E-Book vs. Paper Book Some effects of digital book industry on what makes a book

What makes a book? What makes a book? Paper book’s legacy format Logical medium: language Required competence: literacy Physical shape (format / delivery technology) Edition – a work in its own right Tangibility – a blessing and a curse Authoring model Model of incentive for authors Advances – profits from publishing Royalties – profits from sales Long term contracts Business model Publishing model / incentive for publishing Royalties – profits from sales Mark-up – returns from wholesale rather than publishing Distribution model / incentive for distributing Mark-up margin – returns from sales Shelf space marketing

What, really, makes a book? Content? Idea? Object? Medium? Delivery technology? Content / idea stored (on a medium)?

Things to do with books Write Read Publish / Republish Buy / Sell Give away / Receive (as gifts) Lend / Borrow Store / protect / restore Collect Destroy, e.g. burn Throw away Resell Inherit

What are books for? Gutenberg paved the way: bookmaking as a business Promoting the wellbeing of mankind: bookmaking as a civilizational project Promotion of knowledge? Promotion of entertainment? Storing knowledge? Creating and protecting humanity’s heritage? Books are things to own…?

Other qualities of paper books Good for authors – books are written on advances? Distribution – closed and controlled (authors may care about it)? Books are marketed and promoted (yet, with e-books you can promote them even more extensively and in some aspects in a more controlled manner). Books just have this feel… Durability? How about shelf life? Preserving and storing independent of publishing interests – library’s interests do not equal those of the the book vendor

Joys and sorrows of ”owning” a book The book experience Pre-owning Researching Decisions, decisions Obtaining Owning Reading Storing Romanticizing? Disposal? In what ways? Where does pleasure come from? Desire to satisfy Voids to fill

Now, how about collecting? Why do people collect stuff, anyway? Are we better people because we own stuff? Are we better people because we collect stuff? Why do people care for stuff, anyway? Do you include stuff in your circle of empathy? ? ? ? Does stuff make you? Collector’s emotions Frustration Gratification Hunter’s pride, etc. Where there are emotions involved we’re talking personality and identity.

Things to do with e-books Write Read Publish / Republish Buy / Sell Give away / Receive (as gifts) Store / protect / restore Collect Lend /Borrow Destroy, e.g. burn Throw away Resell? Inherit? A redefinition of reading culture gestures – a redefinition of reading emotions – a redefinition of culture

What makes an e-book? Logical medium: language Required competence Literacy Digital literacy Book experience Physical shape (format / delivery technology) Edition Authoring model Model of incentive for authors Business model Publishing model / Distribution model

What really makes an e-book? Content? / Content stored (where?) Object? A 'data object’? A file? And, hence, treated as software End User License Agreement fair use rights – heavily limited no lending (how about lendling?) no borrowing (not yet, though… the future of libraries is not that bright, it seems) no communal experience no reselling / no second-hand market copyright limitations – heavily intensified

E-Book – why do publishers need it? Publication costs no need for physical medium simpler distribution Distribution costs Possible wider circulations Helps fight the readership crisis (or the publishing crisis? or the creativity crisis?)

Why is the E-Book market a risky enterprise for publishers and authors? the success of e-books might be followed by the ultimate collapse of bricks & mortar distribution model Macmillan vs Amazon – the early clash of the titans over the digital book Google Books vs the Authors Guild Amazon vs the Authors Guild Authors Guild vs the HathiTrust Perpetual access model?

A new library? That is a very thorny problem. In the past, getting a book from libraries has had a tremendous amount of friction. You have to go to the library, maybe the book has been checked out and you have to come back another time. If it's a popular book, maybe it gets lent ten times, there's a lot of wear and tear, and the library will then put in a reorder. With ebooks, you sit on your couch in your living room and go to the library website, see if the library has it, maybe you check libraries in three other states. You get the book, read it, return it and get another, all without paying a thing. It's like Netflix, but you don't pay for it. How is that a good model for us? If there's a model where the publisher gets a piece of the action every time the book is borrowed, that's an interesting model. John Sargent, Macmillan CEO fee-per-circulation?