e-Books, e-Readers, and Publishing

Twitter's been raising my awareness about publishing, e-books, and e-readers, thanks to some of those I've been following. For example, just recently Smashwords noted an amazing 173% increase in e-book wholesale sales for the month of January. And I've been following Joe Wikert's posts on these things in part because he blogs about publishing and also blogs about the Kindle.

Electronic Publishing

e-Books and electronic publishing in general seem to be the way the publishing industry must move in order to stay current. Better said, in order to survive. As much as I love reading, I'm not likely to be lugging around heavy trade books any more with the advent of my e-reader. Not only do my back and shoulders thank me for it, my house also requires a break from the weight. Frankly, I'm much less likely to buy books that are not available in electronic format. Along these same lines, I'm likely to cancel my subscription to my local paper this year, because I'm just tired of recycling all that newsprint and the content it provides me is scant compared with what I can find electronically. I agree with Joe Wikert entirely that the key to making money, and survival for that matter, is providing value, added value as they used to say, to your content and then distributing that content through channels your readers will appreciate. [Shhh. Let's just whisper "Whispernet".] My differences with Joe go into the business models for publishing as they stand (or as they fall, which is where I'm headed).

If we learn something from the troubles of Detroit, it's that an entrenched industry may become so blind to changing external conditions, so complacent and comfortable in its internal bureaucracy, and so inflexible that it cannot even notice the gigantic red flags signaling its own demise. Publishers may be far from the terrifying breakdown of some of our automakers. But can't we wonder about their futures, especially considering the fate of many newspapers [Or read the Christian Science Monitor's commentary entitled "Newspapers Struggle to avoid their own obit")?

Or, let's take the music example. I'm sitting here looking at literally more than 1,000 physical compact discs, which I intend to donate to my local library. The iPod has reduced my appetite for physical media. Likewise, beside me is my Amazon Kindle, which makes me long to junk the contents of nine over-flowing bookcases, because the new medium solves problems with storage, space, cleaning, and weight and adds convenience I've always wanted—I can buy books over the "cloud", without a connection to a heavy computer. Now that a technology like the iPhone has spawned cottage industries, it only makes sense that open development for these e-reading devices will also provide unheard of new opportunities for developers and consumers to read and listen to the products publishers provide. Why, then, is there such resistance from the publishing industry? And there is resistance. Anyone who's ever clicked the link to tell a publisher they want to read this book on their Kindle can attest to the lagging support for e-book publishing. Perhaps this lag derives from a lack of commitment to the medium, a lack of interest, or worst of all, lack of awareness of the news that electronic books are an increasing part of the overall market for books (not to mention other types of content).

Pricing Models for Electronic Content

No one wants to deprive an industry that creates great products of its necessary business income and profits. But let's look at how music used to be priced before big discounters forced prices to their minimums (take the near-defunct BMG's CDs at $18.98 each, as one example, and compare it to whatever you might pay at your local BestBuy) and then think about the iTunes model of 99¢ per song pricing. If an album had 18 songs, it might approach the pricing BMG had once used (although discounts for the album 'package' mean albums rarely find this incredible height), but piecing the album out to the products consumers want—not a whole album, but a single song—seemed to instigate an electronic music revolution once it was linked with an inspired design for the device that delivers it.

Joe Wikert's blog post, "Thoughts on eContent, Free Content, and Pricing Model Options" set my thoughts on fire, though. Shockingly, some publishers seem to believe that e-books ought to cost as much as their hardback counterparts, regardless of the reduction in production costs. This is the Luddite's hope: the e-book market can help publisher's recoup ever-increasing costs of traditional book acquisition, manufacturing and distribution. Promoting such an idea seems like crying over the unemployment of scribes after Gutenberg's presses began to roll. A revolution is at hand. If the publishing oligarchy wants to remain in power, new realities must be embraced, and new methods and means must be invented. Viewing such inspired ideas as CreateSpace, which allows the talent to have direct access to manufacturer and distribution channel without too much editorial control only makes me wonder how publishers will convince the talent that some of their services are necessary costs. One of the more difficult problems for individual authors, especially mid-list and below, has to do with the low levels of commitment of publishers to marketing and promotion of their works. New media like Twitter, YouTube, and blogging, bring the world to an author's laptop and provide promotion at a keystroke. Some authors are wondering, "Why not eliminate the middle man, why not decrease the time to publication, and why not find a way to increase profits for my work through electronic media? "Vanity" isn't another word for self-publishing today. It's beginning to look like a smart solution.

The $9.99 new release pricing on Amazon.com appears to be a reasonable price point to many buyers. After reading many Kindle listserv posts on the topic, most posters believe they will not purchase books above this price point, except for extreme specialty items. Such a pricing model, I've read, would put publishers in the red. Another thread lauded the many samples readers can download before purchasing as a true plus with their Kindles. I have fallen in love with Amazon's price for both an electronic copy and a physical copy of some books that don't format well for the Kindle. For an additional $4, a few months ago I purchased a physical book and its electronic counterpart, always available to me at the Amazon site (this was before I got my Kindle). Thomas Nelson has been re-considering its publishing model. Read CEO Michael Hyatt's amazing blog post here.

But one must ask, then, if the market won't bear larger prices for electronic content, does the publishing industry need to re-structure or consider a new approach to bundling these versions of the same content? Probably. My own experience as an employee in an industry whose pricing models didn't hold through the recessions in the recent past taught me this much: when an industry goes through this kind of shift and companies don't offer value for price, recognizing the new realities, the consumer refuses to pay and the company cannot be sustained. It's wake-up call time for publishing. Can publishers hear it?