Baby Got Books

Adventures in e-Books

I follow the latest news and gossip on e-books and the “future of books” obsessively. If books are really doomed, then maybe I need to start blogging about model trains are something. Over the last month or so, the word from e-book land has demonstrated that no one really knows what the heck is going on. Certainly the book industry has no idea which way is up. They should start an e-book reality show. I’d watch.

Some highlights:

According to Amazon, Amazon sold more e-books than “real” books this past Christmas. Jessamyn West says:

1. they’re creating a distinction that isn’t necessary, between ebooks and paper books
2. at the same time they’re obscuring the very very real distinction that exists and is terribly important: you do not own an ebook, you license or lease it

Carolyn Kellogg notes: and by sold they mean allowed to be downloaded for free

Readers: “We’re not dead yet!” Study shows an increase in reading since 1980.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) destroys books, says Cory Doctorow:

“anyone who claims that readers can’t and won’t and shouldn’t own their books are bent on the destruction of the book, the destruction of publishing, and the destruction of authorship itself.’ Doctorow says that for centuries, copyright has acknowledged that sacred connection between readers and their books and that when you own a book ‘it’s yours to give away, yours to keep, yours to license or to borrow, to inherit or to be included in your safe for your children’ and that ‘the most important part of the experience of a book is knowing that it can be owned.’” (read the speech for some awesomeness)

The e-book could save the day for publishers’ backlist, but “It seems at times that the publishing industry is just muddling along, hoping for the best. One can’t help but wonder if the industry, dazzled by the technological potential of e-readers, has lost sight of the most important thing: how readers actually interact with books.”

Tech author sells books without DRM, sells more books.

According to a company that wants to sell book companies digital protections and services, pirated copies of books “added up to a potential loss overall to the book publishing industry of $2.75 to $3 billion” last year. Does that sound even remotely believable?

Kindle users are up in arms about the delayed release of some titles as e-books.

The Guardian asks: Is it really doomsday for books?

Amazon sells books without restrictive DRM, but are they any freer (i.e., less restrictive)?

Counter to every argument you’ve ever heard against it, technical book publisher O’Reilly drops restrictive DRM, sales go up 104%. Hmmm, this seems to be a trend…..

In the NYT: How to create a Kindle bestseller? Charge $0.

Speaking or pirating books, you know who the worst pirates are? Librarians!

Calling themselves “Librarians”, they talk about promoting literacy, education, culture and economic development, which are, of course, code words for the use and dispersal of intellectual property. They readily admit to their activities, and rationalize them because they’re perfectly legal in the US, at least for now.

Cory Doctorow wakes up to find that his books are no longer available on Amazon (as an e-book or old school “pages” version) due to the first volleys in a pricing skirmish between Amazon and publishing giant Macmillan.

Macmillan’s CEO issues a statement.

Understatement?: Steve Jobs says publishers are not happy with Amazon.

Why the iPad will save publishing.

Why it won’t.

And this just in: Amazon feels that they will eventually give in to Macmillan “because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles.” Do you even hear yourself Amazon?