Distribution Goes Digital
What Happened to Alert the
Mainstream?
So, what happened to alert HarperCollins, Random House Inc. and the other major trade players to do what many reference, STM and smaller publishers were happy to allow others to do for (or with) them in order to gain wider exposure?
What happened, as Mike Shatzkin—founder and CEO of publishing consultancy The Idea Logical Co.—said at the Book Industry Study Group’s (BISG) Making Information Pay conference in May, was that what seemed of marginal consequence became both a major threat as well as an opportunity. Google launched its Book Search, which scanned the entire contents of copyrighted books to make them searchable, and Amazon launched its Upgrade program, by which it offered online viewing of an entire book for an extra charge with the book’s purchase. (You can access Shatzkin’s complete presentation at Idealog.com/speeches/mipdads.htm.)
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- Books24x7 Inc.
- codeMantra
- Consortium
- Ebrary Inc.
- HarperCollins
- Independent Publishers Group
- Ingram Digital
- Klopotek
- Libre Digital
- Lightning Source Inc.
- Lightspeed LLC
- Macmillan Publishing Solutions
- Mobipocket
- NetLibrary
- NewsStand Inc.
- Overdrive Inc.
- PMA
- Publishing Dimensions
- Random House Inc.
- The Book Industry Study Group
- Universal
- Yahoo
Eugene G. Schwartz is editor at large for ForeWord Reviews, an industry observer and an occasional columnist for Book Business magazine. In an earlier career, he was in the printing business and held production management positions at Random House, Prentice-Hall/Goodyear and CRM Books/Psychology Today. A former PMA (IBPA) board member, he has headed his own publishing consultancy, Consortium House. He is also Co-Founder of Worthy Shorts Inc., a development stage online private press and publication service for professionals as well as an online back office publication service for publishers and associations. He is on the Publishing Business Conference and Expo Advisory Board.