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I'd suggest that the debate on ebook pricing demonstrates the immature and changing nature of the market:
- yes, publishers are still treating ebooks as an add-on, rather than as an integral part of the production process. I wonder though if this is exacerbated by having to convert the backlist? I'd like to hope that in time ebook creation will be the starting point for the workflow.
- Quality - my impression is that too many ebooks are still not being proofed properly and contain many more typos than I would ever expect in a pbook. What I don't know is how the proportion of typos varies between pbooks converted to ebooks late in life and titles produced as ebooks from the very start.
- Hardware display - I love my 505, BUT, the quality of display for illustrations is poor. Until the hardware can do justice to graphic content, ebooks (at least in the non-fiction arena) are surely going to be the poor relations?
- Imagination (or lack therof) - the reference to a "Director's cut" version of ebooks is brilliant. Just think what could be done in terms of supporting material for a series, say LOTR or Discworld.
- Regional restrictions - these may make sense to a publisher, but to the consumer it's insane and looks like what it is - an outdated business model. Surely publishers need to start looking at the internet as a single (new) region?
Although the music industry is often quoted as an example of how to get it badly wrong, I'm struck by the similarity with IBM's agonies with the PC; the necessity for change is self-evident but the resistance to change is massive.
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