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Digital
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 13:14 |
Ebooks have transformed reading for those with print impairments, and still more can be done, writes Denise Dwyer
Much has been written about the huge potential of ebooks to transform access to books for people with print impairments, i.e. people who cannot enjoy standard print editions because of sight loss, dyslexia, or a disability that makes it difficult to hold a book or turn a page. A number of obstacles have prevented this potential from becoming reality, but the latest advances are set to change that, helping more people with print impairments to buy and enjoy books via the mainstream.
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Digital
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Written by Tom Morton
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Friday, 27 August 2010 17:40 |
 My belov’d Publisher has ask’d me to share some Peregrinations ‘pon how the Internet has chang’d our Use of Language & our Pursuit of Knowledge. I approach this Topick as a Gardener might approach an untended Garden, for no Plant or Vine does grow as heartily, nor merit pruning as ardently as human FOLLY, especially when fed with the pungent Fertilizer of the Internet.
Like a ne’er-ending Cheapside Coffee-House or an infinite Shelf of my Lord HARLEY’S Library, the Internet does bind all the Wits & all the Knowledge of the World in one almighty Highway of ETHER. This Super-Highway is as treacherous as any Turnpike, for it is laid with lewd Aquatints of Harlots in yr. Area & foreign Peddlers of Quack-Medicine. And, like any of the King’s Highways, it does fall Prey to electronick Highwaymen, who might make like a Cut-Purse ‘pon a Man’s Banking-Deeds. Any Corner of the Internet whence Slatterns do emerge to show a Flash of Stocking-Top are likely to be teeming with Footpads, who wait to pilfer an unsuspecting Gentleman’s Pass-Words should he pass a Door mark’d CLICK HERE.
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Digital
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Written by Michael Bhaskar
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Friday, 20 August 2010 00:10 |
As signs of an ebook prize war loom, publishers must hold their nerve and not lead a race to the bottom
Asking
what ebooks should cost is, as with any economic decision, a question
of context. Prices are always determined in marketplaces governed by
supply and demand, economies of scale and opportunity, and they are
conditioned by a set of expectations and historical choices. So far, so
A-level Economics. The problem with ebooks is that there is no
precedent as such. There is no set of commonly shared expectations –
rather, each interested party has their own priorities and the result is
general confusion about where ebooks should be priced.
One
thing is certain, though. There is only one way they are heading: down.
And that’s not a good thing, because once prices go down, they never go back up.
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Digital
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Written by Michael Bhaskar
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Thursday, 29 July 2010 07:00 |
Michael Bhaskar outlines why publishers believe 25% of receipts to be a fair ebook royalty
It can hardly have escaped Bookbrunch readers' notice that even for the exposure-hungry world of digital publishing things have kicked off in a big way. First, The Wylie Agency launches its own imprint, Odyssey Editions, selling backlist titles of big name writers exclusively through Amazon Kindle, by-passing publishers en route. Then publishers, enraged at a move seen as undermining their investment and work (from editorial to publicity and everything in between) hit back, with Random House publicly announcing that it is curtailing business with the agency, and Macmillan US CEO John Sergent denouncing the move on his company blog. HarperCollins has expressed anger over the move. This is not to say the noise has been one sided – on the Futurebook blog, agents have been making the case that this development is actually largely the fault of publishers. An unfolding game of strategic plays and counter-plays is unfolding on the chessboard of Anglo-American publishing, with no clear sides, rules or outcomes yet apparent.
At the heart of this is one question: what is a fair way to split digital revenue? |
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Digital
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Written by Michael Bhaskar
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Thursday, 08 July 2010 09:15 |
With everyone feeling the pinch, now is not a good time for the book industry to complain about its lot, says Michael Bhaskar
By now we all know that the Budget spared books the hammer blow of VAT, but that audiobooks and ebooks were still included and will rise to the new 20% VAT rate as of next year.
Given that margins for digital products are, as with their print relations, already constrained, what amounts to a 2.5% reduction in margin is wholly unwelcome. Effectively, ebooks and audiobooks are from 2011 priced 20% cheaper than print, a price drop that would no doubt appeal to consumers; but this difference is eaten by the Exchequer. It harms an emergent area, stymies growth and prevents digital revenue security for everyone in the book trade.
There are already renewed calls for a campaign against the tax. Virtually every audiobook carries a sticker that aggressively asks that VAT be scrapped. Mutterings of an industry-wide effort are abroad. However I believe that right now any such move would be wrong. |
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