Summit Paints Picture of Ebook Future
At a MediaBistro event, the publishing world gathered to compare notes on the way forward
Barbara A. Genco -- Library Journal, 12/21/2009
- New content platforms in the works
- Curatorial role for libraries
- How to prepare for an uncertain future?
After a decade dedicated to a trade ebook “proof of concept,” the trade ebook may have finally come of age. That was the news from a recent two-day eBook Summit, held at New World Stages and convened by marketing-savvy media company MediaBistro, partnering with LJ’s sister publication Publishers Weekly.
Today, with the proliferation of new dedicated ebook devices (Kindle, Sony Reader, B&N's Nook, etc.), an explosion in smartphones and apps, and the proliferation of new platforms, ebooks have advanced significantly. And America’s public libraries, introduced to ebooks via NetLibrary in 1999 (now owned by OCLC) and increasingly embracing additional vendors like OverDrive, have to be ready for the next stage in which they may have to play a more curatorial role as content proliferates.
Summit highlights
The summit involved more than 35 industry speakers, including authors, journalists, agents, scholars, consultants, geeks, publishers, and librarians, with hundreds more in the audience. (Review the conversation using the hashtag #ebooksummit on Twitter.)
Open Road Integrated Media, led by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Freidman, has introduced a new multi-layered platform designed to develop and market book content, all of which will be device-agnostic. While Open Road will focus on the backlist of big name trade book authors to start, it expects to release 20 original titles in 2010 and scale up 100 titles yearly.
Print on Demand (POD) will continue to play a strong role in backlist, long tail, and independent publishing of print books, whether at the warehouse or via Espresso Book Machine in bookstores and libraries.As Neiman Journalism Lab’s Joshua Benton noted, a Publisher’s Lunch study indicates that the Kindle Reader demographic skews upwards, with 70% of users 40 or older. Younger readers prefer smartphones, so the future of the ebook will be “a common standard” not a “common” device.”
Preparing for uncertainty
In a world where everyone and anyone can author and distribute content, libraries and authoritative, library-focused content reviews likely will continue to play a role—but how this might work remains unclear.
Academic library industry heavies like ebrary and Gale Cengage seem to have a strong grip on how to aggregate and deliver STM and scholarly ebook content in the academic library market. However, the road to effective public library distribution of e-originals may be a bit rocky.
How will the ebook marketplace look a year from now? And just how this all work in the future? Kneerim and Williams Literary Agent and industry wag Steve Wasserman said it best: "I suppose we could sum up this entire two-day conference under the headline 'too early to tell.'" But public libraries need to be ready.
Contact the author: bagencoconsulting@gmail.com
