Eric Flint on why paper books aren't going away

[DMcCunney]

Baen's ebook evangelist explains why he thinks so, in an article in Baen's Universe electronic magazine.
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Dennis

[acidzebra]

The horrible horrible formatting! My EYES are bleeding!

[Barcey]

Interesting but didn't see anything new.

I see paper publishing, distribution and sales as a barrier between the producer and the consumer. It's established, it's known and people are comfortable with it so the article seems to be grab a hot chocolate, hug your books and tell them they aren't going away. I think it's the wrong message to be sending to the industry.

No I can't predict the future but I see that print publishing is a declining industry with little opportunity for innovation. Electronic publishing is a growth industry with new rules and everyone in the industry should be evaluating the potential and what their new role is in this model.

With anything new you can ignore it and hope it goes away or you can embrace it and look for opportunities. Focus on the positive, change the rules and move forward. The past has shown which strategy is most successful.

Yes I believe the paper publishing industry will be around for years to come but how quickly it will decline is the question rather then how long it will be around.

[carld]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Baen's ebook evangelist explains why he thinks so, in an article in Baen's Universe electronic magazine.
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Dennis

One big advantage that ebooks have is the nearly instant availability of books. I can get books from Project Gutenberg or other free or pay sources in almost no time at all, and the selection is far greater than what I can find locally. Granted the number of titles available is still dwarfed by what's available in paper from Amazon and such, but this will improve over time.

As an example. Someone posted a link on the Kindlekorner mailing list to a WaPo op-ed piece kind of bashing the Kindle, and pointing out this great obscure book the author had gotten on a recommendation from a bookseller and how you just didn't get that from ebooks. Shortly thereafter a list member pointed out that this book was an excerpt from a larger work available from Project Gutenberg. A couple of minutes later I had a nicely formatted copy of the original book on my Kindle, at no charge, and without having to hunt it down.

[llasram]

I think Flint misses several key and interconnected advantages of e-books. He boils the benefit of the digital nature of e-books down to "storage," but I think there's much more to it than the impact on shelf-space:

• Purchasing convenience. No trekking to a brick-and-mortar store, no waiting for a shipment to arrive through the mail -- just buy on-line and read immediately. Devices like the Kindle with ubiquitous data network access make this even more so.
• Instant accessibility. Your entire e-library is available all the time, no matter where you are, and no book is ever misplaced. The current generation of devices isn't quite there yet (except perhaps the Kindle?), but that's just a software and interface issue.
• Portability. Every book is as convenient to carry around as a mass-market paperback. Moreover, the e-book is easier to pick up and read in random spare moments -- turn on your device and you're instantly at your place, turn it off and it saves where you were.
• Books never need go out-of-print. E-books make it more possible to keep books available regardless of the vagaries of the market. One could envision even in the relatively short-term books remaining available only as e-books after their print run has ended. (Although my understanding of this has changed since Charles Stross mentioned in another thread here that author-publisher contracts usually specify e-book sales falling below a certain level as indicating it has fallen "out-of-print.")

Most of the limitations Flint mentions are temporary too. The industry will sort out its DRM and format problems -- hell, if not for the DMCA those would already be non-issues. Better devices and -- more importantly -- more ubiquitous devices will steadily appear. As devices like cell phones become more capable of serving as e-book readers the whole "you need a device first" problem will become less and less of an issue.

Forward the e-book revolution!

-Marshall

[dgillette.rm]

I guess I do not understand why an author would want his work to go "out of print". From the publisher side, I can see things like inventory control, format changes, and data base upgrades would encourage something going out of print, but these are the same arguments Flint is using to say epublishing will never catch on in the first place. Am I missing something?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by dgillette.rm

I guess I do not understand why an author would want his work to go "out of print". From the publisher side, I can see things like inventory control, format changes, and data base upgrades would encourage something going out of print, but these are the same arguments Flint is using to say epublishing will never catch on in the first place. Am I missing something?

You are. Sales.

As an author, you want your book to sell. That's money. If your book is in print, available, and selling, you're happy.

If the book goes out of print, it's not available, and can't sell. What happens if the publisher does not reprint? As long as they hold the rights, you're stuck.

If your publisher chooses not to keep it in print, you are entitled to request that the rights revert to you. You can then attempt to resell it to another publisher, or perhaps self-publish.

Authors are normally happy to have a book with a publisher, as long as the publisher is actively trying to sell it. When the publisher stops trying to sell it, they want the option to place it with other markets.
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Dennis

[dgillette.rm]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You are. Sales.

As an author, you want your book to sell. That's money. If your book is in print, available, and selling, you're happy.

If the book goes out of print, it's not available, and can't sell. What happens if the publisher does not reprint? As long as they hold the rights, you're stuck.

If your publisher chooses not to keep it in print, you are entitled to request that the rights revert to you. You can then attempt to resell it to another publisher, or perhaps self-publish.

Authors are normally happy to have a book with a publisher, as long as the publisher is actively trying to sell it. When the publisher stops trying to sell it, they want the option to place it with other markets.
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Dennis

I think we are on the same page. I was trying to ask why an author would want a contract clause that allowed an ebook to go "out of print". I understand the author giving in to "sign it with this clause or no deal" aspect of why such a clause ends up in contracts. Based on what you appear to be saying, at that point the author might want to "self publish" or find a different outlet. Seems like more trouble than it is worth. Am I still missing something?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by dgillette.rm

I think we are on the same page. I was trying to ask why an author would want a contract clause that allowed an ebook to go "out of print". I understand the author giving in to "sign it with this clause or no deal" aspect of why such a clause ends up in contracts.

Define what "out of print" means for an ebook.

I want my publisher actively trying to sell my book, regardless of whether it's in paper or electronic format. If the publisher loses interest in it and stops trying to actively sell it (or believes it has sold as well as it will), I want the rights back so I can try to sell it to another publisher, or sell it myself.

Current publishing contracts tend to include levels of sales for ebook and Print On Demand titles to determine when a title has gone out of print and the author may ask that the rights revert. Below a certain level, it is considered out of print, even if technically available.

Based on what you appear to be saying, at that point the author might want to "self publish" or find a different outlet. Seems like more trouble than it is worth. Am I still missing something?

Maybe, maybe not.

If I get the rights back, I or my agent can attempt to place the book with a new publisher. That may have a better chance than an unpublished book. It has a track record. It was already purchased and offered by another house. Someone else might think they can do a better job with it.

Different houses do well at selling different things. An old friend who was a senior editor at one house described rejecting books that she personally loved, because she knew it was a book her house didn't know how to sell. It would go back with recommendations for better places to submit it.

If I don't place it elsewhere, I can try making it available myself, as an ebook or through a Print On Demand service. It may or may not yield benefits, but what do I get if the book is lying fallow with a publisher who has lost interest? At least I'm trying to sell it.
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Dennis