Yesterday I posted a blog discussing one point addressed during the CEO Roundtable at the Digital Book World Conference-namely, book discoverability. The larger discussion of that panel focused on the future of the ebook, for which the CEOs (Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks, Carolyn Reidy of Simon & Schuster, and David Nussbaum of F+W Media) seemed to have more questions than answers.
The future of book publishing is changing rapidly and now, more than ever, book publishers are asking, "What's next?" This question was top-of-mind in day two of the Digital Book World Conference and Expo. Yesterday's headline event, the CEO Roundtable, delved into this head on, discussing the future of the ebook. Book discovery is a huge part of that future, and the road forward, the panelists asserted, is not an easy one.
Still think DRM is good for IP owners? Have you bought into all the fear, uncertainty and doubt to believe DRM protects sales by keeping freeloaders away from your content?
If so, I've got a report you need to read. It's one that came out late last year but didn't get a lot of publicity.
Can it really be done? Can you take a brand that's well established in the print world and move it to digital?
You might think that's a silly question as it's already been done many times. I'll bet you can rattle off quite a few print brands that have made the jump to digital. But have these print-to-digital brands really been successful? Have they truly maximized their reach and revenue potential? Or have they actually diluted the original print brand? Would they have been better off doing something else instead of stretching the original brand from print to digital?
Today readers have more power than ever. Not only are publishers turning to their audiences to fund major projects, but they also look to consumers for feedback and help in creating the next bestseller. It's called crowdsourcing, and it has been growing in popularity as social publishing sites continue to thrive. For example, on Scribd, readers discover and discuss books from a massive digital library of bestsellers and self-published works, while on Medium, shorter articles are published by users, collaboratively edited, and ranked by popularity. Both platforms allow users to make comments on the work. Crowdsourcing gives readers a voice, but it also creates a buzz for the author's work and an audience ready to receive it.
Why do we continue trying to mimic the print version when that same content is presented digitally? Why do app developers marvel at how good a job they've done simulating the print experience on-screen? We still live in a world where animated page-flips are a basic feature for many popular content consumption apps and services. Are we really that simple-minded that we can't figure out new user interfaces and ways to navigate content? I'm reminded of this terrific parody of how hard it was to move from scrolls to books.
I may be getting a reputation on this blog as a print activist and bemoaner of ebook platforms, but in truth, I love technology. Like most of my generation I grew up playing video games, navigating the internet and learning the latest tech to the point where technology has become a natural extension of myself.
Product development today requires a much more nimble approach, one where customers not only see but also provide detailed feedback long before the product is considered final. In fact, products often need to change so rapidly, based on customer demand, that there never really is a "final" stage.
I stumbled across an article on The Guardian's website this morning reporting that young adults aged 16 to 24 still prefer print books over ebooks. The two reasons that dominate this preference are the high price of ebooks (apparently, only 8% of young adults surveyed think ebooks are reasonably priced) and the value of a physical, shareable product.
Noted in NPR's Thursday, November 21 report on the National Book Award winners was that "a visibly shocked (James) McBride accepted the fiction prize. Considered the clear underdog, he said he wouldn't have minded if any of the other finalists won because they 'are all fine writers.'"
McBride's novel The Good Lord Bird is about a young slave (delightfully named 'Little Onion') who joins the abolitionist John Brown in his anti-slavery mission.
