[2007-03]
eBooks
The Whole Subject Revisited
It's been more than four years since our original SIOF group ventured into electronic publishing with the now-defunct ePennyPress project.
The eBook industry held promise to expand the universe of readers all over the world, and to expand exponentially the opportunities for authors to reach new readers, to do it with less electricity than a light bulb, and to save thousands of trees every year in the bargain.
Without the liabilities of printing press or bales of paper, truckloads of shipments, cardboard floor displays and floor space in the local retail outlet, the promise was to put great masses of reading material in the hands of great masses of readers, and to do it at such a low cost that the interchange would be available to all.
Writers write, and readers read, and the task to get those two together had belonged to traditional publishers from the beginning of printed works.
They could have embraced the upstart eBook industry and taken over.
They could have controlled the three elements of successful ePublishing with less investment than it takes to release a single new paperback cover.
- Hardware (reading devices)
- eBooks to view on the Hardware
- Customers to buy the Hardware and eBooks
The commercial publishing industry already had contacts with proven authors, and the proven ability to market the new product.
Yet they shied away from the new medium that could have reduce their risk as well as their costs. And because the costs were reduced, their potential for profit could have grown even if they cut their sales price in half!
So what happened?
That's what a lot of us would like to know. Why has it taken this long to develope a good reading device, and why don't we have one readily on the market?
Why dont' they tell us they're working on it, instead of leaving the gossip mill to invent reasons that range from "incompetent management" all the way to "deliberate quashing to prevent competition until their contracts run out with paper production and shipping suppliers".
Whatever the reason, somebody dropped the wrong comma. We're still waiting. And wondering what the heck is the holdup. . . . continued --->
