Discussion: eBook Publishing Model proposals

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

They simply see it as a different market, with completely different consumer dynamics, different marketing methods, etc. "Yes, but that's genre" generally ends the conversation right there.

The ironic, and mildly irritating thing about that is that what they consider "mainstream literary" I view as just another genre.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

That's why I find two recent developments of particular interest: One is the popularity of a few recent titles that can't exclusively be dropped into the "mainstream", "literary", or "genre" bins that are, nonetheless, drawing readers from all of them.

Could you cite some examples, so we all know what we're talking about here?

[tompe]

I think Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro might fit the description.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Could you cite some examples, so we all know what we're talking about here?

As I wrote that, I was thinking of things like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods. These are a couple of examples of works that have gained readers who would "never read genre fiction", readers who would "never read literary fiction", and mainstream readers who were unlikely to ever read either; and won acclaim from all three groups.

As tompe noted, Mitchel's Cloud Atlas is another example. It got nodded for both a Booker and a Nebula. That's a very curious thing.

Also, in short fiction, it seems like more and more journals are sitting on the border between litfic and specfic: Chizine, Strange Horizons, Electric Velocipede, Apex, Clarkesworld. All of these appear (to me) to put more emphasis on style and literary form (word choice, structure, theme, tone, etc.) than is traditional with genre fiction.

[bingle]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

After all of this discussion, I find myself coming back to the "Castle" publishing mentality, the desire for publishers and successful authors to maintain the status quo as much as possible because they are already on the inside, and by extension they ignore the entreaties of those "peons" on the outside to keep them there. There seems to be no other good explanation for the industry's resistance to e-books.

Yeah, a lot of people have postulated the same thing when it comes to the music industry and online distribution. It takes power out of the hands of the labels, and puts it much more firmly in the camps of the artists, meaning that an independent has as much chance of getting heard (theoretically) as Britney Spears. It's not so much a loss of money that spurred them against the online music movement, as a loss of control.

It could very well be the same thing with book publishers!

[bingle]

I think I have seen the perfect e-publishing business model.

And Amazon is already doing it!

But not with books ;-) Amazon recently started selling DRM-free MP3 files on their online store. You can download them for less cost than the competing DRMed files, and they can be played on any device (because everything supports MP3), and they're fairly high quality encodings.

They are lacking the software/device integration that Apple has, but last I heard they were quite happy with the sales figures.

Imagine them doing the same for ebooks...

And I think that the key to a successful ebook sales strategy is accepting that you'll have some people who won't pay, who will download your books for free and send them to their friends for free or upload them on filesharing networks. It's like 'shrinkage' in the retail business, or 'breakage' in the old record business, or 'spoilage' as a grocer - you accept that you lose some percentage of product to thieves or carelessness or nature. And you factor that into your business plan.

[DaleDe]

I saw the exact same business model in GPS technology. Mapopolis gave away the navigation program and sold the maps unprotected. They are now out of business do to lack of map sales after several years in the business. The product was outstanding and the maps were too easy to steal.

Dale

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by bingle

And I think that the key to a successful ebook sales strategy is accepting that you'll have some people who won't pay, who will download your books for free and send them to their friends for free or upload them on filesharing networks. It's like 'shrinkage' in the retail business, or 'breakage' in the old record business, or 'spoilage' as a grocer - you accept that you lose some percentage of product to thieves or carelessness or nature. And you factor that into your business plan.

Although this sounds reasonable...

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I saw the exact same business model in GPS technology. Mapopolis gave away the navigation program and sold the maps unprotected. They are now out of business do to lack of map sales after several years in the business. The product was outstanding and the maps were too easy to steal.

...this, not so much.

[mrkai]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I saw the exact same business model in GPS technology. Mapopolis gave away the navigation program and sold the maps unprotected. They are now out of business do to lack of map sales after several years in the business. The product was outstanding and the maps were too easy to steal.

Dale

Hi Dale. You know...here's another explanation...the one Mapopolis gave!

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=76767

Further...outstanding? I um, checked some reviews, and (as I suspected) in light of newer competing apps and their features it just couldn't compete anymore.

I mean, no 3D maps..."robotic" voice navigation...Mapopolis was antiquated. They had their fans, but people were looking for PDA mapping that rivaled newer dedicated hardware solutions at a fraction of the price and Mapopolis didn't provide this.

Additionally, Mapopolis was slow to migrate to newer Palm platforms...their core and bread and butter.

In light of all of this...you come up with "they didn't have DRM to save them" as their problem?! I submit that the lack of DRM made them relevant in the face of their superior competition...it allowed them to live longer

Sheesh.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by mrkai

Hi Dale. You know...here's another explanation...the one Mapopolis gave!

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=76767

Further...outstanding? I um, checked some reviews, and (as I suspected) in light of newer competing apps and their features it just couldn't compete anymore.

I mean, no 3D maps..."robotic" voice navigation...Mapopolis was antiquated. They had their fans, but people were looking for PDA mapping that rivaled newer dedicated hardware solutions at a fraction of the price and Mapopolis didn't provide this.

Additionally, Mapopolis was slow to migrate to newer Palm platforms...their core and bread and butter.

In light of all of this...you come up with "they didn't have DRM to save them" as their problem?! I submit that the lack of DRM made them relevant in the face of their superior competition...it allowed them to live longer

Sheesh.

The article you quoted was not from Mapopolis owners. It was their customer support person. I worked heavily with Lamar for some time and my own company went under as well. I was the technical writer and customer support person as well. Lamar did not have any inside track on what happened but does have his informed opinions. You can certainly believe what you want and the product did have some shortcomings but believe me they all do. I have intimate knowledge of GPS stuff. Check my web site. Of course no single problem is ever to blame but you have to look at the evidence.

Dale

[nekokami]

I would think people don't buy new maps as frequently as they buy new books, though they probably refer to them more often. This seems like even less of a direct comparison than to music.

[GregS]

Friends, we need a business model that can work for both extremes - that is the big established publisher, and perhaps someone living in small town in India that just happens to write like and angel and never will get close to a publisher of any kind.

Apple's itunes went particularly well because you could buy a card at a music shop and use it for buying music over the net. Without that card it would have not been half as successful.

That is the critical part, methods of payment - that works for small amounts.

I agree it is not question of cheap, cheap, cheap, even less that everything should be free. I want to see authors and editors paid, so they keep producing. I want to see that gifted self-published author - get more than enough to live comfortably and keep writing. But that is not going to happen through credit cards, or paypal.

The secret is small amounts, a few cents, being an easy transaction. The bottom end is critically important, get that fixed and the rest will flow. Whether the pay in method is phone cards or indeed itune cards, credit cards, or any other means, paying-in has to be easy; and getting cash for work has to be almost as easy as well.

If I edited a public domain text, what is that worth? I think only a few cents per copy, after 15 years that too should become public domain (ie that edition, not the work itself).

Copyright is an issue and unfair laws can be gotten around by using servers in countries with different, fairer laws. The big publishers won't like it, but we need fair copyright, copyright that protects authors throughout their life-time )and I would suggest 15 years after their death. Editions protected for 15 years from first publication).

The reason I bring this up as part of a business model, is that fair copyright is essential to it. For ebooks to flourish as part of this second Gutenberg revolution in printed works, both the creative genius must be protected, and also the public interest. If need be a compliant country can be found that will police and protect fair copyright.

Fair copyright allows small ebook publishers to gain a toe-hold, and it allows authors to break free of some of the unfair contract arrangements made with big publishers.

Which brings me to the last part of this model. Authors and creative talent (illustrators, translators and editors), have to establish a fair price for their work on a per item basis, and stated in a single currency (Euros I would suggest).

It would assume a method of payment that works (none presently do, especially for small sums), and a method of payment direct to the copyright owners, however, the ebook is obtained.

Rather than crippling the ebook (current DRM), there could be a use of digital signatures, public encryption and receipting to establish the copyright owners prices, the abstract identity of the purchaser and transferrers of ownership of copies.

It would not be perfect, but the present mess is crippling to all concerned. Electronic literature changes many things. For one if I want to print it, I do so at my own expense, if I want to have the text voice synthesized I do the work. If I want to get at the text for close personal study, perhaps process it through other applications - that is my business.

If I want to give away other peoples' work I am a pirate, but if the prices are unfair and the DRM crippling, and I have no way of paying the true copyright holders their money, am I still a pirate? Or has this piracy been imposed on me? The present situation encourages piracy as Prohibition encouraged bootlegging.

There is a better model, readers actually want authors to be paid. Fair prices, fair copyright and the means to pay them are preconditions for ebook publishing to flourish as it should, and create whole new generations that read more and understand more because they do.

As for big publishing companies they have to adapt, or in the long term, perish. But it is up to us, not them to establish the market and business model. Copyright must be policed, but it must be secured first and foremost on fairness, to the creative talent and to the public interest in obtaining the words of that talent and its transition into the public domain.

If the parameters of such a model were in place, would you not be obliged to report pirates and be happy to do so? And what better police force than readers themselves.

Of course the easiest way to do things is find a country willing to host ebook publishing, based on a fair copyright laws that are enforced, the method of payment would be an inducement, after all the real money has to sit somewhere.

Doing things right will in the end, make things work, but waiting on big business to do the right thing will be a very long wait.

[HappyMartin]

I know next to nothing about publishing but more than I did before ploughing my way through this thread start to finish.

In terms of business models it seems to me that a marketing approach should be at the core of the model. In other words marketing not sales. Determine what the market wants and find a model to supply that rather than designing a product and then trying to sell it to the market. Basic business stuff really but it works a lot of the time and it is being ignored as far as I can tell.

You can come up with the most fantastic model that pleases publishers and authors and retailers but so what if no one spends any money. The product needs to be clearly defined in terms of what it is selling and what the Unique Selling Points are (USP). It is not a book, it is information and entertainment and there are clear USPs to selling this in an electronic form that could be communicated much more effectively than is currently the case.

Design the product and that will define the publishing model. DRM and all the rest of it is not the hurdle. I think the hurdles are the needlessly complicated world of formats, conversions, device functionalities and the rest of it that make it easier to simply pick up a book.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Greg, I'm not sure trying to tie your ideas to a specific governing country will work: Countries in reality have very little pull over other countries, and any disputes will never be resolved. On the other hand, a non-profit organization with international influence could possibly pull it off, assuming they could get full cooperation from all governments. (Yes, even this is a long shot, but a better chance than expecting a government body to do it.)

And let's try to leave out the questions about what constitutes a pirate... we're trying to keep clear, rational heads around here, and piracy debates--for some strange reason--do not lead to that...

I'm not so sure we need copyright reform, per se, as much as we could use a uniform set of copyright laws for all governments to adopt, which I think would go a long way toward unifying everyone on distribution, pricing, DRM, etc. This might not be feasible, given the extreme range of economies and personal rights from country to country, but perhaps a range of values within the initial regulations that took those extremes into account, and allowed for some play in the regs per country.

Something like this might also help solve the pricing differences between countries/regions that make a book reasonable for one, but prohibitively expensive for another. I personally would love to be able to set up a way to charge a significantly lower rate for "third world" countries, to make my work more accessible to those for whom $50 can be a year's salary.

[DaleDe]

I believe it is perfectly permissible for an author or a publisher (with the author's permission) to establish copyrights that are less restrictive than the law allows. They can decrease the time or the terms.

Dale