Opinions, experts, formats, ebooks, books and trying not to yawn

I know I haven't put up a post for ages.  That's because why read me when every man and his dog is now an expert on ebooks?!  Opinions about ebooks are everywhere - on the online news sites, industry web sites, e-newsletter services.  The twitterworld is full of ebook profiles and there are tweets-a-million about all things digital.  Whether it's on social networking or media sites, comments about ebooks are everywhere you look.  There is no other news in the publishing world anymore.  We've lost sight of so many things and I'm seriously wondering if we've forgotten what to say.  What else is happening out there?  Take away ebooks and digital strategies, there's a long pause.  Occasionally someone reverts back to metadata and bibliographic workflows.  Perhaps physical distribution.  Outsourcing maybe?  But where are news stories about service, responsiveness, account management, promotions, content, the people that make this industry (other than the usual suspects).  No, it's all ebooks, ebooks, ebooks.

You listen to a podcast or an interview with an author, and it's almost the headline after the story.  "Oh, and it's also available as an ebook."  Yippee!  Congratulations to you, dear author, and wow dear publisher, I'm so impressed!  Did you say it like that in the past - oh, and it's also available in trade paperback | audiobook | hardcover.  No, you didn't really focus on the format.  It was in the marketing blurb and in bibliographic databases.  But ebooks are so hip and happening now.  But to me, ebook is another format.  It's something to respond to consumer demand - give readers the "p" or the "e" - and encourage them to read.  Sales patterns will change over time and your business will refocus accordingly.   But let's make sure there's lots and bells and whistles now around it.  Let's put out media releases and in sales kits to our customers - also available as "e".  Yes people rejoice with me.  Just remember the story of the publisher who did that, proudly announced ebooks in their promotion and then struggled with all the library calls - having totally forgotten the library market, library ebook vendors, and library suppliers.  Ah yes, what works in the consumer space doesn't always work in the library space.  Does it Harper Collins?

Yes, you've read this far and I congratulate you.  I'm a jaded woman.  After eight years speaking digital and fluent "e" for the library market, I'm totally bored by all the stories and tidbits that I see about ebooks.  I almost yawn now.  Ebooks are finally in the consumer mindset but at the same time it's become boring for me.  All industry articles focus on either "e" or POD.  Yes, they've fascinated me for years but I'm over it.  I'm over ereading devices.  Every second person I know has a Kindle.  A freakin' Kindle of all things.  Another sale to the giant that is Amazon.  Why Kindle? I ask.  It's the only name they knew. And it's another gadget - one that they'll use a lot, download a heap of books for the device, but in two years time will they still be reading from it? 

Maybe that's the thing.  I've encouraged, supported and promoted all things "e" for the library market.  Great for reference products and scholarly books.  Having digital content in an academic library is a no-brainer.  And I've helped with content acquisition for our ebook partners in other channels.  Naturally I'm eagerly awaiting the Blio product from Baker & Taylor for the library market - and have been involved with Australian publishers on that too.  I think it's just the consumer space that's finally caught up.  But it didn't just catch up.  It's flooded the market.  It's all anyone in the industry wants to speak about.  There are publishers left, right and centre trying to be digital gurus and show leadership in the industry.  There's digital directors on board with the trade houses now but goodness sake, do these people know the ins and outs of all sales channels in the market.  Do they truly understand everything from bibliographic workflows through to selling a book.  Yes, there are a couple in the ANZ market that do - and they know who they are.  As to the rest of you, seriously....?  You've hopped on the ebook bandwagon and you are probably really good sales & marketing people but do you have detailed knowledge about what goes on in all the markets in which you operate.  Having worked with you all, I don't think you do.  YOU think you do.  But not all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.  We both know it.  So don't try and bluff me.

I think I'll just sit back and watch all those downloads, all those zillion articles, all that restructuring, repositioning for the digital world ahead, the names Amazon, Apple, Overdrive, Kobo and others mentioned to the point of adnauseum, and pop on the lounge with a trusty book to escape the same articles that are churned out every day.  Did I mention the format I'm reading these days?  After two years of my e-reader at a personal level (as opposed to professional) it's more than likely to = shock, horror = be a physical book.  The ereader gets a workout for holidays but the rest of the time it's rather dull, lifeless and boring.  Yes folks the great novelty has worn off.  (After costing me a small fortune in downloads and still dozens and dozens of unread books on the device) I'm now cuddled up with the old-fashioned thing.  Remember it?  The book.  No "e" in front. Ah, those were the days my friends, those were the days.

The uproar over ebook prices

Much has been said about ebook pricing, particularly in recent times as Amazon is forced to move to agency pricing.  And haven't their customers revolted!  Not surprisingly - we've all been getting books at ridiculous prices.  Why would we buy hardcovers or paperbacks when they are several times the price of the ebook.  Fine, if you are like me and you want the printed work as the PREMIUM product, something to share, something to keep, something to treasure - and not a digital file!  But the US 9.99 price point did create demand.  Amazing demand.  Even at 11.99, 12.99, 14.99 the price points are still good.  Where is the balance? 

I must say ebook pricing is getting ridiculous.  The US Sony Store has Tony Blair's My Journey still available for US 9.99.  What is absolutely ridiculous however is local pricing.  Local site Readwithoutpaper.com has the book for $35.58 - that's what the local distributor has set the price at.  AU $35.58.  On the Random House Australia website the Hardback is $59.95.  The ebook is also $59.95.  Sorry guys, you know I love you but where do you think I ordered the book from?  (Yes I know, I usually order from work at staff rates but when it comes to ebooks it's a different kettle of fish).

To make matters even more confusing, ebook vendors aren't familiar with how bibliographic data works.  For all of us in the booktrade, we've had to sigh, heave, yell, scream, moan and groan over what the metadata looks like.  We've worked through 100s editions and versions of the Harry Potters and Dan Browns of this world.  It is confusing.  It's awful.  And now you're yet another victim of it.  On today's Sony newsletter I saw a book entitled Cleopatra.  For those of you that know me, I have several grand loves.  Tudor History, War of the Roses, lives of famous poets and painters, and Ancient History - particularly Egyptian.  The first thing I do is link on the title and what happens when I get into the Sony Reader Store - two different prices for the same bloody ebook. It's an EBOOK people - it's not a hardcover or a paperback.  There should be one price UNLESS the book specifically mentions an enhanced edition.  And on old Sony readers, an enhanced edition doesn't do anything.  It's an electronic reader only. 

This is just going to get worse folks.  It's bad enough having "e" and "p" prices all over the place, locally and internationally.  More mature ebook markets like the US doing crazy things, the UK market having a play, and then us not wanting to cannibilise print in any way.  it's going to happen.  The consumer will decide how they want to read.  We've seen it in the library market for years.  Library budgets for print massively cut back so they can purchase more ebooks, online databases and journals.  We've HAD to work with ebook vendors to survive.  And it does come with a cost.  Economically you operate with different margins - or not at all.

When will publishers start looking at price points, look at the readers, look at the business models, and find something that helps SELL the work - regardless of format.  Give the reader what they want - at a price suitable for the product offered.  Or lose the sale.

In industry alerts today there was an upcry when Amazon started listing the publishers ebook prices in the UK.  "Increase in piracy" "people will go elsewhere" "ban the agency publishers".  The peasants are revolting folks.  But publishers, you've only got yourselves to blame.  You got out the content to the market, played with the big boys, let them build up the demand (and where demand had never gone before!) at a price point soo unbelievable it became mainstream, then said sorry and clawed it all back. 

Personally I think the price points are way too high locally - but that goes for the printed product too.  I've been in this industry a long time and I've seen the picture from all sides.  But price it better and sell more.  Be prepared to play, be prepared to give up margin, but don't lose the sale.  Don't become irrelevant.  Adapt or die.

Oh, and try not to piss off the customer.  In the digital world, they have more power than you know.

The ebook experience: one woman’s perspective

How should one interpret ebook sales figures? We're always hearing about growth, growth and growth. Devices are here, there and everywhere. No device? No problem! Here's the software for you, freely available. Go forth and prosper. Yes, we’ve known for years that anyone who has Adobe Reader can read an "ebook". There's also Adobe Digital Editions and in a galaxy not too far away there's Blio. Within ebook library portals you've got the reader that works best for that ebook vendor. Yada Yada. Basically there’s an ebook vendor, reader, system in every corner.

But let us take all of the technology out of the equation. And the library model too. You want to read an ebook. Good for you! You've worked out where you are going to source your titles from, how you're going to read them (yes, I’m speaking about devices not eyes for those of you being smarty pants), but did you ever think about how your buying behaviour was being analysed? Hmmm, ebook sales are growing but are we really surprised?

This blog documents my ebook experience from day one. Not the library portal, industry work I do everyday in my job, but personal reading experiences. Ah yes, I fondly remember loading Adobe Digital Editions and working out ways to download the Sony platform (tricky when it is programmed not to recognise Australia). But we worked it out. The Sony e-reader was sent from the US, other e-readers came my way to assess them for both professional and personal use. It seems like a lifetime ago but it’s only 15 months ago.

This whole blog was about me trying to understand the consumer experience of ebooks. Of course it developed over the time to ebooks in general and my professional experience, but let’s take ourselves back to the beginning of the blog when bestseller lists for ebooks spoke only of Stephenie Meyer. All I knew about her was bestseller, teenage fiction. Should be an easy read, I thought. So Twilight it was. Ah, my first ebook purchase. I remember it fondly. I read on a computer within a few days. It was cheap. It was easy. Click. Download. Read. Next book. Same thing. E-reader arrived. Two more books, click, click, tick, tick. Now, all opinions on my reading tastes aside, I was amazed at how easy it was to read the ebooks. I read both on the laptop and on a device.

I read several ebooks in quick succession. I was eager. I wanted more. I was like a newborn vampire. I needed to feed! So I found myself downloading from every possible site. I used publisher sites, library sites, Gutenberg, Sony. If I saw the words free e-book, I signed up. If I saw e-book bundles or $1.00 books, click click, purchase. I couldn’t help myself.

GOODNESS when I think of what I've done, I just shake my head. Did I ever think about how those purchases would track in figures? No, I just wanted lots of books on my device to read whenever I wanted! So I got to the point of having dozens of physical books in the "to read" pile and dozens more of e-books on the list. Over time I’ve deleted books from the platforms and the Sony e-reader itself but thought I’d take a close look at what’s currently in my Sony portal. Ah yes, my purchases. What have I acquired, predominantly at the US$9.99 or slightly higher price? More importantly what have I actually read?

It didn’t take long to tally up the figures. I read 50% of what I purchased.  Was I surprised? No, not really. I now realise the books I’m buying in ebook format are those I don’t wish to keep. They are to read and discard. The books I love I still purchase in print. I can read them in anywhere I go. There aren’t restrictions like the weather, water, aircraft nuances. I can share them with friends. Granted they are much heavier, but the authors or genres I know I’ll love, I read in print. The ones I'm a little more uncertain about, I purchase in “e”.  The other interesting point, books I love in print, I also acquired in “e”, usually free.  The classics like Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice.  That way I can take them with me everywhere.

But what have I actually read? Unfortunately only half of it.  It was too easy to acquire but unfortunately not to read.  Will I continue to purchase ebooks?  Darn right I will!  I'm just going to be more careful with the "buy now" button and watch those free ebook offers more closely... 

Bring on the Blio

So Baker & Taylor has the next big thing in ebooks according to some industry experts. Blio was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas and what's special about this e-reading platform is its "true-to-print display". The software is free and will be out in February to most internet-enabled devices. At this stage we don't know about rights restrictions or territorial issues. When Sony updated their portal recently you had to state your country and there were only a couple of choices... as we know, Australia did not rate a mention as technically it's not on offer here. But I digress...

Blio is a software platform designed for computers, laptops, tablets, and mobiles. It displays books as PDFs in exactly the same layout and design as they appear in print. Because color is preserved, the software may be an especially good choice for illustrated books. This will be nice! Other features include:

* Open your book in 3D “book view” for realistic page turning
* “Text-only” mode for optimal display on small screens
* Display dual pages, or tile multiple pages
* Enlarge text without distortion
* Enjoy a full color, high-resolution display

Blio is a partnership with Baker & Taylor (yes, for those of you who know where I work, that's our new owners folks!). I'll start working my way through the B&T ebook world and see what I can find out. I'm particularly interested to see about library licensing but from the looks of the blio website it's not a library model...at this stage. I still have the words of the CEO of one of the world's largest trade houses ringing in my ear that he is anti-libraries having ebook access to any of his titles but last time I checked, he had them listed with Overdrive which has been already integrated into major libraries here including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sutherland, Yarra Plenty etc. But yes, I digress yet again.

The Blio platform will have some 50,000 titles available when the product is launched. B&T has suggested they will contribute some 180,000 titles in due course.

Will be interesting to see where the Blio takes us....!!!

A day in the life of an ebook reader

I've just finished an ebook (purchased locally surprise surprise) of The Book Thief. What a remarkable book. Will go down as one of the best I've ever read.

I've been laughing at myself lately because I either forget to charge the Sony ereader, or I don't turn it off properly, and then of course there are the problems with the device when I use the backlight (which chews up the battery). Trust me, I made sure I kept the battery strong for this book as I didn't want to get to a critical point and have a battery warning! There's nothing worse than wanting to read and not having the battery charge to do so...

It made me think about school students. I've heard many stories about (mainly private) schools wanting to have content on ereaders for their students but being rejected by publishers who either don't have the content digitised, don't want to participate, or just don't want to provide it for other reasons (piracy? who knows...). Anyway, I don't know about you, but my experience with teenagers in particular suggests they will lose their ereader, misplace it, forget to charge it etc. I can just imagine the teacher saying everyone turn to page 10 and some people have it on large font, some on small, so the page number is irrelevant. Then hearing cries from several students "miss, my battery is dead, I can't read it". Hysterical!

Of course they could always lose the print copy but you don't have battery issues with the traditional format. You don't risk damaging the whole device if you spill liquid on it. You can take it in the bath. You can read it throughout the flight (there's no "switching off all electronic devices" for the takeoff and landing period). The beauty of an ereader is storage and taking choice with you wherever you go.

Oh and further to my previous post, I had the ereader out and about with me yesterday - in a cafe and in a hairdresser. Only men asked me whether it was a Kindle. All older men - as previously identified - and all had lots of questions about it. Most women glance at it and it really does challenge their opinions. I think there's been half for and half against todate. Most add "I really hope the printed book doesn't die though". Me too folks, me too.

Roadtesting the Sony ereader

As many of you know, I took the Sony ereader to Frankfurt this year for the Book Fair. It was an interesting experiment, particularly as it was the longest trip to date and I must admit I was a little anxious as I love to read on longer flights and train rides. My luggage to previous international Book Fairs has included at least 3 books and I must admit, I did take a paperback as insurance!

The Sony ereader was fully charged when I left Sydney airport and there were 45 ebooks on the device including the new one from Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry. I purposely didn't take the charger on board and regretted this half way when the battery started dying in Singapore! As I've flagged previously on this blog, when the back light is used on the Sony, the battery dies quickly. Knowing this flaw, I use it sparingly but needed to because the light in the business lounge at Singapore airport was not good. I continued reading while I waited for my connecting flight and realised the battery was depleting right in front of my eyes! I wasn't happy about it and ended up putting the reader away.

It might interest you to know that most of the marketing material previously stated the battery lasted around 7000 page turns. If that's the case, I should be getting through 4-5 ebooks with no problem. This is not happening and I must admit, it cheeses me off somewhat.

Apart from the battery, the other problem was not being able to use an electronic device for take off and landing. Of course, on an international flight that can mean the last 30 minutes is without reading material. I was grateful for the paperback I threw into my handbag at the last minute, even if it meant my reading was somewhat interrupted.

Oh and I may have flagged this previously when discussing pros and cons of ereaders, but I enjoy soaking in a tub at the end of a long day and getting stuck into a good book while I bathe. Not having a bath at home, I always look forward to one when I travel. I managed to enjoy the experience only once during the whole Book Fair - on my last night. Of course, it's not wise to take the ereader in the bath (!) and again glad to have the paperback on hand.

But back to the story: The reader charged without difficulty once in Frankfurt, and again when I travelled to Regensburg for some personal time. The time off was particularly interesting as I had to field multiple questions about the ereader, all from German locals. Whether it was someone politely interrupting me on the train "Was IST das?!" to people in cafes or restaurants wanting to know more about it, I was fielding questions left, right and centre. Most of the time I handed over the device and let people use the touchscreen to navigate. It was met with a lot of approval, a lot of nods, a lot of sighs, and A LOT of interest overall.

The demographic was interesting - all enquiries were from men! Several were older, one I would hazard a guess would have been retired, and only a couple were from late teens to university students. I've been talking ebooks for years professionally (mainly for libraries) and having to do show and tell at a more personal level has been a lot of fun too.

On the way home, the ereader was fully charged yet again and I did NOT use the backlight at any stage of the journey. The trip home was longer as I had a 4 hour layover in Singapore. By the time we were preparing to land in Sydney, I had one battery cell left on the ereader. I had read two new books, re-read/scanned through another four, and answered about a dozen questions on the ereader from the general (German) public.

The fourth Twilight Book

I still can't quite believe I read 4 Stephenie Meyer e-books. In the end I read them all within a week, with Breaking Dawn finished late Thursday night the 4th June.

This was an interesting experiment with ebooks. I picked Twilight purely from the bestseller list. As far as I knew, it was a novel for teenage girls. There was very little chance I would read the bugger! Even when I started reading I thought the writing was poor, basic, unimaginative but I kept going. What "got me" was the Bella & Edward story. Yes hidden beneath this tough (cough cough) exterior is a soft mushy romantic. And of course let's pretend for a minute we aren't talking a vampire love story! I'm still trying to come to terms with all of this!! Somehow I just got sucked in (yes, couldn't resist the pun)....and really enjoyed it.

So to sum up my first ebook experience: Interesting choice. Resulted in 3 additional sales (4 if you count the Twilight DVD, 5 if you count the movie soundtrack, 6 if you count the piano score....). Yes, tragic isn't it. Consumerism gone mad.

But back to ebooks. The purchasing process was just like Apple's iTunes portal. You choose your ebook and purchase with a simple click or two. The site uses the credit card details stored from the previous purchase as per your profile. On completion of the sale, an email notification is sent but not an invoice like Apple's iTunes. I would have preferred the formal invoice but that's a personal choice.

Another downside is that you can't view before you purchase on the Sony ebook site. We are all used to sampling music tracks, why not sample ebooks in the same vein? Not having the preview functionality is a shame and I would have thought Sony had enough negotiating power with publishers - plus the technology - to do this effectively. Afterall Mobipocket's ebook site allows a demo to be viewed, stored, downloaded to your portable device - why hasn't Sony offered the same? Browsing is an important part of the ebook purchasing process and I trust they will add that to the portal in the near future.

STOP THE PRESS! I've just gone back into the Sony ebook portal and good news! They have "excerpts" as Coming Soon. They already have 20, 18, and 12 books featured for June, July and August respectively. At this stage they don't appear to be incorporated into the main functionality, but as a side bar. Hopefully the preview button will be part of the purchasing process in the coming months rather than having to navigate separately through the portal...

The last downside was reading on a computer. We spend all day on the blasted contraptions - email, websites, databases, spreadsheets, documents etc. Why on earth would we read a complete ebook as well? Well I have and I will again! I just have to position my body appropriately with better lighting. That may stop the headaches. I haven't had them since I stopped reading from the laptop, so I'm assuming the two are linked.

As to the handheld e-readers, I'm not liking the HanLin but will review that separately. The Sony ebook reader is enroute from our head office in the U.S. and I'm getting very excited about seeing it. (Particularly when my colleagues from the U.S. sent this email:

We have your Sony reader. If you ever want to see it again, place $10,000 in unmarked bills behind a certain convenience market in NW Portland ....!

I will post again once it's arrived and I've successfully downloaded the other ebooks I plan to read on the device. Stay tuned folks.

Part One: The ebook blog begins

Hi. I'm completely new to this. Never thought I'd contemplate a blog. Then again I also said to everyone that would listen that I would NEVER ... EVER purchase a digital camera (I spent a small fortune on my first one, loved it, and spent even more money September last year on a DSLR). And here I am again saying who really reads e-books, particularly on a computer? I spend all friggin day - and most of the evening - on a computer, so why would I want to read a book there.

You see, I work in the book industry and have done so for nearly 20 years. The last six years I've worked on "the dark side" as I call it. When my resignation from publishing was announced to my colleagues, there was a sigh of relief I wasn't going to the competition. I wasn't even going into bookselling. I was going into the depths of library supply. Yes we call ourselves booksellers but what we do, day in and day out, goes beyond that. Those in publishing will never understand library supply. They try. But it's not until you go to "TDS" that you realise it's another world.

Speaking of other worlds, after years of reading articles about ebooks and talking to publishers about digitisation, I've actually made the decision to start exploring the ebook market further on the personal front. Professionally, we have sold ebooks to academic libraries for several years and I am absolutely 100% committed to ebooks for this market: all that content at your fingertips, Search and Discovery, patron driven demand models. Good stuff! But what about fiction. Would you read the latest novel on your computer or a hand-held device?

That's the test and what I'm going to be blogging about. You see, I'm not the demographic for this stuff but I have to understand it. Are ebooks the future? I read dozens of articles every week that say the end of the book is nigh. Good Lord! The end of the book has been coming for years and since the Internet the noise keeps getting louder and louder. Lots of column space. But really people! Think about it. It's about READING. For pleasure, for education, for work. Look at Generation Y and what we are competing with. There are way too many distractions. When I find a teenager who actually LIKES to read, I want to kiss their feet. In fact, as my godson Jack will tell you, I BEG him to read so I will remain in a job until retirement age. (Heartbreak: he HATES reading. I told him that needs to change otherwise I'll write him out of my will, but it doesn't change anything! It's about mobile phones that do 100 things, computer games, sport, anything BUT reading...I still live in hope....sigh)

But back to the ebooks (see this is my first blog, I'm easily distracted LOL) would I read MORE if I utilised ebook portals and mastered the handheld device? Would I LIKE the experience? What will work better for me - content read for work purposes and professional development, or books for pleasure. What about my commitment to the local book industry, to publishers, to booksellers. Will I discover new authors? Will I read things I wouldn't normally do. And exactly how bloody hard will it be for me, here in Sydney, to actually access the books.

Amazon's Kindle is not available here. Nor the Sony e-reader. We have The Iliad sold through DA in Melbourne. A whopping $1299 for an e-reader ($1099 for another version). There are watered down ones like the HanLin (which I have on loan for work purposes at present. An industry colleague there reckons I'll be a convert in no time!) You read the spin about each device every day, OMG stop the press Oprah recommended The Kindle. Yes, it's called marketing and giving one to everyone in her audience (which seems to be the done thing on American chat shows now - so boring!). Great promotion for Amazon. It's the winner. Next day you'll read about another new device and how Sony's e-reader is taking on the world. Then there's the latest product release. The COOL-ER for example. Looks ipod-y. Got my attention I must say but let me guess, it won't be available in Australia? The good ones never are....

So not only do we have the problem with the actual e-readers, I'm sceptical about what content I can get (afterall the Sony ebook website doesn't even RECOGNISE you if you are in Australia!). And as a layperson am I really supposed to know the difference between EPUB files and PDFs on an e-reader? I'm not the most tech savvy person, but I'll press the buttons, I'll read about devices, and in the end I'll figure it out!

So it's Saturday 30th May here in Sydney and it's time for a status update. I've got the Mobipocket and Sony ebooks library installed on my computer (thanks to a U.S. work address) I've got a Sony e-reader about to be ordered and sent to me from a colleague in Oregon and I've got this HanLin to assess for possible reselling opportunities through work. I ordered The Alchemist using Mobipocket to trial and downloaded more than a dozen classic works for free (Austen, Bronte, Byron etc). And I ordered the book (and movie) of the moment, Twilight, using the Sony store.

At this stage I'm not looking at reading on mobiles (yes, I hear you, the Stanza application is soooo popular on the iphone, I get it I get it!, but I'm not going to even attempt reading on a small device like a mobile so consider it as out of scope for this project for now)

So ebooks, reading on a computer, reading on a dedicated e-reader. Hmmmm. Will I convert? Will I enjoy? And will it have it's ipod moment for me. Stay tuned and let's discover this together.