Electronic Publishing

They can also reduce environmental waste as they reduce paper usage and pollution from delivery vehicles. E-books may be downloaded quickly from the home and if downloaded directly via an Internet connection they can cost less due to cutting out the shipping and handling costs.

As mentioned earlier, the main advantages are the advances made technologically. It is now possible to look up words with the dictionary software that is included in most e-book devices and search for specific text in seconds. They can annotate or highlight text, make it possible to read in dark or low light conditions and offer a variety of fonts in which to read. The visually impaired can switch the device to audio and have an e-book read to them. They offer the chance to enjoy a book that includes audio alongside the text and full motion video, create links between other e-books and it is possible to carry several books in one small package.

The possibilities of electronic publishing are already being exploited strongly by the academic and professional sector. Reference material in an e-book format may be easily updated which is of great benefit, especially to non-fiction works, and it is possible to purchase relevant chapters of large textbooks.

Roger Horton, the Managing Director of Taylor Francis Books Limited summed it all up when he said “The eBook is here…(they) offer enormous potential in the future to add value and functionality to content through extra pedagogical features, interactivity and animation.”

Weaknesses

Despite much activity in the area of electronic publishing during the past few years, most commentators believe that it will be some time before it becomes a significant market force. Although a forecast by Accenture predicts that e-books will have 10% or more of the market by 2005, this seems unlikely. As the results of an on-line survey showed 61% of respondents were not familiar with e-books and the different formats available.  The core book buying market tends to be made up of older consumers and if there is to be a mass market future for e-books, it is unlikely to happen until there is a generation without a particularly strong attachment to print and they reach an age when they become a significant market force in the book trade.

Many of the advances in technology are not yet mature, and bring their own inherent problems that must be overcome if e-books are to become widely accepted. There is still uncertainty surrounding the use of the new technology by the publishing industry, both in terms of being able predict which electronic products and services will to succeed, and because of the complex issues surrounding rights and royalties. The cost of the handheld devices are a barrier to widespread uptake for e-books. According to a survey, one in four Internet users would consider buying an inexpensive device, but of the models currently available, none meet this criterion. 

Protecting an authors copyright is one of the prime concerns when distributing books via electronic format. Similar concerns were raised about traditional books when copiers became commonly available, and although copying an entire book is possible, the cost and inconvenience of doing this manually has kept this type of piracy to a minimum. Copying electronically is now as easy as duplicating a file and piracy is becoming a major problem. The current struggles by performers and the music industry with Napster is a preview of could happen in e-book publishing. It is possible to try to combat this problem with the inclusion of encryption, however even encryption is not a guarantee. It took less than 48 hours for the encryption on Stephen King’s e-book Riding the Bullet to be broken. It is evident some method of securely distributing e-books and preserving copyright and royalties of authors is essential if e-books are to prosper. Adobe and Microsoft are just a few of the companies currently working on this problem, but encryption and secure distribution may cause other problems. Documents that are encrypted to be read on one device cannot then be copied to another device. This takes away many of the advantages traditional books have such as lending a book to a friend.

Lack of quality control can be a problem with authors publishing straight to readers. At present there are many systems a book has to go through before it reaches the bookshelves. As with the World Wide Web, increased choice does not always mean increased quality. As author Patricia O’Conner pointed out “When someone just jumps onto the Internet with a book that hasn't had any going over structurally, any line editing or anything like that, the chances of that book's making it are marginal. I think we're going to see a lot of very poor-quality books."
There is a problem too, with the fact many, if not most, consumers avoid making changes in their core habits. They may try something new for a period of time, but rarely look forward to adopting radical changes in the way they do things. Some readers have tried to replicate the traditional experience by adding the sound of paper turning when moving from one ‘page’ to the next, simply to minimise the difference of the new experience. These very enhancements that make e-books potentially more popular, may keep people from switching from the traditional method of reading.

Opportunities

The opportunities for electronic publishing to complement the traditional publishing method are improving considerably, with a different technology called print on demand. Print-on-demand technology promises to lift many of the book publishing industry's traditional restrictions, allowing more authors to publish their work and providing consumers access to a broader array of less expensive books. For publishers, print on demand technology is a chance to increase sales and lower costs. Smaller runs mean lower warehousing costs, and keeping books in print lets publishers sell more copies of each book over a longer lifetime. It also means more efficient distribution of books, because a digital copy can be transferred electronically to printers in distant markets. This is a valuable for the production departments also, as they are being put under pressure due to an increasing emphasis on improving efficiency in the supply chain. However, despite its economic advantages, print-on-demand accounts for less than 1 percent of total book sales. Industry analysts say publishers are reluctant to give digital masters to companies other than those with which they have worked before. 

The trend is for e-publishing sales to have a slow but steady increase, unlike many of the ‘dot.com’s’. Forrester Research issued a report that forecasts a slow growth in e-books and e-reader devices, but that strong projected sales of digital textbooks and trade books will force publishers to dramatically restructure their processes and technologies. According to Forrester, this new sector will account for 17.5% of the publishing industry revenues in the next five years. In a recent BBC report, analysts stated that e-book sales could reach over $3 billion a year, and publishers of technical and scientific titles say e-books are catching on in their fields. Dick Brass, the Vice President of technology development at Microsoft said in a recent interview “…more than half of all book titles will be sold electronically within the next 15 years” 

Producing e-books may also encourage younger people to increase their reading. Mary Higgins Clark, a suspense writer, said, “Some young people don’t want to read a book, but they’ll do anything on-line.” There is also a new project being undertaken called Project Gutenberg that focuses on converting books in the public domain into e-book formats to enhance their distribution. Thousands of books that were previously available only in libraries and private collections are now to be available in e-books for free. 

E-publishing can offer the author more control over their work. Today, most authors write their books on computers. An e-book can be generated from the original document on the computer in a few minutes. The file may then be uploaded to an e-book retailer for immediate availability on-line, leaving the publication decision entirely up to the author. There are 2 major advantages to the consumer for this; 1) E-book versions will, and in some cases already do, cost less than traditional books, and 2) Readers have the chance to read for free, a chapter or more of the book to read at their leisure before deciding on a purchase.

Threats

Electronic and print publishing are both under threat from other media, i.e. television, video games and the Internet. Book publishing, as a whole, needs to address the threats for a share of the dwindling leisure time of most consumers. At present, the book trade is heavily seasonal, with a strong reliance on pre-Christmas sales of consumer books. With the consumer base heavily concentrated among those in a higher socio-economic group, a more competitive climate within the bookselling industry might mean that all publishers provide higher discounts, resulting in lower investment. In the UK, the education sector may benefit in the short term from 2001 being an election year, but continuing concerns about university funding may mean that the academic and professional sector will be unlikely to see a significant growth in the medium term.

In this landscape, it will be hard to take losses from increased piracy. Although it is difficult to estimate the scale of piracy, the US based Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) estimates that the cost of lost sales resulting from the piracy of US books and journals is $672.8bn, the UK’s losses, according to the IIPA would be only slightly lower than this. 

Conclusion

The forecasts for the whole of the UK book publishing market are that they will continue steady growth during the next four years, reaching £3.9bn by 2005. It would appear e-books will continue a slow but steady growth. If the choice of reading material widens and the costs of the e-reading devices reduce, it will inevitably lead to greater competition between the two sectors that in turn will be of benefit to the consumer through lower prices. For the consumer, price, availability and portability are the prime concerns. E-books are not for everyone and they will not ever replace traditional publications completely, but more people are taking notice of their potential and many traditional publishers are looking for ways to expand into this market. E-books promise a new age of reading, but a survival strategy for the new publishing age needs to be created, ensuring security applications work consistently and licensing must be the key feature in regaining control of copyright laws. It remains for the two strands of book publishing to address these issues for the benefit of the author and the consumer.

 

 

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