Are Tablets Really E-Readers?

O.K. I know the answer to this one. Yes, tablets have the technology necessary for being used as an E-Reader. The real question though, is why are people buying these devices?

I started thinking about this a couple of days ago after listening to an NPR report on the potential shift that Barnes and Noble is looking to take regarding the Nook. According to the report, "Barnes & Noble Chairman and chief stockholder, Leonard Riggio, is looking into the possibility of buying the company's retail book business, but not the Nook, the e-book, the company had staked it future on." The report went on "James McQuivey of Forrester Research is among those who thought the Nook would lead Barnes & Noble into the digital publishing future. But things move fast in the digital world, and McQuivey says the Nook is getting left behind...McQuivey commented 'The Nook is basically a reading device, maybe a media device. The tablet market has gone far past just reading or even consuming media. It's about email, it's about productivity. These are all things the Nook can try to do but just doesn't keep up with the paces set by someone like Apple or Google or other people who are working on these tablets.'"

Is the reason Amazon and their Kindle Devices are succeeding is because the devices are tablets that have the ability to work as an e-reader, or are these e-readers that have other purposes? Did Borders go under because of their e-reader did only that and didn't cater to those people who simply wanted a portable computer?

After I heard this report, I really started to pay attention to the people around me who had these assorted devices. What I found interesting was the number of people reading on them compared to the number of people playing Temple Run 2, Angry Birds or watching the latest episode of Walking Dead. It was really disappointing. In the small sampling I saw, very few were reading.

As somone who did graduate work in Literacy, this is a discouraging. Although we thought the technology would make reading more accessible to a lot of people, I fear that these tablet devices are doing much of the same thing that TV did to book reading. Is all of the extra stuff we have put on these devices really reducing the amount of reading we do today?

According to an article on PC World, the top five reasons to buy a tablet are:

1. Portablitity
2. Productivity
3. Entertainment
4. Adaptablity
5. Battery Life

Now you might think the portablity argument would be the thing that brings in the reader population, but the author of this article, I truly believe, highlights what a lot of supposed readers do with their technology. " Initially I had purchased the device to browse my massive library of digital comic books, but soon I found it useful for other, more-practical tasks. I started taking the iPad to meetings and using it to do quick Web searches, and it became my preferred way to read and respond to e-mail."

I have to say, I want to applaud Barnes and Noble for looking at this as an option. I like the idea of getting people to finally think about books and reading as one activity, and playing on an electronic device or doing your work on a tablet as another activity. The reporter did state "What does Riggio think he can do with the book side of the business? You're looking at a business that's about to go over the cliff, meaning the book selling business, generally; and yet you're saying, I want to buy that. Either he believes that this business is a special business that he wants to cherish and nurture, or he thinks he's going to do something other than sell books with it. And my money would be on the latter if you are going to put money on it at all."

Personally, I do not think the book selling business is about to go over a cliff. People will want to continue to read. People do like stories. I simply think the market is in a state of fluxuation right now. The market is simply trying to sort a few things out. As people in the publishing industry (authors, editors, agents, book sellers and book buyers) maybe it is time to really make a huge push to get people to read again. Turn off Temple Run and read a classic. Who knows? You might discover a new world other than a way to collect more gems and survive that darn mine car sequence.

I am not saying that e-readers don't have a place. I am simply saying that maybe we have forgotten that first reason we wanted to buy the e-reader. We wanted to read.

When Paperbacks Arrived, Hardback Didn't Disappear

It's a busy day today so I thought I would throw out a single point to consider...

When publishers shifted to paperbacks did those hardback books disappear? No. In fact, they are still here and being used.

The same is true for e-books. E-books WILL NOT eliminate print books. This is just another format.

Now, with that said, I do have to give you another analogy to consider.

CD's did replace Tapes. Tapes did replace 8-Tracks. But that was only because the technology finally became affordable and accessible to everyone. Technology also demonstrated that one was indeed BETTER than the other one.

We are simply not there with the e-book vs. print market.

What is the point of all this? Stop worrying.

Scott

Don't Give Up On Print Books Yet

Recently, I read an interesting statistics regarding ownership of e-readers in the US. It got me thinking that for many out there in publishing, the moves they are making now in terms of "shifting" to an electonic market may be a bit hasty. The statistic showed that only about a 1/4 of the adults out there own e-readers. Now, they didn't specify what type but I do have to guess that people with iPads probably are clumped into this group as well.

So what does this tell us?

On the first level, it says that there is still 3/4 of the population that are not making the move to e-readers. Why? We can only guess. For some it may be the cost of the books. For others, it may be the argument of the "feel of the book." For others, it may be a dread fear of technology. Regardless of why, the numbers still say there is a huge number of readers out there not on that e-book bandwagon.

What I find interesting is the number of publishing companies that are now thinking they want to dive into the digital only market. I guess I have to question...WHY? If the money is tough to come by right now, why would you invest in a product that can only read 1/4 of the readership and, in many cases, at a cheaper cost? It would seem to me that a better move would be to focus in on that other 3/4.

I also find it interesting when I hear of the number of writers out there putting all of their eggs in one basket and really pushing this e-pub only movement. I do have to stress, I am talking here about NEW authors. Those authors tossing their backlists into an e-pub program might as well. This may be a way to extend the life of their books. The people I am talking about are those new writers.

I know what these people are saying though. They do this because the print market won't take their books. Yes, I know part of that is because the traditional publishers are scaling back, but in far more cases (clearly an overwhelming majority) it is simply because the writing is not good. (But I digress here).

I personally applaud publishers such as Harlequin who utilize the e-pub market as a way to both extend the life of an author as well as a promotion tool. The free reads online, the links to electronic stories that are connected to the main print books. This is a great use of the technology.

In the end, I would simply have to say, let's stop and think a bit. No, we don't have to live in the dark ages. Yes, we should pay attention to technology. But, don't abandon that other 3/4.

Scott

P.S. We also have to remember that when we hear of people buying books online, this doesn't mean they are buying electronic books. They are buying print books via the internet. Don't confuse that.

Some Validation for My Thoughts On E-Readers

I was reading an OUTSTANDING arcticle put out by NINC recently written my Kat Richardson on the supposed rise in e-publishing. I had to admit, when I saw the initial article, before I really got into it, I was ready to believe this was going to be one more article proclaiming the ultimate downfall of the print book and the supremacy of the digital age. Wow, I was not only surprised but very much relieved.

Richardson highlights several points that really put into perspective this whole argument. She reminds the readers that although "...people on the Internet are deeply in love with their electronic realm and forget that, in fact, it is not the whole world. E-books are a very nice thing, but at the moment, no matter how impressive the growth rate, they represent less than one-third of all books—fiction, non-fiction, textbook, etc.—sold in the US." (Richardson, 2011). Honestly, that one third is really a big factor. For those writers out there believing they are working with a huge population, they are clearly mistaken.

She goes on to remind readers that "74.9% of U.S. homes with a phone line have Internet access (note they don’t say anything about homes without phone lines), but of those, less than half have broadband and of those, about 10% use their Internet for e-mail and routine communication only, not for shopping or surfing the net—and certainly not for reading or buying books. So, that boils down to roughly 33.7% of U.S. homes have the capacity for e-book downloads." (Richardson, 2011). Again, this is a point that I brought up last year after a conference with the WisRWA chapter. At that time, we were asked about the rise of e-publishing and I reminded everyone that in the 80's, there was a belief that everyone would have a computer in the near future. We are now in 2011 and you can see that number hasn't even been achieved.

I wanted to bring all of this up because I do believe that Richardson really hits on a big point here. Sure the numbers are rising and sure there is technology out there, but, to use the expression, "putting all of your eggs in one basic", simply doesn't sound that realistic. In fact, I like her argument when she talks about her own writing. She is someone that sees the value of using e-publishing as just something else you would do with your publishing. As she reminds the readers of her article, you simply cannot forget the other two-thirds of the readership.

I do know that some of you will want to bring up those authors that have all supposedly gone entirely electronic to prove to everyone it  can be done. We have to remember that many of these writers already had a huge following. Several of these writers are making the move because their last several books did poorly and going the digital route is a way to keep some of those books flowing. In other words, at this point in their career, they had nothing more to lose.

I also have to believe that many of these writers who made this move will likely make a move back later on. While making this move may sound like the ideal situation right now, I am confident enough to believe these writers may feel a little lost without that other two-thirds of their readership.

My compliments to Kat Richardson on this article and certainly to the staff at NINC for making this their front page artcile. Way to go!

Scott

On E-Book Readers and E-Books

I was reading an article a couple of days ago about E-Book readers and the following comment came up:

"Waterstone's has revealed it has sold more than 700,000 e-books and 60,000 e-book readers since it first started selling them in September 2008.

At Waterstone's supplier conference, held in north London yesterday (24th May), head of e-commerce David Kohn told publishing delegates Waterstone's believed e-books would account for 8% of the book market by 2013. "It's something that could be the greatest single opportunity, not just for Waterstone's, but for everybody here."

This was from an article on The Bookseller.com website by Graeme Neill. Needloess to say, it got me thinking about this whole business of E-books.

First of all, these are indeed big numbers. I am, in no way going to argue about that fact. 8% of the book market by 2013 is something that cannot be ignored. Along the same lines, the numbers we have seen recently with the introduction of the new lines of Kindle, Kobo, Sony and iPad are also significant. With that said though, one questions still lingers in my head.

What are they buying and will they continue to buy.

I made a comment several weeks ago that I am wondering how many of these people who got their new e-readers at Christmas were just cashing in their gift cards they received with it? Yes this accounts for sales, but the question remains, will they continue to buy them. I frequently think of the e-readers much in the same way we think of that treadmill we got at Christmas to lose those unwanted pounds. How long does it take before it gets moved to the garage? Will these readers continue to buy books? That question remains to be seen.

Along the same lines, I wonder what they are buying? Are these e-book readers really diving for that new bestseller at full price, or are they waiting for those discounted rates and even free books? I was noticing a while ago that several books that were "FREE" on the Sony site were moving very quickly up the Amazon Bestseller list. Seeing this told me that people are really looking for cheap not the books.

I guess for the writers out there, I wouldn't worry too much about this market. Sure we are seeing more e-book readers out there, and yes, the iPad is really cool, but I for one still believe the real books are still going to be here for a VERY LONG TIME

Do Inexpensive E-Readers Lead To Cheap E-Readers?

Just read an interesting article about the Kobo being released in June. I think I am potentially seeing a trend here that personally, might not be that good.

http://skattertech.com/2010/05/borders-kobo-ebook-hits-stores-in-june/

This is an attempt to create a low end price for an e-reader. That's fine with me, but I fear that in an attempt to keep the price lower, the quality of the readers in the end will decrease. No, I am not one to say that the higher the price the higher the quality, but I am concerned that companies will start diving on board to create less than quality material.

We see this all of the time in marketing. We have seen this in publishing. When e-publishing came out, there was a sudden flood of the market of "publishers" that had a huge computer server and began putting books out there. The quality of the writing as far from good. This is not to say all e-pubs are bad, but there were many that just dove into the business because it was cheap. Fortunately, some of those died off, but still, many continue.

Just something to think about.

Scott

On the State of E-Publishing

It's time to talk e-publishing again. Yes this is a reality but I don't think we all have to panic yet. The shift is not going to occur in the US or worldwide like the shift to HD Television did. It is in our future but I, unlike many out there, do not believe it is going to happen overnight.

I have read several people talking about how the shift is now. They are hearing grandmothers talking about getting a Sony. They are hearing textbook publishers talking about potentially going to an e-pub format and schools buying devices. But here it the truth. It is all talk!

If we think back to all of the major technalogical moves the world has made, it took a LONG time for the shift to occur. Personal computers came out and there was the belief that in 10-20 years everyone would have one. Hey, I got my first computer in high school and that was a TRS-80 Double Disk Drive and since that time, there are still a ton of families out there with no computer. Take it from me who spent a large amount of time teaching. There are more students than you think that have to still rely on going to the library and using a public computer. The computer shift is simply not here yet.

The same will go for the e-readers. Sure, I have a Sony but it is one of the early versions. It does what I want it to do. Nothing more. Nothing less. But for me to rush out and get a new device every time a Kindle, iPad, Sony, or Nook changes what they are doing is not going to happen. There are still far too many bugs to be worked out. These devices are still in their infancy.

Have you ever noticed who the people are that scream the change is happening right now? It is the people who have an invested interest in you buying those e-readers. The companies say it is now. The companies are the ones releasing all of this great news of sales to really get the public to think that going to the library or book store is something your grandparents used to do. Sorry to say it, but let's study some of those numbers.

E-readers were the top purchase item this last holiday season? Why? People got them for other people. And now we are hearing everyone is buying e-books - the sales are through the roof? Why? Well, for most of those people, when we bought our brother or sister that e-reader, we likely bought them a gift card to get their own books. They are now realizing that they might as well get off the stick and buy a book. There will be a spike in sales with books, much the same way there is a spike in battery sales at Christmas to go with all of those "some assembly required" toys.

Look, I am not saying e-books are not a wave of the future. It is going to be something we do. But the days of books are from over. Don't panic. If you like holding a book in your hand then please, keep buying the books. Demand your book store supplies more for you. Force the libraries to stay open and get more. It is your say, not the companies guilting you into something.

Scott

A Case for the Writer - The E-book Issue

I know most of you are aware I try my best to stay out of politics. I am an agent who is in this for the writer and want to see high quality writing out there for people to read. That is the literacy specialist in me. I do want to bring up something that a few people have touched on but I think needs to be brought a little more to the forefront.

As most of us have heard all weekend, Amazon adn Macmillan have been battling over the price of electronic books. Time and time again, I have seen people on the net screaming about the money the publishers or Amazon would be making, but we again seem to forget the author out there.

Hey, I am all in favor of advancing technology and moving into a digital age, however, we have to bring the author back into the equation. Writers have fought long and hard to see an increase in advances and royalties. For a new author, spending those hours sweating, crying and laughing over a book, should be worth something. Decreasing the cost of a book has a trickle down effect to the author who finally ends up with little.

Now before any of you jump in on this, I am not talking about those mega-authors here - the ones who have been around for a while - I'm talking about the average, mid-lister.

Sure, the same process of editing and marketing goes into an e-book. A book is a book. But the cost cutting comes in the form of printing. In essence. the e-book becomes a Print-on-Demand book without the paper. For a publisher, storing a ton of books on their hard-drives costs little to nothing, compared to the warehouse space and all of the other stuff that comes with print books. But, just because the book is cheaper to print, does not and should not mean the advances to an author should be any less.

Look, I understand this is all competition out there as book sellers attempt to show who can sell books the best. And yes, I know as readers, we always look for a great deal when buying a book. But with that said, let's again remember that someone, at least a year ago, spent time and energy writing those words that you are holding in your hand, or just downloaded to your computer or e-reader.

Scott

New Moves in E-Publishing

I just read this morning about a program now available to self-publishing authors. According to an article in the Washington post...

"CEO Jeff Bezos previously announced a self-publishing program in which authors can sell Kindle books on the site and keep 35 percent of the proceeds...

Look, those of us in the publishing industry have gone over this time and time again. There is a place in the world for people to self-publish, but in this case, in my humble opinion, this is just a way for companies to prey on those writers out there lacking the knowledge of the business. These authors have seen a rise in e-book sales (in fact many probably got their own at Christmas), and now they think tons of people will go out there and buy their books simply because they have an e-book reader. Heck, according to the same article, e-book sales out performed regular book sales this year.

I know, I know, e-publishing gurus and media moguls are screaming, "see, I told you so" and the self-publishing people are screaming "See, the mass market is interested in what I have to offer." Sorry to say it, but this is far from the truth.

We have to consider several things here. Work with me on this one because I am still waiting for the coffee to finish brewing (this is a no coffee article).

• Obviously ebook sales would go up. Who would want to give someone an e-reader without something to read on it. This is like giving a kid a Wii system and then saying it is up to them to spend their own money and get the games.
• The true test is to check back in 6 months and see how many people are still reading. I am thinking here of that post holiday let down. We see the same thing with kids. Play with a toy and by Jan. 1st, they are already bored with it.
• The self publishers are just being sucked along with this media frenzy. Time and time again, I have heard self-publisher say they took that route because the traditional publishers just didn't have a market for their writing? Huh? What do you mean people in New York or London don't want to know about the underwater pottery making industry of Bodfish, California. Hey, if they don't want to buy the book in hardback, they won't in e-book.
• But now it is available world wide on the internet! Again, how will we find you. Sorry to say it but I (along with a lot of other readers out there) don't just surf Facebook for a random new author on something obscure. And when I go to any online retailer, I am looking for something specific.

I still have to say, I honestly do not believe the book industry is being taken over by the e-book thing. I am more likely to pick up random books at the books story simply because it is sitting on the shelf next to the one thing I went in to get. Come on, I know you are all the same way, I hear it all of the time: "I went to Borders to get one thing and walked out spending $200.00."

Sure, the e-book thing is great. I love my reader and use it when reading all of my author's work. However, I have to say, this new move to bring in the self-publishing people, although it sounds very generous, just has a funny smell to it, at least from my perspective.

Ahhh, the coffee is finished. Off to get that well deserved cup. Oh, and when I am in the kitchen, I may browse the left-over Christmas cookie treats. Who knows what I will find there (hmmm, that sounds like a reference to a book story excursion).

E-Book Battle May Be a Positive Sign

I want to begin first by saying, I am still a book person. Although I love the latest gadgets out there, and I do have all of the new e-book readers on my Christmas list (will likely get the carpet cleaning that I asked for though), I am still someone that loves the feel of books. I have to say, that I do believe a lot of other people out there are in my camp as well. However, with that said, the current e-book battle raging right now might be a sign that people may take up reading again. As someone who supports literacy, this could be good.

Now, do I think this means that more and more e-publishers will start showing up and controlling the market? No, I don't think that will happen. Sure, companies will start diving on the bandwagon to market to authors wanting to ride the digital wave, but I have to say, they will not be the ones controlling the market. It will still be the larger publishers that will see the e-book market as simply an extension to their existing business.

I have to say, though, the traditional book market will have a long way to go before disappearing. Heck, when computers came out, we thought every home would have one now. This is far from the case. There is still a large population of people out there, for what ever reason, can not afford the technology. Given a choice between a Kindle and groceries, they will take groceries.

But what about the lates move by Stephen Covey marketing exclusively to Kindle? Will this cause problems? No way. There are already other companies (Harlequin being one) that have an electronic line and writers submit books only in that format? Has that detracted from their business? No way. Instead, it has increased their business. When someone buys one of those electronic books, they go out and get the others only in print format.

The ultimate change that I think we will see is the increase of readers. Maybe with these e-readers, people may simply get hooked on reading. They couldn't get to the library and they didn't ever want to be caught dead in a book store, but now, in the privacy of their own home, they can get those books.

I don't think any of us can make a prediction about the outcome. We can only wait to see once the dust settles.

And remember Santa, Scott wants a new E-Reader!

Scott