I'm redoing the poll since the original poll wasn't setup quite right (IMHO).

Forums that help readers to find good amateur writing.

And authors who outsource editing for a flat fee then market and distribute their work themselves.

Complacency on the part of the publishers. By that I mean their willingness to ignore the ebook marketplace and keep on doing things the same old way.

I notice that, as of my votes, "Piracy" has zero votes. Too bad the publishers (the big ones) won't notice the poll.

Derek

Dan Brown :)

I still think it's really the continued rise of other forms of media. Reading has been declining for years with TV, Movies, Video Games, the Internet (still reading, but not so much novels, magazines etc.).

As the more interactive/visual media continue to become more popular sales of novels etc. will decline. People are working more hours, spending time on social networking sites, etc. etc. which just leaves less time for curling up with a book. It will never die, but I can't see any large scale resurgence.

And I'm as guilty as many my age (30) or younger. I do more leisure reading than most of my friends, but still only 30-60 minutes before sleeping a few nights a week as I'd rather do something social or veg out with TV/Movie/Video games after a long day at work vs. reading for a prolonged period of time. Especially since I do a lot of reading at work, being in academia.

Let me break it down

The Publishers 17 65.38%
They are a big problem, using backwards practices. (like not keeping the digital text. it's a 50kb file, they could store an authors life work on a damn floppy disk) as well as slow adoption of new technologies, and alot of dead weight.

Tower of eBable (too many formats is confusing) 10 38.46%
For the average person this isn't a problem. if you buy a kindle, you will only buy from the kindle store.

Content not available 11 42.31%
How can you expect to make money if you don't sell?

High prices 15 57.69%
there will be a revolution in pricing, $10 seems to be the sweet spot $6 for paperback type of books, the type of books that never see hardcover

Pirates 1 3.85%
no one goes from buying books to piracy. instead try to get pirates to go to buying stuff by making things cheap and easy. you wont win them all though.

DRM 15 57.69%
this isn't gonna matter in the long run, DRM isn't something people should worry about. a book store will win eventually. Sony is making a push, but I honestly don't see how amazon could loose.

Geographical restrictions 8 30.77%
if your not in america tough luck, your not supposed to have the reader either. if you have anyone to blame its your own country, VAT? are you kidding me. why arent there any authors from your own country that you like? why are you mussing around here for? stop looking at amazon.com and look at bookstores in your own country. stop reading the NYtimes and read your slovak press, or whatever, you cant be mad at geographical restictions if you don't know the book exists.

Tower of eBable (too many formats is confusing) 10 38.46%
For the average person this isn't a problem. if you buy a kindle, you will only buy from the kindle store.


Exactly, I'm having this argument in another thread.

Format's are moot. Once a device comes out that is the cool "must have" device like the iPod and starts selling like crazy, that format will win.

The Average Joe doesn't give a crap about these nerd wars over which format is best etc. They'll buy the hyped device and get all their content from it, just like people bought iPods and all their songs from iTunes and never knew anything about AAC, DRM etc.

The people who do care about formats etc. never determine the success of devices and formats. That's on the joe six pack casual users who don't buy devices based on those, but on hype and ease of use etc.

OK, put up your hand if you blamed the pirates..

I chose publishers. Many of the other choices could be fixed by the publishers.

> if your not in america tough luck, your not supposed to have the reader either.

This was a joke?

> if your not in america tough luck, your not supposed to have the reader either.

This was a joke?
I don't think so. If youd don't live in the states (+ Canada ?) you're not supposed to legally have a kindle and buy ebooks at amazon, sony library and most of the major ebook sites...:(

I think the plethora of formats is the biggest problem. There are few areas where I have seen so many formats as with ebooks. Look at DVDs, Blu-Ray, MP3, PB books, JPEG etc.

I think there is room for specialist formats but there should be a standard one.

i'd go with Tower of eBable. too many formats is indeed very confusing. the competition is widespread which could also mean that anyone can be anything in this world right now.

http://storeyourpicture.com/images/signature_Kindle_Reader.jpg

Canada can buy the Sony and content, just not the Kindle.

The greatest threat and biggest opportunity is the Internet :) Also I think DRM is a threat to the publishing industry.

Really it's quite simple, they just need to provide material to consumers at a reasonable cost, make the ebooks easy to obtain, have a sufficient range of ebooks and make licensing flexible enough so you can use them like you would have used a paper book (able to share a book with a friend once you have finished with it). At the moment DRM acts as an impediment to the uptake of ebooks.

Let me break it down
ooks that never see hardcover

Pirates 1 3.85%
no one goes from buying books to piracy. instead try to get pirates to go to buying stuff by making things cheap and easy. you wont win them all though.



"no one"?

That is definitely wrong. Plenty of people will now that publishers are refusing to sell to them.

Right now I would say DRM and geographical restrictions. Everything that fragment the market and complicate the life of customers.

I would say piracy is for most peoples a consequence of DRM and of Geographical restrictions. For example, here in Mexico, Itunes just launched in August 2009. It's main competitor launched in 2009 too. Piracy is rampant and people now had several years to get used to it, as MP3 players have been selling here since ages like in every part of the world.

I hope the publishers don't make the same mistake, that is : watching ebook reading devices becoming popular without putting up a decent legal offer.

I'm redoing the poll since the original poll wasn't setup quite right (IMHO).It's still a little weak in that the question asks "What is the greatest threat to the publishing industry?" and the right answer is not among the choices.

GREED!

I voted for High Prices.

When online CD retailers have a sale, they are swamped with orders. Yet for years the music industry has said that no one wants to buy their product when it can be obtained for free via piracy. It seems clear to me that the list price of CDs is too high.

I think this is also true with eBooks. The publishers invest their money in copyrighted works, not public domain works. The no-charge pd books can be compared to the pirated downloads of CDs. There are only so many hours in the day, and if people are devoting time to books or music they obtained for free, they will not have the time to devote to enjoying what the industry is selling for big bucks.

Even with the DRM and format confusion, I think that if the publishers charged for an eBook only 25% of the list price of the corresponding hardcopy paper book, they would find that they will make their money in volume.

I'm going to go with other and say that it is 'Less than 5% of people under the age of 30 read anything that isn't required.'