hat when their eBook store, Google Editions launches they will have on offer over 4 million eBooks. Yesterday Japan Today claimed that Google has "clinched the support of almost all publishers in the United States" and that the number of authors and publishers who have agreed to participate have topped 25,000. The story claims that, between these arrangements and books with expired copyrights, Google Editions will offer over 4 million titles. Japan Today cites "company officials" but offers no further attribution.Next the Archive continues to look at the eRevolution with an interview with Kelly Abell of digital-first publisher, Solstice which intends to become a big player in the market.
3 comments:
The answer to your question, Gary, is that it depends on your expectations. I'm no digital Luddite, as many of my generation are, but like many, many others, I currently view e-books as a threat to writers as well as a promise.
Much as I would like to embrace the e-revolution, I also see its many dangers to those who need to continue/begin making any sort of living from their writing.
Again, I won't bother you with the details of the dangers and the reported losses so far. They've been well listed elsewhere. One particularly compelling piece I mentioned here just the other day is at
http://www.tessgerritsen.com/blog/aaaargh-pirates/
Read the post there, and the comments. I know there are many comments, and of varying worth, but some, e.g. #32, are very informative.
It's an interesting article and one I intend to refer to in a forthcoming article on the Archive - I just don't buy a lot of it. I see it as pointless to fight the inevitable move towards eBooks and piracy will be an issue but one that can't be stopped. And publishers will only encourage this by making product over expensive. There was a very good point made in one of the comments about writers losing money everytime someone lends their book out. And I buy a lot of second-hand titles from charity shops etc and that could also be argued as stealing money from the writer. It's not all so clear cut in my opinion and I think piracy will only be done by a core group of people. There will be much more damage done by people sending copies of eBooks to friends - because this will be done out of friendship it will be thought of as lending a book and not stealing the copyright.
The knock the music industry took is, in my opinion, well deserved. They have been overcharging for product for years. I mean a few years ago I paid £32 for the Beatles White Album on CD - now that is a bigger racket than illegal downloaders. I think the next big name writers will emerge from the eBook world, maybe even from being pirated a trillion times.
I guess there's arguments on both sides and I want to work on an article for the Archive for some time before posting it.
I think Tess Gerritsen and others made it clear they weren't opposed to book lending, privately or by public libraries. What did get up their nose -- and mine -- was the attitude that writers were "fair game" to be ripped off.
Sharing one, physical copy of a book is vastly different from duplicating and distributing it in wholesale numbers at the click of a few computer keys.
Until this problem is addressed, I share Ms Gerritsen's fears. I agree with her, and you, that the future will lie in e-books. We mustn't make the mistake of her "buggy whip manufacturer".
But nor must we pretend that piracy is no big problem and could never spell ruination for writing as anything but a costly hobby/indulgence for its participants.
Just remember those 4,000 book sales Ms Gerritsen never made!
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