Editorial: The Book Is Not Dead

For a so-called dying industry, publishing looked pretty alive at this year's BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City. Somebody must have forgotten to tell the attendees who often crowded the aisles and booths—and packed LJ/SLJ's Librarians' Lounge—or many of the exhibitors who reported the show was better than they'd expected. There's barely a confab around (and certainly not an American Library Association conference) in which exhibitors don't complain about bad location, low traffic, and more. And given the state of the publishing industry, with poor book sales, high returns, layoffs, and other grim news—though that could describe any number of sectors in our current dysfunctional economy—the show seemed remarkably upbeat. That was due to a robust combination of the books themselves and the many formats in which they're now available.

Though both turmoil and uncertainty surround digital books and delivery mechanisms (e.g., the Google Book Search settlement), there is much excitement, too. Many publishers and authors seem to have left behind the “digital will kill the book” mentality, instead looking for opportunities that expanded delivery and formats afford in bringing readers and writers together. That was the message at LJ's Day of Dialog, too, which brings librarians, publishers, and vendors together annually as a kickoff to BEA. (Read more on Day of Dialog and BEA.)

HarperStudio's Debbie Stier, who is also director of digital marketing for all of HarperCollins, told attendees, “This is an exciting time for publishing. I see people reading all over, on their phones, BlackBerrys, Kindles.... We have all these tools to access the reader...to communicate directly. That's hugely powerful.”

Like Stier, BBC Audiobooks' Michele Cobb noted the potential for digital packages, where one format “upsells” another, and panelists and moderator Casper Grathwohl (Oxford University Pr.) reinforced what is fast becoming a truism—that giving away snippets, chapters, or other “pieces” of books encourages people to buy them. It's similar to what we've been telling publishers for years: libraries may “give” their books (which they purchase) to borrowers, but these borrowers also buy books for themselves or others, as well as spread the word about books they've read. Even in a down economy, most books remain a bargain gift.

Urging publishers to “engage in that [online] world,” Three Rivers' publisher Philip Patrick (also ebooks, digital content, and marketing director for all of Crown) pointed out that online tools allow publishers to go beyond their traditionally tiny marketing and promotion budgets. He also noted that genre markets—mystery, romance, and sf—are thriving in the digital world.

Patrick said publishers should see opportunity rather than threat in a site like Scribd, where authors and publishers can post and sell their works at prices they set. “There's a huge reading public behind Scribd,” Patrick said. (Scribd has been called a “Napster” for publishing and the “YouTube of documents.”) Although Scribd may be disintermediating the publisher by bringing the reader and writer together, many publishers have begun to work with the company, taking a page from the music industry's failure to see the future in online content sharing and social media. Scribd taps into a whole reading community of writers, too.

Ebrary CEO Chris Warnock called our times “similar to the Renaissance...we have more tools than ever before. [There's] a lot of creativity.” The ebook provider sees opportunity for libraries, as well, as places for content and online access. “I believe information wants to be free and freely accessible to all. That doesn't exclude publishers and authors being compensated.” Warnock also predicted that DRM (digital rights management) would be less onerous as digital models mature.

Many of these sentiments were echoed throughout BEA. At one panel on how publishers can succeed online (“Jumping Off a Cliff,” moderated by current Publishers Weekly and former LJ editor Andrew Albanese), Scribd cofounder Jared Friedman queried, “What is a book? It's a hardcover, an ebook, a web book, an audiobook, a video on YouTube.” As librarians, you already know that it's the content, not the container, that counts.