Digital Book World Attendees Address Changing Future of Reading

Research on "avid readers," the debut of Blio, piracy, and "hybrid" publishing

Barbara A. Genco -- Library Journal, 01/29/2010

• Piracy concerns continue
• "Hybrid" publishing models
• Blio debuts

While the lively two-day Digital Book World (DBW) conference this past week did not focus on libraries, the changes in ebooks and ereading discussed there have many implications for libraries and their public.

Hundreds of publishing insiders—publishers, editors, agents, consultants, PR firms, ebook developers, major vendors and more—convened for an intense two-days at the conference at the Sheraton Center in New York City

Growing readers
Notably, as libraries discuss how to balance “brick” and “click” library collections and service delivery models, they might consider findings from two consumer surveys of avid book readers and avid book buyers (in both print and electronic formats).

Avid readers (five-plus hours of reading per week), the current core market for both print and ebooks, skew both older and female. But the reading/book buying market can grow.

First, younger (18-34) readers can be turned into book buyers more aggressive marketing, Second, aging Baby Boomers have money to spend and interest in books. Public libraries have already begun to focus on teens (as both gamers and readers) and Boomers/seniors (via reading groups, author programs, etc.).

(The venerable Book Industry Study Group (BISG) presented high-level results from itthe BISG Consumer Attitudes Toward eBook Reading. Verso Digital’s Jack McKeown presented findings (PPT) from an ongoing Consumer Book Survey. Though most of the data from both efforts reside behind pay walls, GalleyCat offers a smart summary of Verso's survey.)

The piracy issue
Did you think the issue of piracy died with Napster? No way. Macmillan President Brian Napack delivered a ringing call to action, calling for zero-tolerance and active prosecution of pirates. While #DBW attendees on Twitter were almost uniform in their incredulity at his tough guy stance, publishers and agents seemed both relieved and happy to embrace his message.

The fear of piracy (real or imagined) has already kept publishers (like Macmillan) wary of the ebook business. Further, campus broadband access may facilitate easy access to those BitTorrent file sharing sites (where ebook and media piracy thrive).

Many campus libraries (still recovering from the Napster era) have integrated copyright education to their intro-to-library-research classes now, they may have to do even more.

Blio debuts
The debut of the new Baker & Taylor joint venture with the new Blio eReader got people buzzing. As LJ has already reported, the device-agnostic Blio can deliver full color content, two-page spreads and page turns (a must for picture books), audio and video, and an enhanced text-to-speech function.

Among the scheduled keynotes at the annual O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference next month is “A Conversation with [Blio developer] Ray Kurzweil and Tim O'Reilly,” sure to generate new buzz.

The question of "hybrid" publishing
Much discussion concerned how to manage "hybrid" publishing—both print and electronic—of the same "book." How can publishers best retain market share for the hardcover? Will releasing an ebook edition simultaneously with print or “too soon” result in the cannibalization of sales?

Consumers clamored for the Kindle edition of Game Change on the Amazon.com site, panelists noted.

For libraries, long familiar with delayed publication of trade paper, mass market, and audio book editions, it may not be an issue for now. Library customers are quite used to varying waits for bestsellers and popular DVDs in holds queues. Then again, as consumer behavior changes, library customer behavior may well change.

The iPad emerges
During the final day, first speculation and then a flurry of Tweets emerged around Apple's announcement of the iPad tablet. (The news was streamed on laptops and smartphones around the ballroom and briefly shown on the big screen during a break.)

Will it be a game changer? Will help the industry in confronting Amazon’s market hegemony? LJ Digital Libraries blogger Roy Tennant’s calls it a “Kindle Killer”, but the implications of the iPad, and its attendant bookstore, will play out over time.

Going forward, and more info
The next DBW conference will be held January 25-26, 2011, again at the Sheraton. A series of online events is expected to include librarians. 

Look for fuller coverage of many panels at DBW in Publishers Weekly. Here's a Digital Book World Link Roundup. Here's #DBW on Twitter.

Presentations will be posted on the DBW site.