Korea gone gangbusters

South Korea, what a contrast with the North. The ebook market is expected to grow like gangbusters, according to the Korea Herald. In the North you have a starving nation run by a 28-year-old fanatic. In the South, you have market freedom, perhaps, like no other place in the world. They are embracing a new way of reading to the tune of growth from $325 billion won in 2012 to $753 billion won in 2013, according to the Herald. Now part of the reason is that in Korea the smartphones often have more than a 5" in display, so they can be comfortably used to read books, in addition to making phone calls. To put simply, the Koreans have combined the phone and the tablet. That's a great combination that doesn't exist in the U.S., where we tend to have small display smartphones (3" perhaps) and then, as a separate device, an ereader with a screen at least 5".

And the beat goes on

Have you ever seen someone read a book on an iPhone or other smart phone? Of course. Not optimal, but happens. But let's don't count such new ereader devices because we have no good idea how many people actually use them for reading ebooks, in addition to the devices' primary role of phoning and emailing. Probably a small minority. (According to exclusive Simba data, about 63% of smartphone owners, 48% of iPad owners and 40% of non-iPad tablet owners do not use e-books. That means only about 37 percent of smart phone users read ebooks.) Let's just try to count people who have purchased ereaders with larger than 5" screens as book reading devices, and even those devices, as we know, could be used for some other function such as gaming or emailing. Does it help at all to keep track of the number of ereader devices sold? Yes, because it tells you whether the beat goes on, or not. But that's about it. That's how I interpret the news that Apple sold 20 million iPads in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 12 million iPads sold during the 2012 first quarter, according to Digital Book World. We have already reported that there are about 50 million ereader users out there, and counting.

The library state

There are more than 16,000 public libraries nationwide. What is their state, when it comes to ebooks? Let’s look at the ALA’s 2013 State of America’s Libraries Report, released during National Library Week, April 14 – 20. According to Digital Book World: "Digital content and libraries, and most urgently the issue of ebooks, continues to be a focus of the library community. Libraries and publishers of ebooks have spent much of the past year seeking some middle ground that will allow greater library access to ebooks and still compensate publishers appropriately. Just recently Penguin Group USA removed a six-month embargo on new releases licensed to libraries and instead will offer new ebook titles immediately after they are released in the consumer market. Although other terms are expected to continue, including a one-year expiration date on ebooks licensed to libraries, this new development comes at a time when the ALA continues to reach out to the nation’s top publishers to explore ebook lending models in U.S. libraries."

Software vs. artifact

Are ebooks software or artifact? Establishing their essence is absolutely necessary for there to be legal interpretation. So where do you come down? Myself, it’s easy. Artifact. I like the observation that software is function and ebooks are culture. But it’s not that simple, especially as ebooks become more interactive (involve more function). This is a hot topic in Europe right now, especially after a ruling by a German court, as reported by The Digital Reader, that because ebooks are not software (right) you can’t resell them (wrong). You see in Europe you CAN resell software, so if ebooks aren’t software, then you CAN’T resell them. Now does that really make sense? No. So expect the court ruling to change. Which brings us back to the real argument: can ebooks that are interactive be considered (static) culture? I hope so.

Heart of a Hart

Who invented the ebook? Michael Stern Hart, who at the age of 25, invented the e-book in 1971 and went on to found Project Gutenberg, according to The Hindu. Michael Hart died on September 6, 2011 at the age of 64 but his vision of the power of the internet continues unabated, perhaps even increased. In fact, what's the biggest problem for readers these days? Figuring out which e-reader to buy. ReaderRocket.com, a website that recently launched, intends to remedy that problem and help you pick out your next e-reader.

Europe's on board

Looks like Europe will not be a barrier. As we look at the world and the adoption of ebooks globally, Europe has removed its obstructionist tendencies. Apple and other publishers -- including now Penguin -- have promised not to “restrict, limit or impede” e-book retailers’ discounts or their ability to “set, alter or reduce retail prices for e-books” for two years according to details of the proposed changes as published in the EU’s Official Journal. That is good news. Now we've got the U.S. confronting unrestricted pricing of ebooks, as well as Europe, South America, Korea, China and Japan.Once again the Tower of Babel rules, because although these countries will not control prices, that does not mean they will all embrace the same ereader devices or the same coding or the same languages.

Saving ourselves

Nearly everyone has a favorite book, or a book that for some possibly transitional period of their life, led the way. That's why books are different from other commodities -- they actually save people's (spiritual) lives. So what about all those books that have done this for generations past. Are all of them inappropriate, useless, not applicable? Probably not. Thus backlists of currently out-of-print books can be valuable. But would someone just want an ebook of a lifesaver book, probably not. That's where ebooks and print books go together like peas and carrots. Get the ebook and then order a printed copy. Read Publisher's Weekly's fascinating look at out-of-print books revisiting as ebooks. Basically about half the out-of-print books studied had come back as ebooks. That's a good start at saving ourselves. Quoting: "Looking through PW’s archives at the top 25 bestselling books of both 1992 and 1982 in fiction and nonfiction (100 titles total), we found 56 books that had Kindle e-book editions."

Mashups for books

Finally a company that understands that readers rule: Bindworx. Go to bindorx.com. The UK company has just launched with, as Digital Book World put it: :"a twist that does seem novel: It will also allow its customers to create (and then buy) new works by combining old works and their own intellectual property. Think mashups for books." Ever since the internet allowed everyone to be an author, columnist, photographer, biographer, reporter, etc. the idea that content can be obsconded and/or manipulated by the receiver has been the theme of the day. The fact that it is finally possible with books, or rather ebooks (digital books), should not surprise anyone. Technology has not been the hindrance: people/culture/the law have been. This should not strike fear in the hearts of authors or publishers nor be cause for greed among copyright attorneys. This will only help them both out. This is just the future. Deal.

Don't be Turrowed

Don't be Turrowed, as in Scott Turrow, the president of the Author's Guild, who argued in a New York Times piece that ebooks would be the end of authors. Libraries have shot back, not wanting to be Turrowed. Mareen Sullivan, President of the American Library Association, has written, also in an oped piece for the New York Times: "It is not in the long-term interests of authors (or publishers) to deny library e-lending and the educational benefits it affords." Libraries are adamantly and wonderfully trying to make ebook lending a way of life for Americans. So everyone who can't see that ebooks and print books can coexist have been Turrowed. Don't be Turrowed.

Ebooks on the rise

I reiterate, all this reporting of the slowdown in ebook sales as some sort of talisman of doom is hogwah. Digital Book World today reported that ebooks account for 23% of trade publisher revenues from book sales in 2012. Overall ebook revenues increased 41% year-over-year. Adult nonfiction and fiction, children's and young adult and religious ebooks amounted to a $1.5 billion business last year. Remember, ebooks were hardly a blip just five years ago. And so as I blogged 3 weeks ago: Ebook "downturn" a lie.

Let's be indie

Although there were over 7,000 independent bookstores in the mid 1990s, there are now about only 2,000 bricks-and-mortar independent bookstores in the U.S., but that’s up from about 1,500 a few years ago, according to Digital Book World. Will they partake of the ebook psunami? At first they partnered with Google books to little avail, and then starting last October they switched to Kobo, and have been a little more successful. But the margins on selling either the Kobo ereaders or ebooks for the Kobo devices generate minuscule dollars. But imagine if when you bought the ebook, you also bought the printed book -- the rights and the price were blended. Then the indie booksellers could make more profit and, possibly, survive. Let's be indie in our ideas, too.

Amazon in any medium

Jason Merkowski's new book "Burning the Page" is where you should be able to read all about Amazon. Except it's not exactly a tell-all, according to BookBusiness. And there are no inside scoops. Instead, and in my mind, so much better, you get an ex-executive who still knows that books are special, in any medium. Here are some of the sentences, according to Laura Hazard Owen writing for Paid Content: “Books are priceless,” “Books can inspire us toward greatness,” “Books hold the repository of human knowledge, and then some,” “Reading is an act of bathyspheric descent into the depths of an inky-black ocean,” “For me, it really is about books. They’re not commodities, but soulful voices that actually speak to you”. In my book, well said Jason Merkowski.

It's not linear, stupid

We tend to believe that the evolution of ereader devices will be a straight line, as in more and more people prefer tablets to ereaders, so tablets may replace ereaders. Maybe not. Maybe the choice of devices is more like the choice of genres in reading, diverse and non-linear and uncompetitive. The annual Bowker Market Group study, called the Book Industry Study Group's "Consumer Attitudes Towared E-Book Reading survey", reports that ". . . those who prefer dedicated e-readers were more likely to select general fiction, mystery, literary fiction, or romance as key e-book genres than users of other types of devices. How-to guides and manuals were more popular with those who prefer reading e-books on personal computers. Consumers who prefer e- reading via smartphones were more likely to read travel books than either tablet or dedicated e-reader users." You may not be able to tell a book by its cover, but you may be able to tell a reader by his or her device.

Swell France

Here's another country -- and not an easy one -- to add to the number of national libraries digitizing lists of books, according to The Digital Reader: France. Quoting: The list is the work of ReLIRE, a new division of the Bibliothèque National de France. ReLire was created and authorized by the French Parliament in February 2012 with the purpose of identifying out of print titles from the 20th century, digitizing them, and getting them back into the market. So, so far in 2013, we've reported in this blog, that the Dutch, English and French national libraries have begun to digitize hundreds of thousands of books. That's a huge swell. However, the Digital Reader author, Nate Hoffelder, writes: I’m not reporting on this list to criticize the French govt (sic) for this project, but I do want to warn authors that they need to start paying attention. In 6 months time the titles on this list will be digitized, handed over to a collection society, and released on to the ebook market.

Go, Kobo

Kobo's strategy is making waves: Join with the indie bookstores, who should be very happy. Until now Mom and Pop bookstores -- some of them not so small -- have been left out of the device game, and, inherently, given the cold shoulder by the ebook onslaught. Now they are joining in, partnering with Kobo. (In the past their only option was to sell Google books, without a device on hand.) The Kobo devices will be sold at indie bookstores, after a deal helped by the American Booksellers Association. Barnes & Noble is no longer the primary source of print books and ebook devices at one venue. Digital Book Review today notes this, however: While Kobo ebook (sic) way outsold Google ebooks, the overall numbers aren't inspiring. The most successful bookstores have sold a few hundred devices and a few hundred ebooks. At the profit margins Kobo is offering bookstores, that doesn't add up to enough profit to pay bills or salaries.

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. And libraries throughout the world should be following suit. Back to the Netherlands. So if you want to read a book in Dutch, you're in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. So if you soon want to read a national book in Dutch, you'll be in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Toshiba's Mono, a mano

Another one enjoys the fray. Toshiba has just launched their second ereader, the Bookplace Mono, so their experience so far must be a good one. The Mono has a 6″ HD E-ink screen (1024×758), with Wifi, touchscreen, 4GB of storage, a microSD card slot, speaker, and a headphone jack. The Mono will be first available in Japan, and will most readily offer Japanese books. It debuts April 16 at about $145. Wow, how many signs do we need that this device -- the ereader -- has global legs. Of course Toshiba will have to go mano a mano with some very big players, already in the business, such as Amazon. But let's remember that Japan's rich cultural heritage may very well dictate the need for its very own ereader.

Picture your picture as a book cover

While everyone seems to be mesmerized by the price war on ebooks, extended today by Amazon's plan to discount Macmillan ebooks, there was a truly big announcement: Amazon is working on a way to personalize your ebook icons on your ereader. It's in beta. Read all about it at Publishers Lunch. Essentially you may be able to marry your own pictures with well-designed book templates to make a personalized, professional looking book cover for your favorite books on the desktop of your Kindle. Amazon, you rock. This is one more step closer to allowing readers to rule.