. Thanks for the insights.
It’s funny. Remember when cd’s and dvd’s came out then ipod? I believe soon ereaders will be so cheap that in 10 yrs it will be common place to have your ereader instead of lugging around any books – even school books. That would be great.