It’s clear to most publishers that handing over control of the market to someone outside of the industry would be a mistake. The problem is that in general, we’re publishers, not electronics manufacturers, not e-commerce retailers. Our expertise lies in content creation, not in building computers and operating systems. Most of us can’t afford the massive infrastructure necessary to create an entirely new enterprise like building the iPod/iTunes of books would entail. Those companies that could do so, mostly huge corporations, would probably be just as ruthless a taskmaster as someone like Apple or Amazon. Do you really trust Reed/Elsevier to take better care of you than Steve Jobs/Jeff Bezos?

That said, there are clear lessons that can be learned from the music industry, and clear advantages that the publishing industry holds. First, we should remember that we control the content. It took the music industry a long time to figure this out, to be willing to possibly cut off revenue sources in order to get the level of control they wanted. We’re in a better position, because unlike the use of mp3’s, the e-book market is not yet established. There’s nothing concrete in place to overcome.

Apple came to dominate the online music market because of their superior hardware, and the close integration between the iPod and their iTunes store. Amazon is attempting to do the same with the Kindle, but it has yet to take off in a significant manner. The music industry let Apple build this advantage by not insisting on common file formats available to all. Yes, AAC and mp3 are openly licensed, but the music industry insisted on the inclusion of DRM (which was a huge failure), and they let each individual store choose their own flavor of DRM. Had they instead gone with files that were identical, could be played on all devices and could be sold by anyone (with or without a commonly licensed form of DRM), you’d see a thriving, open market. Instead, they allowed Apple to create a consumer lock-in and achieve near-monopoly levels of marketshare.

To avoid the pitfalls, publishers must create that open market. Let all sellers offer the same e-books, let them compete on price and service. We need to avoid allowing anyone to create a locked-in system that leads to overwhelming market dominance. Most importantly, we must not be afraid to pull our products from sellers who refuse to offer us favorable terms. If Amazon won’t allow the Kindle to use the types of files we want to sell, then the Kindle store should be empty. e-Book sales aren’t significant enough for most publishers yet to make this untenable. If we wait too long and become dependent on one retailer, well, we’ll get what we deserve.

This was harder for the music industry to do because of the presence of rampant piracy (there are still something like 10 illegal downloads for every one iTunes purchase). If the music companies cut off Apple, consumers would get their songs from filesharing sites. We don’t have that same dilemma yet, because our product is still analog. Right now, it’s very difficulty to “rip” a book to electronic form. Some people make the enormous effort, but it’s still a lot rarer and more difficult than ripping an mp3 from a digital cd.

So we can still control this market, if we’re smart. I don’t expect us to be the creators of computing devices, but that doesn’t mean we have to follow, rather than lead. It just requires a willingness to sacrifice very small short term revenues for greater long term revenues.