Entries tagged with “ebook” from Tools of Change for Publishing
Slides from "What Publishers Need to Know about Digitization" Webcast
Liza Daly
November 13, 2008
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TOC will be posting a complete recording of the presentation, but in the meantime I've posted the slides from yesterday's webcast, "What publishers need to know about digitization" on Slideshare.
Thanks to everyone who attended and especially to those who asked so many excellent questions.
How To Read O'Reilly EPUB eBooks on your iPhone with Stanza
Andrew Savikas
August 29, 2008
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Update 12/1/08: O'Reilly ebooks can now be downloaded directly to an iPhone or iPod Touch through Stanza. Learn more here.
Since we released 30 of our books as ebook bundles (including EPUB, PDF, and Kindle-compatible Mobipocket format) as a pilot program, a steady stream of customers has been asking how to view them on their iPhone.
The quickest and easiest way is to use the BookWorm EPUB reader, which has a slick iPhone interface; however, that still requires you be online to read your books. We are actively exploring several options for deploying standalone iPhone Apps (Houghton recently did the same with several reference titles, like the American Heritage Dictionary), but in the meantime some recent updates to the Stanza iPhone App mean it's now possible to transfer your O'Reilly EPUB ebooks to your iPhone for offline reading.
This post will show you how I did it on a MacBook Pro with an iPhone 3G. My attempts to do the same with Windows were unsuccessful, and I haven't tried it with an iPod Touch. As always, your mileage may vary. These instructions assume you've purchased at least one O'Reilly EPUB ebook, and saved it to your Mac, and that your Mac and iPhone are on the same wireless network (alternatives described on the Stanza site).
- Install the Stanza iPhone App and the Stanza Desktop Reader.
- From the Desktop Reader, open one of your EPUB books
- From the Desktop Reader, choose Tools→Enable Sharing
- Again, make sure both your iPhone and Mac are on the same wireless network
- Fire up the Stanza iPhone App, which should bring up the main Library screen:
- Choose "Shared Books," which should display the EPUB book you have open on your Mac:
- Next, select the book you want to download to your iPhone. Once it's finished downloading, the icon will change from the green down-arrow to the blue right-arrow as shown above. You can now read your book on your iPhone, offline or on. Here's a screenshot from the iPhone Missing Manual:
There's more info on the Stanza website, but a few things to note about reading these on the iPhone:
- A lot of the formatting isn't (yet) supported by Stanza, including lists and tables. The text appears, but without bullets or clear indentation.
- Images, on the other hand, look great
- Searching only operates on the current section
- Internal and external hyperlinks are not active
There will continue to be improvements among iPhone-based ebook readers, and I expect to see even more experimentation and innovation around turning book content into actual applications. (And if you do manage to get this working on Windows, let me know in the comments.)
On a related note, the response to our ebook pilot has been quite positive, and we're working hard to get many, many more O'Reilly books available very soon as full ebook bundles (in the meantime, remember that if you buy the PDF version or print-plus-PDF bundle, you'll get all of the ebook versions as a free update as soon as they're available).
Aggregated Ebook Service Suits Research Publisher
Mac Slocum
June 9, 2008
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An understanding of audience goals can prove fruitful in digital publishing, according to Cynthia Cleto, global manager for e-books and e-product management at research publisher Springer. From a Q&A at TechNewsWorld:
... our readers are working at a desk somewhere and they want specific information at their fingertips in a hurry because of whatever they are working on. Relaxation is not the driver in this market.
Cleto says audience needs led to Springer's "journalized" ebook collections:
They [academic readers/researchers] want highly specific information that may only be covered in a chapter or two. By "journalizing" each chapter, that is by making and presenting each chapter like a journal article, we make it easier and faster to search and download, and cheaper to buy since you can buy one or more chapters or the whole book. Either way, you get what you want, in a way you can best use it, faster and cheaper.
Based on Springer's ebook experience -- and O'Reilly's, via Safari -- the aggregated model is certainly worth exploring if a publisher's audience is focused on research, development and other action-oriented goals.
Next Generation OLPC: E-Reader in Waiting?
Mac Slocum
May 21, 2008
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Laptop Mag has an early look at the next-generation One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO-2, and the concept's book-like form factor is sure to turn a few heads in the e-reader world:
[Nicholas] Negroponte didn't share many details about the XO-2's hardware, but the new system has two touch-sensitive displays. As you can see from the video and the pictures, the XO-2 will be much smaller than the original machine (half the size, according to the press release) and will have a foldable e-book form factor. “The next generation laptop should be a book,” Negroponte said.
The $75 XO-2 is scheduled to go into production in 2010, but that date and the product itself are both being questioned.
IDPF: Boundaries of Participation
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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I wanted to add a few of my own thoughts to Andrew's last post on the AAP and the IDPF. I agree that there is too much emphasis on a replication of the print page, and too little engagement in re-envisioning the product so that it supports a diversity of distribution channels and ultimately, product conceptualizations. For that matter, many of us will still opt for some form of print manifestation, for some classes of this content. But regardless, publishers are aware at least cognitively of these transformations, as Sara Lloyd of Pan Macmillan witnesses in her recent manifesto. Indeed, DAISY is not the only actor that is encouraging IDPF to adopt a more profound engagement with newer presentation technologies and a greater diversity in the expectations for interaction, collaboration, and sharing.
One of the harder equations to solve is where the support for some of the features Andrew mentions should actually be located -- are they format bound? What is the value in specifying an explicit framework that supports (e.g.) OpenID and OpenSocial for collaborative reading of texts (viz. texts broadly defined)? How much of that should be a normative consideration of the application environment, vs. how much in a schema? Perhaps we rather need to participate more outbound such that libraries and publishers more actively engage in efforts like OpenSocial and DataPortability, to bring the changing needs of our served communities into those dialogues.
Organizationally, how do publishers and libraries become the type of enterprises where that kind of open technical and policy engagement is not only tolerated but endorsed as a normal run of business, instead of being perceived as a perfidious seduction?
I don't have either cleverness or answers, but I do wonder what goes into the IDPF's court as a work product, and what goes into the court of our community as a responsibility to redefine and rescale the boundaries of the world of participation.
Another Perspective on the AAP/EPUB Endorsement
Andrew Savikas
May 20, 2008
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Adobe's Bill McCoy has responded to my post on the AAP's endorsement of the EPUB format over on his blog:
Andrew says he's "not clear why it's the IDPF's problem to deal with conversion into non-standard formats" and quality assurance of the results. But this is the AAP, comprised solely of publishers, speaking to the IDPF, a broader group that in particular includes the eBook format and device vendors. It seems perfectly appropriate for AAP to make sure it's on record with vendors that the job isn't done just in having a neutral open standard for intermediate distribution of reflow-centric content. Ideally all the proprietary distribution formats will go away over time, but meantime the conversions and resulting quality issues are very real.
Bill's response is reasoned and thorough, and raises understandable objections to my original post. And the root of my objection to the AAP's approach is summed up nicely in how Bill concludes his post:
It's been over six months since EPUB 1.0 was approved, so from where I sit, it's not too overly demanding for the AAP to start asking the IDPF "what have you done for me lately?".
My concern is that by spending energy and resources working to satisfy publishers concerned primarily with replicating a print experience (something I contend is unnecessary for the vast majority of books published today), the opportunity cost is measured in lost energy and effort that should be directed toward building knowledge and capabilities for true digital publishing.
When I read between the lines of the AAP's letter, it's something like: "EPUB still isn't as good as PDF as far as we're concerned, and we want you to keep working to make it more faithful to our printed pages." But to me, EPUB is so extraordinary because it brings books that much closer to the richness of the Web. What are the standards and best practices for incorporating live web content into ebooks? Where's the framework for incorporating Google's new Friend Connect or OpenID into ebooks (so I know which of my friends is also reading the book)? What about a standard or mechanism for aggregating annotations and comments from ebook readers? To me, these are the kinds of questions publishers should be asking and the IDPF should at least help in answering.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Bill, and for the IDPF. I just think the AAP is misguided in asking them to make ebooks work more like print books, rather than how to make ebooks work more like the web.
Will Apple Challenge the Kindle?
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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Rex Hammock re-launches consideration of why Apple would give Amazon a run for ebook readers and content distribution:
Apple won’t stand still and let Amazon have this market [e-readers] all to itself. As I’ve written about ad-naseum, a slightly larger iPod Touch [view concept image] linked to eBooks distributed via the iTunes store would match and raise the game with Amazon. At that point, Amazon would be competing with the iTunes distribution channel, but with Amazon hardware that looks and feels like it was designed in Soviet-era Russia.
Also, with Apple in the game, its eBook format would be readable via the Mac or iPhone, as well. The Kindle format is locked into a Kindle device.
Looking at EPUB's Flexibility and Fidelity
Peter Brantley
May 16, 2008
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Jon Noring at TeleRead discusses the fundamental importance of the AAP's endorsement of the EPUB specification and format:
The following two points in AAP’s letter are germane to this article:
1. AAP sees retailers selling EPUB directly to consumers ... as well as selling derivative formats converted from EPUB. Publishers understand the great flexibility that EPUB provides.
2. AAP uses the phrase “high-fidelity” to describe EPUB. This mention means presentation quality is important to AAP, and thus should be important to everyone else in the ebook industry. It also acknowledges that indeed EPUB is “high-fidelity."
It is clear that publishers consider “flexibility” and “high-fidelity” in ebook formats important, for themselves, for the rest of the industry, and for consumers. And EPUB is a format that meets these requirements.
AAP Passive-Aggressively Endorses EPUB
Andrew Savikas
May 15, 2008
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Note: Most of this post was drafted on the train ride back from New York on Wednesday night, and I held off posting it because I thought it sounded too snarky. Well, a day later I still think it sounds snarky, but that's a consequence of how strongly I feel about this stuff. I really do have a lot of respect for the publishers named in the AAP letter's footnote, many of whom are experimenting and innovating in a lot of very interesting ways. I have no idea who suggested those caveats, or more importantly, who insisted on them, just that they really don't belong there in the first place. Note that O'Reilly is not a member of the AAP. You've been warned, snarkiness ahead...
Timed with yesterday's IDPF's Digital Book 2008, the AAP (Association of American Publishers) has put out a letter in support of the EPUB format (that the letter is posted as the scan of a printed letter is certainly amusing, and also quite telling). While this is a positive development, the "yes, but..." part of the letter reveals a subtle lack of understanding on the part of AAP (not the first time -- two weeks ago at OnCopyright 2008, AAP VP Allan Adler said that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft all have the same "database" and Google Book Search was how Google was trying to differentiate itself; also not the first time we've disagreed with the AAP).
In particular, the AAP highlights three issues that they "encourage the IDPF to work with its member organizations to develop guidelines/plans for addressing":
Read more…Iliad Book Edition E-Reader Coming to UK
Liza Daly
May 8, 2008
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Just in time for our discussion on the ideal e-book reader comes a new product that will be the first e-reader sold in the United Kingdom.
Trading Wi-Fi for increased storage and an overall price drop, the iLiad Book Edition is a successor to the iLiad 2. Both use the same iRex e-ink technology and feature a tablet-based touch screen. There is no bundled online service or book store, but both iLiads have support for open formats such as PDF. 50 public domain books are preloaded.
Borders UK will sell the device in a small number of stores, and will launch an online ebook store shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately, even this "reduced" price of £399/€499 is unlikely to win over e-reader skeptics, especially without network connectivity. Buying books will always require tethering the device to a computer and completing the purchase over the Web.
Other iLiad Book Edition technical specs:
- 8.1-inch (diagonal) Electronic Paper Display
- 8.5 inch high x 6.1 inch wide, weight 15.3 ounces
- 768 x 1024 pixels resolution, 160 DPI, 16 levels of grey-scale
- File formats supported: PDF, HTML, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG, PRC (Mobipocket)
- 128MB accessible flash memory; storage expandable via USB, MMC or CF cards
- Built-in stereo speakers and mini-headphone jack
- USB Connectivity to PC
- Optional external 10/100MB Ethernet networking via Travel hub
Q&A: Philip Parker, Developer of Automated Authoring Platform
Mac Slocum
April 30, 2008
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Philip Parker, founder of ICON Group International and a management science professor at Insead, has developed a patented approach to publishing that combines databases and programming with editorial management -- sometimes via humans, sometimes via computers. ICON Group produces books in 17 genres, including health care, business, reference and crosswords.
In this Q&A, Parker discusses ICON Group's computer-driven process.
How do you identify book topics?
Based on personal and research interests, I select a genre. Once a genre is selected, I do all titles in that genre (e.g. all trade categories that are officially recognized).
Are writers, editors, or designers involved at any point?
Depends on the genre, but yes, all are relied on heavily at many stages. Health guides are written by medical professionals and hand edited. The business reports have highly edited sections, but 90 percent is computer based.
What types of sources/databases do you pull information from? Are there data sources you don't currently have access to that you think hold promise for this type of publishing?
Depends on the genre. I use the sources that are used by regular authors. For example, an economist uses well established sources to do econometrics, I use the same sources. Many companies and governments have under-utilized data sources and databases that may yield interesting genres; I have worked on the ones that I found of interest to me. I have a huge store of proprietary data. If I use a government source, this is cited, and will vary by genre (e.g. CDC for infectious disease information).
You were part of a print-on-demand (POD) panel at TOC '08. Are all Icon Group books POD? What POD service(s) do you use?
No, not all are print-on-demand. We use LSI [Lighting Source] and Booksurge for POD. We do some POD ourselves for specialized orders.
Could your company -- or a similar company -- function without POD?
Yes, in fact, most of our titles are not POD, but electronic via subscription for large libraries -- corporate and non-corporate.
Are all books also made available as ebooks? What ebook formats do you use?
Yes. PDF, DOC, Mobipocket (coming soon), Pocket PC.
Do researchers or clients ask you to prepare specific books?
Yes. We are able to do financial and labor studies on demand.
Mike Maznick says there's some fairly negative feedback on some of the titles. Is that a consequence of the automated nature of the content creation? Do you feel confident people buying these books know they're generated? Or does that not matter?
All publishers have negative and positive comments (e.g. O'Reilly). I would find it strange if our titles did not. Of the titles we have on Amazon, some 50/210,000 have real comments. Many are satirical. Of the ones from actual buyers, all publishers will receive negative and positive feedback (both can be not real, as Amazon comments are almost wiki based; posted by various people, including affiliates who are trying to sell titles).
I do not track the feedback on Amazon, but I imagine of the 17 genres (crosswords, classics, trade, outlooks, etc.), the negative ones are probably only on the health care guides, which are sold mostly to libraries and patient associations. Of all the genres, this one [health care] is not "generated by computer" -- all the text is written by professionals. The computer is used for formatting and doing the index, and compiling the glossaries.
I have a feeling that the low ratings are because the person does not like the content, thinks that better content or similar content is available elsewhere (e.g. the Internet) or was hoping for more. The health guides are clearly marked as Internet guides, and they cite Internet sources. All of the guides are vetted (by librarians, etc.). If people are dissatisfied because they think the computer wrote the text in the books, then they are dissatisfied for the wrong reason, which is unfortunate.
Many patient associations have not only reviewed the books, but also recommended them to patients and families. On balance, I think it better to make these available to patients with rare diseases who wish to better know how to navigate the Internet, beyond a Google search. For the other genres, I have never received negative feedback, only positive feedback or questions about methodology.
What is your most popular title? How many copies were sold?
Our trade reports, which are purchased by consulting firms, investment banks, and companies involved in international trade. This series is very popular. We gauge sales by series, not by individual titles. Traditional publishers think in terms of individual titles.
On average, how many copies of a single title do you sell?
There are thousands held by libraries (this is public data at World Cat). Some firms subscribe to all titles. Again, we often sell series. Some [titles] sell hundreds, some sell just a few, as a part of a series sale. The prices seen on Amazon are one-off -- we sell few or none of these.
For a typical title, what percentage of the total retail sale is profit?
We do not have a typical title. ICON Group as a whole makes no "profit" -- all resources are plowed into R&D for new genres. The margins of the books at retail -- as opposed to profit -- are very low for the POD titles, and higher for the business titles. The margins for the low-priced products follow the industry, though we have lower margins as POD can be expensive compared to short-run printing.
A recent New York Times article says that each book costs you "about 12 cents in electricity." What other costs are involved in the process?
It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, to set up a genre (programming, licensing, editing, research/analysis, etc.). Many [genres] take about 1 year to create, some take 3 to 5 years. I have been doing this for about 8 years now.
How is pricing determined?
Same as in the publishing industry. In some genres we try to equate marginal revenues to marginal costs. On lower-priced POD we make sure we cover the basic costs. On higher end, we try to be substantially below related titles (e.g. trade and outlook, and other business reports). The latter [higher end] are really not sold via Amazon much, but rather through MarketResearch.com, EBSCO (content inclusion), NetLibrary and traditional channels for those markets (direct sales).
How many titles do you plan to develop this year?
Depends on the genre. For Mobipocket (mobile books), we plan on about 68,000 titles. For others, maybe around 50,000. We are working heavily on my dictionary and animations.
"Last Lecture" Success Inspires Kindle Marketing
Mac Slocum
April 21, 2008
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Perhaps catalyzed by the Kindle's new availability, Amazon recently associated the surprise success of The Last Lecture with happy Kindle owners. From an Amazon press release:
"One of the advantages for readers is that Kindle titles never go out of stock," said Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, World Wide Digital Media at Amazon.com. "That's good for readers, and it's good for publishers too."
Ebook editions of The Last Lecture are available in Kindle, Secure eReader, Secure Mobipocket and Secure Microsoft Reader formats.
Pan Macmillan Plans Ebooks Showing Edits and Changes
Peter Brantley
April 15, 2008
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Pan Macmillan is releasing ebooks with extra sauce. From thedigitalist.net:
The idea that a special edition eBook can contain marginal material produced before, during, or after a print edition features in two other eBooks to be published by Picador this year. Sid Smith’s China Dreams, which we published in hardback in January 2007 and in paperback in January 2008, will be issued in a uniquely up-to-date edition, in the author’s latest version, with corrections, changes, and new material, and a foreword in which he considers the process of composition and revision.
Cliffhanger, by T. J. Middleton (the alias of our established Picador author Tim Binding), takes this idea in the opposite direction: alongside the print edition, which we publish in October 2008, will be an urtext: a composite version of the novel as it was before it was edited here at Picador, with the text in its original form, reinstated and modified scenes and characters, and a radically different ending, also with a foreword by the author explaining the urtext’s conception and the editing process that turned it into Cliffhanger."
Penguin UK to Release Print and Ebook Editions Simultaneously
Mac Slocum
April 11, 2008
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Beginning in September, print and ebook versions of Penguin UK's new titles will be available simultaneously for the same price. Digital editions will be made available in .epub format through Penguin's Web sites and via retailers. From The Bookseller:
[Penguin] digital director Genevieve Shore described the move as "an important step." She said: "We have seen in other markets that the digital bestsellers are the same books making it to the top of the bestseller lists and we know our readers expect both editions to be available at the same time."
Roundup: Free Doesn't Always Apply, Kindle's Ebook Impact, Indie Bookstores and Chains Face Same Competitor, UK Publishers and Amazon in Price Battle, Borders Gets a Better Deal
Mac Slocum
April 11, 2008
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Free Doesn't Work for Every Company
From Peter Brantley: Hank Williams of Why Does Everything Suck? does an informal economic critique of Chris Anderson's "things tend to free" hypothesis:
"Some of you will argue that Google does fine based purely on advertising. But just because one company can commoditize everyone else's work and make pennies on things that used to generate dollars, is that sustainable across the whole economy? Or would we really be reducing the overall amount of money flowing into the digital market and therefore to the overall labor force?" (Continue reading ...)
An Educated Guess at Kindle's Impact
Kindle sales figures aren't available and the devices are still sold out, but the Associated Press notes a connection between the Kindle's Nov. '07 release and an uptick in ebook sales across the industry:
Publishing officials are reluctant to discuss sales figures, but say that they have seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the Kindle's release, including renewed interest in downloads on the Sony Reader.
Independent Booksellers and Chains Face Big-Box Competitors
Looks like the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" maxim is coming in to play with the increased attention big-box retailers are giving to books. Small indie booksellers and chain stores, such as Borders and B&N, are feeling the pinch from big-box store markdowns. From the Washington Post:
Costco, Target, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club aren't just moving in for the kill with big discounts on the latest Stephen King or John Grisham page-turners. They are also engaging the culturally connected, targeting readers who delight in cocktail or book-club conversation about the latest titles. About 34 percent of book buyers made purchases at such locations last year, according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey.
Publishers and Amazon Locked in Price War
The UK's Times Online says Penguin, Bloomsbury and other publishers are trying to woo customers with steep discounts on their own Web sites. Amazon isn't happy about the cuts:
There are fears that Amazon may retaliate by regarding a publisher’s online price as the recommended retail price and applying its trading terms to that. If a publisher discounts a £20 book to £15 online and Amazon has a contract for a 50 percent discount on the full price, Amazon would pay the company £7.50 instead of £10. Publishers say that this would be unfair and could ultimately drive up prices.
Borders has revised its $42.5 million loan with Pershing Square Capital Management. According to The Bookseller, the loan interest rate has been reduced from 12.5 percent to 9.8 percent. Pershing has also boosted its backup offer for Borders' international operations to $135 million.
Cultural Amnesia Ebook: Bonus Material and DRM-Free
Mac Slocum
April 8, 2008
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The ebook version of Clive James' Cultural Amnesia includes three additional essays that were not included in the print editions. In a note on the Cultural Amnesia blog, Pan MacMillan project manager James Long says the additional material acts as an "extension of the scope of Cultural Amnesia ... and as a preview of writing that will be included in Clive's next essay collection." The ebook does not have any DRM restrictions.
An Educated Guess at Kindle's Impact
Mac Slocum
April 8, 2008
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Kindle sales figures aren't available and the devices are still sold out, but the Associated Press notes a connection between the Kindle's Nov. '07 release and an uptick in ebook sales across the industry:
Publishing officials are reluctant to discuss sales figures, but say that they have seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the Kindle's release, including renewed interest in downloads on the Sony Reader.
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