No publishers at CES

Elfwreck · 01-14-2010, 03:27 PM

From Huffington Post:
CES 2010: Why Were There No Publishers at CES?

Quote:

Why were there no book publishers at CES?

None. Zip. Zero. Not a single purveyor of content, other than a handful of authors including myself, Tess Gerrtisen, comics legend Stan Lee and, of course, James Patterson (and perhaps a few more that I missed). But no publishers. Nobody talking about what their company was doing in the realm of e-publishing. Nobody discussing how they might enhance their own ebooks, or how they might partner with upcoming device manufacturers. Nobody to talk about how technology was changing the way they did business, and how they might adapt to increase overall readership. If content is king, then the royal family was conspicuously absent at CES.

On the one hand--publishers deal with editing, marketing, and printing, and have no use for a tech convention. On the other--publishers are certainly *paying attention* to the ebook world, and what's showcased at places like CES is going to matter to them very soon.

Publishers have reacted to innovative ebook tech mostly negatively--shutting off TTS accessibility for the Kindle and loan ability for the Nook. I wonder how long it'll take for some up-and-coming publisher to decide to take advantage of the market vacuum and make itself visible in the tech world.

nboshart · 01-14-2010, 03:31 PM

Here's a list of great publishers who have DRM free books.

Also there are several dedicated tech conferences for publishers. See Tools of Change thread.
http://blog.threepress.org/2009/11/1...ee-publishers/

kjk · 01-14-2010, 03:33 PM

Wasn't Hearst there?

Dulin's Books · 01-14-2010, 03:33 PM

Actually there was an ebook distributor at CES right in the eBook tech zone. OverDrive had a booth right next to Pocketbook just across the walkway from Freescale. So to say there was "Not a single purveyor of content" is wrong.

Elfwreck · 01-14-2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

Actually there was an ebook distributor at CES right in the eBook tech zone. OverDrive had a booth right next to Pocketbook just across the walkway from Freescale. So to say there was "Not a single purveyor of content" is wrong.

Overdrive isn't a publisher; it's a distributor. And while I suppose that's a "purveyor of content," I don't think that invalidates the point of the article: that those who are in the business of making new content available (rather then making available content that someone else has made) are not getting involved with the industries that will showcase their content in the future.

If someone were complaining about no movie studios sending a rep to a conference about digital imaging and sound compression, I don't think saying "but Netflix was there" would change that point.

Overdrive, AFAIK, cannot set the terms for digital distribution of content; they're bound by whatever the publishers allow them. They can't take advantage of new possibilities in the technology--can't allow customers, for example, to create their own libraries using Nook's filesharing abilities; can't allow substitution of user fonts or custom CSS settings for the default ones in ePubs.

jament · 01-14-2010, 04:48 PM

Not surprising. I'll bet there were no dinosaurs and calligraphers there either.

Nate the great · 01-14-2010, 05:47 PM

The HufPo article is most likely wrong. Just because they weren't exhibiting at CES doesn't mean publishers didn't attend.

Dulin's Books · 01-14-2010, 05:58 PM

and as the commenters point out the Frankfurt book fair was not that long ago and there are several other publishing "fairs" this year(like O'Reilly's and Digital Book World) where they can focus on content generation and distribution etc.

Kali Yuga · 01-14-2010, 05:58 PM

Huffington Post, wrong? Say it ain't so!

Content creators don't exhibit at CES, that's not what it's about. It's about the companies and individuals involved in producing electronic devices. E.g. all the keynotes (people invited by CES to make major speeches) are from device manufacturers, not content creators.

Book content creators and publishers will be all over Book Expo, by the way.

nboshart · 01-15-2010, 08:17 AM

Actually, there was a Digital Zone at Frankfurt this year dedicated to ereaders and ebooks.

Did anyone else notice that soon after this article, HuffPo posted an article from a publishing exec?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-..._b_422478.html

vaughnmr · 01-15-2010, 09:13 AM

You can tell from the article and some of the comments that they are heavily against ebooks. I can't wait to see what that smile on their face looks like in a year...

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01-14-2010, 03:31 PM	#2
nboshart Connoisseur Posts: 65 Karma: 456 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo	Here's a list of great publishers who have DRM free books. Also there are several dedicated tech conferences for publishers. See Tools of Change thread. http://blog.threepress.org/2009/11/1...ee-publishers/

01-14-2010, 03:33 PM	#3
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	Wasn't Hearst there?

01-14-2010, 03:33 PM	#4
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	Actually there was an ebook distributor at CES right in the eBook tech zone. OverDrive had a booth right next to Pocketbook just across the walkway from Freescale. So to say there was "Not a single purveyor of content" is wrong.

01-14-2010, 04:48 PM	#6
jament Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 185 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: Sony 505	Not surprising. I'll bet there were no dinosaurs and calligraphers there either.

01-14-2010, 05:47 PM	#7
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	The HufPo article is most likely wrong. Just because they weren't exhibiting at CES doesn't mean publishers didn't attend.

01-14-2010, 05:58 PM	#8
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	and as the commenters point out the Frankfurt book fair was not that long ago and there are several other publishing "fairs" this year(like O'Reilly's and Digital Book World) where they can focus on content generation and distribution etc.

01-14-2010, 05:58 PM	#9
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Huffington Post, wrong? Say it ain't so! Content creators don't exhibit at CES, that's not what it's about. It's about the companies and individuals involved in producing electronic devices. E.g. all the keynotes (people invited by CES to make major speeches) are from device manufacturers, not content creators. Book content creators and publishers will be all over Book Expo, by the way.

01-15-2010, 08:17 AM	#10
nboshart Connoisseur Posts: 65 Karma: 456 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo	Actually, there was a Digital Zone at Frankfurt this year dedicated to ereaders and ebooks. Did anyone else notice that soon after this article, HuffPo posted an article from a publishing exec? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-..._b_422478.html

01-15-2010, 09:13 AM	#11
vaughnmr Ebook Reader Posts: 605 Karma: 3205128 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Texas Device: Kindle 3, HTC Evo, HTC View	You can tell from the article and some of the comments that they are heavily against ebooks. I can't wait to see what that smile on their face looks like in a year...