Finally a Win for Ebooks over paper

MelC · 11-11-2010, 11:42 PM

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/hyp...book-luddites/

If you want to read the new Giller prize winner you will probably have to do it in ebook form. Paper copies are scarce and Kobo is laughing all the way to the bank.

GA Russell · 11-11-2010, 11:50 PM

Nice find, Mel!

neilmarr · 11-12-2010, 04:06 AM

Something of a weather forcast, eh, Mel? Neil

jbcohen · 11-12-2010, 08:36 AM

Perhaps our friends north of the border are more technologicaly with it then we Americans.

Kali Yuga · 11-12-2010, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Perhaps our friends north of the border are more technologicaly with it then we Americans.

Uh... no.

Shortages of paper editions may be less common than 10-20 years ago, but they still happen. If anything, the inability of the publishers / distributors / retailers to fulfill the orders quickly represents a (reasonable) lack of capacity.

And really, it's not like this one book requires rare earths to manufacture it. It's just an example of a limitation of paper that is easily mitigated by digital distribution.

MaggieScratch · 11-12-2010, 11:58 AM

It sounds like the hardcopy publisher is a small operation that can't scale up quickly. In that case, yes, ebooks are an advantage.

EDIT: Can't buy the ebook in the U.S.! FAIL

HamsterRage · 11-12-2010, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Perhaps our friends north of the border are more technologicaly with it then we Americans.

I think you're reading too much into it. Apparently there was only a small run of paper books done in some kind of premium manner by a little boutique publishing house in the Canadian maritimes.

Once Giller attention was turned on the book several larger publishers in Toronto offered to do larger print runs to make the book more widely available. The original publisher turned them down.

So there was nothing insightful about what happened. Perhaps exactly the opposite.

SensualPoet · 11-12-2010, 12:39 PM

None of the five Giller Prize short-list books are for sale in the US in paper. Most of these are specialty small press or the US deal was completed relatively recently and have been slotted in for Spring release. None of this is unusual -- we are not talking mega authors here -- four of the five are first-time authors (in this format; many have been writing for years).

Lost in this story is how Kobobooks stepped up the day the Giller Shortlist was released (mid-October) and facilitated the immediate ebook release of all five titles. This included working with some publishers with no ebook program at all.

11-11-2010, 11:42 PM	#1
MelC Evangelist Posts: 410 Karma: 2081 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: Cybook Gen3, PRS600	Finally a Win for Ebooks over paper http://www.torontolife.com/daily/hyp...book-luddites/ If you want to read the new Giller prize winner you will probably have to do it in ebook form. Paper copies are scarce and Kobo is laughing all the way to the bank.

11-12-2010, 11:58 AM	#6
MaggieScratch Has got to the black veil Posts: 542 Karma: 2144168 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Device: Kobo Aura One, Kindle Paperwhite 2	It sounds like the hardcopy publisher is a small operation that can't scale up quickly. In that case, yes, ebooks are an advantage. EDIT: Can't buy the ebook in the U.S.! FAIL Last edited by MaggieScratch; 11-12-2010 at 12:02 PM.

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11-11-2010, 11:50 PM	#2
GA Russell New season! Posts: 7,681 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	Nice find, Mel!

11-12-2010, 04:06 AM	#3
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Something of a weather forcast, eh, Mel? Neil

11-12-2010, 08:36 AM	#4
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,031 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Perhaps our friends north of the border are more technologicaly with it then we Americans.

11-12-2010, 12:39 PM	#8
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	None of the five Giller Prize short-list books are for sale in the US in paper. Most of these are specialty small press or the US deal was completed relatively recently and have been slotted in for Spring release. None of this is unusual -- we are not talking mega authors here -- four of the five are first-time authors (in this format; many have been writing for years). Lost in this story is how Kobobooks stepped up the day the Giller Shortlist was released (mid-October) and facilitated the immediate ebook release of all five titles. This included working with some publishers with no ebook program at all.

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