CEO of a top 10 book publisher writes about e-books

[Bob Russell]

Michael Hyatt is "the President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the ninth largest publishing company of any kind." That's the description from his blog, Working Smart. And he's been sharing some thoughts about e-books recently.

He has covered topics like GTD, Mac vs Windows, Tablet PCs and so forth in the past. Now he has shared some views on the new Sony and iRex e-book readers. Whenever a publisher shares anything on this topic, it's certain to be of interest because of the many ways e-book publishing might evolve. Leaders in the industry will have a lot to say about how it progresses.

He has gone on record now via the web with a very non-traditional opinion from a publisher. In particular, he even says "While most publishers will admit that reference content is better accessed on the computer, almost all believe that the traditional non-fiction book or novel will never be replaced with a digital equivalent. I say, 'baloney.' It's coming. The sooner publishing executives get their collective heads out of the sand and face the future, the better prepared they will be to meet it." I couldn't agree more.

About the Sony e-book reader he asks whether it might be the iPod for books. There is definitely content coming. "Jane Friedman, CEO of HarperCollins, says she plans to digitize her entire catalog and make it available through Sony’s online store. This will happen as soon as HarperCollins finishes negotiating royalty rates with authors."

With regard to that new Sony product, he reminds us that "Even if this doesn’t become the device that I predicted in my first post on this topic, this is definitely a story to watch. I think we are seeing the convergence of multiple interests that will eventually result in the right device. Again, traditional books will not disappear any time soon, but a shift is coming. Count on it—and get ready."

With regard to the iRex device, he says "In my opinion, this is still a long way from 'the tipping point.' However, this is the third such device I have seen in the last two weeks. I think this reflects an acceleration in this kind of hardware development. It will likely take several more attempts, but eventually someone will get it right. It’s only a matter of time."

Michael Hyatt is definitely not one of the publishers with his head in the sand. Instead he will likely be one of the publishers shaping the future of electronic publishing of e-books. I just hope he finds a reasonable balance between content DRM and user experience.

Be sure to check out his Working Smarter blog, but you can find some of his e-book related posts at these links for your convenience:
* The Death Of Traditional Book Publishing
* More Thoughts on the Future of Book Publishing
* iRex Announces an ePaper Device
* The Shift Toward Digital Continues
* Could This Be the iPod for Books?

[Antoine of MMM]

Nice article; actually, I like his site better. I can learn a lot from a person like that; wonder what it would take to get to sit with Mr. Hyatt for a while and pick his brain on the state of orgainziation, books, and life in general.

[johnsoax]

I've been reading his blog for a while now. I love his insight into the industry.

[kamm]

Michael Hyatt is "the President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the ninth largest publishing company of any kind."

Yeah, let me guess: with all copies of Bibles counted as "published", right...?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by kamm

Yeah, let me guess: with all copies of Bibles counted as "published", right...?

That must be it, because the bible is the only Christian book ever written.