A new publishing ecosystem is emerging that includes among its participants O’Reilly Media, Pearson, Safari Books, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft, and Liberty Media. This new ecosystem may come to challenge the proprietary ebook networks of Amazon and Apple.
Is the Internet simply an irresistible “outside context” event for traditional book publishers? Two interesting articles make it clear that it may be, if wielded aggressively. The “outside context problem” was described in Iain M. Bank’s book “Excession,” in which […]
Judging from the frenetic pace of developments around e-reading and e-writing, the golden age of the e-book may be just around the corner. After that, what e-books evolve into remains to be seen.
Books take the shape of their containers, and the containers in turn shape the kinds of books we create. The new ebook containers have different affordances, which must be studied to develop a successful ebook program.
Traditional bookstores are missing a huge e-reader opportunity, proving that, sadly, they are not the customer-focused retailers they once were.
Amazon’s Kindle and e-book sales take off, and the overall trend is for a huge shake-up in the retail book space.
Using POD (print on demand) as a means to support open access is not a viable business model.
The next new e-book reading device is already here. (You may already own one.)
E-reading devices were shown off at the 2010 PSP Annual Meeting. Unfortunately, the iPad probably still dominated the setting, even in abstentia.
The new Nook is over-packaged, and has design and technical issues that keep it from competing well with the Kindle. Too bad.