Is the World Flat? Trends in ebooks and Digital Publishing John McClure Signalman Publishing Publishers’ InstituteJuly 15, 2012Orlando, Florida

Introduction Thank you, CSPA! A little about us… Ebooks and digital publishing

Why we do what we do… Laura B. Hayden and her book: Staying Alive: A Love Story Book signing tomorrow from 11am to noon in the CSPA booth.

“One in five U.S. adults are reading ebooks on a variety of devices, from dedicated ereaders to tablets (like the Kindle Fire) that can be used to download movies, music, video games and more.” -- Michael Norris, USA Today, Jan. 2012

“I live in a small town in the middle of North Dakota. It's over 2 hours to the nearest large book store, and our library is quite limited. I love my Nook! I can get a new book in a matter of minutes, no matter the weather or time of day!” -- Sibyl Dannenberg

Primary ebook retail/distribution channels available today: Amazon Kindle Store (includes Kindle Fire, Kindle (e-ink), Kindle Touch, Touch 3G, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle DX ) Barnes & Noble Nook Store (includes Nook Tablet, Nook Color, Nook Simple Touch) Apple iBookstore (includes iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) Google (utilizing Google Play on Android devices) Sony (Sony Reader, Sony Tablet) Kobo (Kobo eReader Touch, Vox) Kobo is popular in Canada and was recently purchased by the Japanese retailer Rakuten. Christian Book Distributors (app available on various devices) Trend: International distribution (B&N, Amazon, Kobo, Apple)

Source: Bowker research 2012

What are the basic ebook standards? Epub - governed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). The IDPF is the trade and standards organization for the digital publishing industry and they can be found at Mobi - used by the Kindle devices. Amazon has some specifications and governing documents. Based on HTML. PDF Trend: Epub is the defacto standard. Make your book an epub and the Kindle Store will accept it.

The “bones” of an ebook Concept of “reflowable text” Vertical versus horizontal orientation Working with images, tables Different text renditions (i.e. Hebrew text or other non-Latin characters) Trend: look for continued improvement in ebook display and adoption of non-Latin character sets.

Tools (DIY) HTML editor MS Word InDesign (CS6) Calibre Sigil (epub editor) Amazon’s Kindlegen and Kindle Previewer Trend: for those who use InDesign, it has gotten a lot better at formatting ebooks, thereby simplifying the workflow for book design.

Distribution tools Kindle Direct Publishing (kdp) Barnes & Noble PubIt! Apple iTunes Producer (can only be run on a Mac) Google Trend: Sorry, but Google is having a tough time in this ebook selling game. But they will keep at it because they are huge and because they can.

How Easy is it for a Small Publisher to work with each of these channels? What makes each channel unique or different from the others?

Evolution of a book…

Paperback vs ebook sales for Beyond the Cosmos by Hugh Ross

What about Libraries? Are ebooks becoming accepted there? 76% of libraries in the U.S. lend ebooks. - American Library Association According to a Pew survey, 62% of U.S. respondents did not know if their local library lended ebooks. In this same survey, only 12% had checked out an ebook from their library.

“After more than 100 years of public libraries circulating materials to users, we are no longer able to provide access to critical content that now exists in digital form.” -- Pat Losinski, CEO of Columbus Metropolitan Library

Further Challenges Faced by Libraries No current ability to search and browse a single comprehensive catalog with all of a library’s offerings at once, including all e-books, print books, special collections, etc. Place holds, check-out items, view availability, manage fines and receive communications within individual library catalogs or in the venue the library believes will serve them best, without having to visit separate websites (libraries, not distributors, should be enabled to manage all interactions with users). Seamlessly enjoy a variety of e-content. To do this, libraries must be able to choose content, devices and apps from any provider or from multiple providers, without bundling that limits a library’s ability to serve content they purchase on platforms of their choice. Download e-books that are compatible with all readers (Kindle, nook, iPad, etc.)

How do small publishers gain access to library patrons? Over 11,000 libraries in the U.S. now have access to the Amazon Kindle Store Overdrive ( 3M Cloud library Access for small publishers through some of these channels is difficult. Trend: Yes, libraries have a lot of challenges, but they will figure this out. People love free. It’s important for small publishers to play in this space.

Strategies to market ebooks Think about your strategy in terms of reaching the digital market. This will be a shift from traditional strategies in reaching out through bookstores, shops, and more traditional places for selling books. Shelfari – owned by Amazon. Information is used to populate the new x-ray feature. I can pretty much guarantee that Amazon will want to leverage this platform in promoting the books through their own channel. Goodreads Bloggers (i.e. Book crash program). Make sure you understand the demographic before engaging particular bloggers. Trend: These strategies will only become MORE important and effective in marketing and selling ebooks.

Global markets UK: advanced ebook market, similar to the US. Major players are Amazon, Apple, Kobo, and WH Smith (Iriver Story e-ink reader). Germany: ebooks make up an estimated 16 percent of the book market in Rest of Europe Japan China Brazil and others… Trend: Global markets, when combined, could become half of all ebook sales in 5 years.

What is the future? New devices: - Microsoft’s Surface Tablet – announced in June - Kindle Fire 2 – rumored announcement July 31. Also, we expect them to continue the current Kindle Fire and reduce its price to $149. Amazon is also looking to release a 10 inch screen model of the Kindle Fire either at the end of this year or early Google – Nexus 7 Tablet -- announced July -Google glasses

Google’s “Project Glass” Microsoft’s Surface Tablet

Final thoughts… International Growth Continuing innovation and development in technology to improve the reading experience (both with new devices and the reading apps) Prices continuing to drop, reducing barriers to ereaders and ebooks Libraries Education (both traditional and home schooling)

Conclusion and Questions Thank you!