3 Ways Pottermore Could Change Book Publishing

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Each & every thing you quoted said compatible. Compatible does not mean in Kindle format. It means it will be able to be viewed on a Kindle. I'd say clearly, and yes, this is speculation on my part, that they know something about Kindle and epub that the rest of the world doesn't know yet.

How solid is the claim (i.e. who said) that they'll be epubs rather than watermarked PDFs? All the major ereaders can handle PDFs; that's what I assumed when they said "compatible with any device."

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

How solid is the claim (i.e. who said) that they'll be epubs rather than watermarked PDFs? All the major ereaders can handle PDFs; that's what I assumed when they said "compatible with any device."

It's not a claim, it's conjecture. The author of this op-ed says "but it seems more likely that the site would sell e-books in just one format." Pottermore's CEO was quoted as saying "We want to make sure anyone who buys it, can read it on any device, we are talking to the Kindles, the Apples, the Googles, Barnes & Noble to make sure they are compatible. We set the pricing, we maintain the policy of making them available to as many readers as possible." To attain the goal of "making them available to as many readers as possible," the books should be offered in at least three formats: ePub, Mobi/prc, and PDF. Assuming that all or most ereaders could easily read a single format is unrealistic.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by TimW

It's not a claim, it's conjecture. The author of this op-ed says "but it seems more likely that the site would sell e-books in just one format." Pottermore's CEO was quoted as saying "We want to make sure anyone who buys it, can read it on any device, we are talking to the Kindles, the Apples, the Googles, Barnes & Noble to make sure they are compatible. We set the pricing, we maintain the policy of making them available to as many readers as possible." To attain the goal of "making them available to as many readers as possible," the books should be offered in at least three formats: ePub, Mobi/prc, and PDF. Assuming that all or most ereaders could easily read a single format is unrealistic.

If those are the words of the CEO, then what he is doing is expressing a wish, not a plan.Actually, it is not quite that; what he is doing is signalling that Pottermore is willing to work with all the major players in offering the books to the public.
In that case, we probably will see Pottermore offer the books in various formats. That would be the easiest solution, and would not require that the booksellers change their formats.
I think the reason why there is such hubbub about the whole epub thing is that techies want to see Amazon forced into choosing the "right" format.

[carld]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I think the reason why there is such hubbub about the whole epub thing is that techies want to see Amazon forced into choosing the "right" format.

I think you're right. I still think the idea of any author, even Rowling, forcing Amazon to do anything is ludicrous.

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's dominant in the US, and even more dominant in the UK. Together, those two markets probably account for at least 90% of world-wide eBook sales, so I'd say it's pretty significant.

Sure, if you completely ignore Japan which has an ebook market the size of the US market, even though it seems to be mainly manga read on phones.

HP may very well give ebooks a welcome boost on the continent and this time it is not channeling customers towards Amazon.

[Nahgem]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

The top-20 highest word count Harry Potter stories at AO3 fall just short of four million words. I am underwhelmed by an announcement of a quantity of new content that would fit in a single LiveJournal post.

It's nice that she'll be giving out outline info and bits of character background that never made it into the stories. But it's not a quantity of info that should impress anyone who understands word counts.

It's 18,000 words at launch, and I'd be surprised if she didn't write a fair amount more than that over the years as they roll out the later storylines.

"Oh god, I don’t know. Lots. There’s lots. 18,000 words at launch but I’m adding to it. I’m still digging up boxes and I will write more as well as we hit subsequent books.

However, I don't expect it to end up anywhere near Order of the Phoenix in terms of size and I definitely see your point on touting the word count as if it's huge when it's currently not. It is currently less than even NaNoWriMo requires.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

How solid is the claim (i.e. who said) that they'll be epubs rather than watermarked PDFs? All the major ereaders can handle PDFs; that's what I assumed when they said "compatible with any device."

Oh gods, I hope it's nothing like that. I already have PDFs that are perfect facsimiles of the US editions, and they're a pain to read on a 6" screen. I want a format that lets me have the illustrations and the various fonts AND good text-reflow.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

Oh gods, I hope it's nothing like that. I already have PDFs that are perfect facsimiles of the US editions, and they're a pain to read on a 6" screen. I want a format that lets me have the illustrations and the various fonts AND good text-reflow.

Me too... but Rowling's big on controlling reader's experiences. I *hope* for PDFs that don't look awful on 6" screens, but I expect trade paperback-sized PDFs, with half-inch margins and lots of pictures, that get botched layouts when they hit reflow.

Beedle the Bard, especially, wouldn't translate well to ePub or Mobi; a lot of the pages have artwork frames around them.

[stonetools]

Actually, what's most important IMO is not the techie debate about what format or DRM, etc. but the prospect that mega-authors might routinely opt of the publishing process altogether and offer their books directly via the web.
Now a few indie authors have done this, generally in partnership with Amazon and the major booksellers, but generally they are the minnows of the publishing world (no disrespect intended).
It would be different if Nora Roberts, James Patterson, or Stephen King started offering their works directly via websites which they set up,a la Pottermore. (They could do mobile apps, too, I suppose). That's a huge chunk of the income of major publishers and booksellers.
This would be a much bigger deal than Amazon going ePub, and would reshape the book industry in ways that I at least can hardly imagine.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid I don't agree with you. The eBooks will sell very well, I'm sure - they'll probably be the best ever selling eBooks, but in the overall scheme of things they are, as you say, only 7 novels (plus a few other odds and ends). I can't see Amazon (or anyone else) changing their business practices simply to accommodate her.

I may of course be entirely wrong. Time will tell!

I agree with Harry. I mean, Amazon may well be working to bring epub to the Kindle, but there's a reason why they haven't supported it thus far and I'm pretty sure that reason wasn't because "it's too hard".

I've always felt that Amazon likes not supporting epub because it differentiates their device from the others. Yes, you can buy mobi books elsewhere, and yes, you can buy epubs and convert them to mobi, but I'd hazard a guess that the majority of Amazon users don't do that because they see it as a bother.

Indeed, I would suspect that the Amazon eReaders as a group tend to prefer the "direct to device" delivery method more than any other eReader group. This is based on circumstantial anecdata of the 3-4 Kindle owners I know in Real Life versus the 3-4 Nook owners I know in Real Life and I could be very wrong. (Obviously, any eReaders on Mobile Reads are going to be more tech-savvy than a random sampling of Real Life folks.)

The HP books are important books and will make a lot of money, but the comments that Amazon must be "scrambling" to support epub, I just don't see it. I always felt with the convoluted Overdrive announcement, that if they were going to support epub, that would have been the ideal time to do it. They didn't then, I'm not so sure that they will now.

Still, if they do, that will be awesome for everyone. Yay for more choices.

[newlaza]

I still have my hopes that Amazon will be offering EPUB with the K4. They announced library services coming "before the end of the year" but gave no details. And most people are expecting a new Kindle (non-tablet) "before the end of the year". Now this falls under the same umbrella and people are heatedly discussing how Amazon will offer them.

Maybe it's just pipe dreams but I still have my fingers crossed Amazon will turn the ereading community on its ear before 2011 closes...partially because if they don't I'll be jumping ship to B&N, Kobo or Sony.

[JSWolf]

The reason Amazon is not supporting ePub is because Amazon doesn't have control over the format. Also, with AZW, if people want to buy a DRMed eBook, they have to buy it from Amazon. Also, Amazon eBook experience would not be the same if Amazon allowed ePub with DRM using ADE. Amazon would lose money.

I suspect if Amazon supports ePub for the Harry Potter eBooks, they may do so like they do PDF. Without DRM.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Ditchleyportrait

i think pottermore and ebooks compares with the beatles and itunes. a lot of hype mixed in the bag. i also don't like the pottermore logo (looks like an old hp logo circa jay-z spot), and knowing sony has its hand in the bag gives an ominous feeling, like an ill portent.

Enter the Cruciatus Rootkit ?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One might look at it the other way around and say that, given the Kindle's domination of the market, Ms Rowling would be crazy not to sell Mobi versions of the books. She needs Amazon more than amazon need her, to my mind.

I don't know. It depends on how much the rest of the world parallels where I live. Here in north Texas, while Amazon is still a force, and still has the lion's share of the installed base...it is only getting a significant share of new readers sold as opposed to the lion's share it had before.

I think this is a normal sign of a maturing market.

I would suggest it parallels with the share of the automobile market that Ford developed but could not maintain.

With the loss of market dominance comes the loss of the ability to dictate standards.

[murraypaul]

To pull together some recent threads:

1. Overdrive and Amazon are working together to make Overdrive library books available to the Kindle. The thought is that Amazon will do the actual ebook fulfillment, with Overdrive providing the frontend.

2. Libraries will no longer have to order specific formats of ebook from Overdrive, just buy N licences, which will entitle them to N copies of the book in any format.

3. Overdrive are providing the infrastructure for Pottermore ebook delivery.

So why would Amazon have to support ePub? All the steps are in place for you to buy an licence from Pottermore and have either ePub or mobi delivered depending on your device, with the mobi being delivered directly by Whispersync as Amazon handle the backend fulfillment for mobi.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Nahgem

Oh gods, I hope it's nothing like that. I already have PDFs that are perfect facsimiles of the US editions, and they're a pain to read on a 6" screen. I want a format that lets me have the illustrations and the various fonts AND good text-reflow.

I wouldn't buy pdfs !

One might look at it the other way around and say that, given the Kindle's domination of the market, Ms Rowling would be crazy not to sell Mobi versions of the books. She needs Amazon more than amazon need her, to my mind.

I would love for her not to sell mobi version. Would open some eyes...