Gene Therapy: Embracing E-books
The options could increase if other page-making software vendors include the .epub file format in their “save” menus. Having this option will make producing .epub-compliant files as easy as producing a PDF.
At press time, evidence exists of rising interest in e-books and e-book readers on the part of publishers and consumers. However, because Sony and Amazon guard e-book and e-reader sales figures closely, they have spawned a small industry of observers who try to estimate sales by circumstantial evidence. Both the Book Industry Study Group and Association of American Publishers are making efforts to assemble reliable sales data—and we may see some useful reporting on the way.
In the meantime, there is no mistaking that e-books are now reaching readers beyond the ranks of early adopters. Publishers of all sizes would be well advised to roll up their sleeves and get with the program.
Eugene G. Schwartz is a regular contributor to Book Business. He is a publishing industry analyst, writer and editor-at-large for Foreword Magazine. A former board member of PMA (now the Independent Book Publishers Association), he is president of Consortium House, a management and business consultancy to publishers. He previously was a manufacturing, production and operations executive.
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.
