Comments on: Future of Books article in Sunday Times http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/ Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:46:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Hide and Seek Sandpit » Blog Archive » They Tell Stories http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/comment-page-1/#comment-69890 Hide and Seek Sandpit » Blog Archive » They Tell Stories Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:24:51 +0000 http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/#comment-69890 [...] quite a lot, because he’s the one who’s been documenting this most thoroughly: “While a lot of ’stories on the web’ today involve some interesting technology, unfortunately, [...] [...] quite a lot, because he’s the one who’s been documenting this most thoroughly: “While a lot of ’stories on the web’ today involve some interesting technology, unfortunately, [...]

]]> By: Connected Blog » Interactive reading - Penguin’s new literature http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/comment-page-1/#comment-68510 Connected Blog » Interactive reading - Penguin’s new literature Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:36:01 +0000 http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/#comment-68510 [...] out a dissertation subject: Adrian Hon, chief creative of the online games company Six to Start, says: “Authors don’t need to be great artists or programmers right now. They ‘just’ need to [...] [...] out a dissertation subject: Adrian Hon, chief creative of the online games company Six to Start, says: “Authors don’t need to be great artists or programmers right now. They ‘just’ need to [...]

]]> By: stefan http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/comment-page-1/#comment-65575 stefan Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:32:17 +0000 http://mssv.net/2008/03/09/future-of-books-article-in-sunday-times/#comment-65575 Hey Adrian - I couldn't agree more ... we have just launched bookhabit.com which is basically the long tail of ebooks. Many of the books that are being uploaded would have never made it into main stream publishing. And they don't need to - we've got the technology to make them accessible to lots of people. Stephen's position is essentially fear based, in an "the earth is flat" kind of way. Well - the publishing industry is the next one to finally experience the effects of disintermediation. The music industry has just gone through it and realised that DRM was a waste of time ... instead they are now focusing on making it easy for people to do access what they are after legally. If you make it easy to instantly download something someone is after and you don't rip them off - they will just do it and you can still earn your share. Isn't better to get $1 per download from a million readers than $5 per copy (in the case of mainstream publishing) from a thousand? -Stefan Hey Adrian – I couldn’t agree more … we have just launched bookhabit.com which is basically the long tail of ebooks. Many of the books that are being uploaded would have never made it into main stream publishing. And they don’t need to – we’ve got the technology to make them accessible to lots of people.

Stephen’s position is essentially fear based, in an “the earth is flat” kind of way. Well – the publishing industry is the next one to finally experience the effects of disintermediation. The music industry has just gone through it and realised that DRM was a waste of time … instead they are now focusing on making it easy for people to do access what they are after legally. If you make it easy to instantly download something someone is after and you don’t rip them off – they will just do it and you can still earn your share.

Isn’t better to get $1 per download from a million readers than $5 per copy (in the case of mainstream publishing) from a thousand?

-Stefan

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