How the e-book landscape is becoming a walled garden

[DonaldL.]

How the e-book landscape is becoming a walled garden

Just as a few massive chain stores eventually came to dominate the traditional printed book market in North America, the e-book marketplace is a kind of oligopoly involving a few major players — primarily Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble. And while bookstore owners of all kinds are free to decide which books they wish to put on their shelves, these new giants have far more control over whose e-books see the light of day because they also own the major e-reading platforms, and they are making decisions based not on what they think consumers want to read but on their own competitive interests. That is turning the e-book landscape into even more of a walled garden.

[QuantumIguana]

Of course, the walls aren't very high. If an e-book is available one reader, but not the other, people will jump over the fence, buy the book and strip the DRM.

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by DonaldL.

How the e-book landscape is becoming a walled garden

Your quoted paragraph uses the terms marketplace and landscape interchangeably, but the retailers represent a small fraction of available ebooks.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Of course, the walls aren't very high.

Bingo. Anybody can publish now. Literally anybody who can even vaguely write. Homless people can go to a public library, write a book for free, and publish it through any of a number of web sites. Total cost, other than time: zero.

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

If an e-book is available one reader, but not the other, people will jump over the fence, buy the book and strip the DRM.

Or people will trend away from the big names, and frequent any of the hundres of indepenent publishers on the recommendation of a friend.

It simply isn't possible to lock down online ebook publishing the way that traditional publishing always has been.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Of course, the walls aren't very high. If an e-book is available one reader, but not the other, people will jump over the fence, buy the book and strip the DRM.

If you randomly polled people shopping at a shopping mall, how many people do you think would know that it is possible to remove DRM? Heck, how many people would know what DRM is?

Most people who use e-readers have no clue that this is an option. The Media in the US is not going to run stories discussing how easy it is to do because it might be illegal. Even worse, the media in the US probably don't want you to know how easy it is for you to do because discussing that openly would honk off the entirty of the entertainment industry.

So unless someone is motivated enough, they are not going to be aware of this option. I would guess that 90% of Amazon and Barnes and Noble e-reader owners shop at Amazon and BN because they have no clue that the other is an option.

People buy Kindles and Nooks because they are tied into large bookstores that are easy to buy from.

So while we all know that there is no walled garden or that the walls have massive holes in them, most people do not. Which means that there are walled gardens and that they are going to be shopping at the one bookstore.

[QuantumIguana]

And when they find they can't get book from their retailer, they find alternative ways to get that book really fast. If they don't know what DRM is, they will learn. They only reason they don't know what DRM is is because they haven't needed to learn in order to read the books they want.

[CyGuy]

The walls are only holograms. The garden appears to be nice and friendly. Only when something inside the garden bits you does the need to escape become apparent. Some think the walls are real and they don’t see any way out. Many will just sit there and not do anything about it. Those who know the walls aren’t real can come and go as they please. I think more and more people are finally seeing past the facade…

[QuantumIguana]

It's like the walls are effective only so long as people don't know the wall exists. Once you know the wall exists, for example, discovering that there is a book you want that is available for some other reader, but not your own, you not only see the wall, but realize how easy it is to leap over.

[DiapDealer]

The cake is a lie.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

And when they find they can't get book from their retailer, they find alternative ways to get that book really fast. If they don't know what DRM is, they will learn. They only reason they don't know what DRM is is because they haven't needed to learn in order to read the books they want.

I am guessing that most people shrug and look for another book.

[cfrizz]

We are the minority in that we read a lot of books, from what I have read most people might read 5-10 a year. They will probably be very happy in their walled garden.

However, for those of us who read a lot, we are smart enough to see the traps being set by Amazon, B&N, and Apple. Even if we like their product, we quickly learn how to strip the DRM so that we maintain our flexibilty & freedom.

I don't believe that it will ever come down to just these three companies controling all ebooks. I think more smaller publishers will fill the holes that are left wide open by the big three.

And if not, there's always the dark net if push comes to shove.

[Chi Cygni]

I have a different perspective as I'm in Europe. Of course I understand the issue but Amazon is not a big player for me here in this part of the world. B&N may not even exist, it's so irrelevant. Here is more Adobe DRM on epubs and pdfs - but hear hear, I already saw watermarked epubs on sale as well as non DRMed ones. There is quite a number of online bookstores to choose from, I turn to Amazon out of boredom if I REALLY cannot find something I fancy in my language. I'm not too fond of reading in English if I don't have to. Plus, ereaders used in Europe are not tied to any platform if I am not mistaken.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by taustin

Bingo. Anybody can publish now. Literally anybody who can even vaguely write. Homless people can go to a public library, write a book for free, and publish it through any of a number of web sites. Total cost, other than time:

And that means people like Robert Service (who roved North America for years as a vagabond) can launch into writing on brute force talent. Publishers no longer required or able to keep them outside the wall.

[Andrew H.]

I think the article is pretty much off base. First of all, it uses the useful term "walled garden" incorrectly. A "walled garden" is what you have when the user is in a closed off environment. Apple has a walled garden wrt apps (only) on the iPhone/iPad because the only apps you can put on your device are those you buy from Apple.

E-book readers aren't like this: a Kindle won't stop you from putting books from other stores on your device, nor will a nook or a sony. There may be formatting or DRM issues, of course, but the device itself is open.

What the author is actually describing is consolidation in the e-book market...but I think he's wrong about that at all, at least as a practical matter. First of all, it doesn't strike me that the e-book market is any more restricted than the pbook market. The market is still dominated by the same publishers - but most users have much more freedom to buy e-books than they ever did pbooks. And of course there is a wide array of PD books available, as well as many self published books.

It's not a perfect system...but it's much better than the pbook system in terms of choice.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by taustin

Bingo. Anybody can publish now. Literally anybody who can even vaguely write. Homless people can go to a public library, write a book for free, and publish it through any of a number of web sites. Total cost, other than time: zero.



Or people will trend away from the big names, and frequent any of the hundres of indepenent publishers on the recommendation of a friend.

It simply isn't possible to lock down online ebook publishing the way that traditional publishing always has been.

Right ON!

Heck, maybe even my memoir!