I'm not so sure I buy Random House's reasoning. This deal is clearly better for them and the market than what Amazon offered.
Maybe it's longterm concerns about the iBookstore taking too much business, like the iTMS, thereby hurting every area of business involved with printed distribution. Or perhaps the threat Amazon has made to publishers who go for the agency model Apple is offering.
It was mentioned earlier that the publishers are worried about losing the economy of scale in their print business. If electronic books take off, the remaining print books will cost more to produce and their warehouses will cost more to operate per book because they will have lower stock. They will have more books that will be returned to the publisher from the book stores. They may need to increase the price of paper books. That would cause traditional bookstores to die more quickly. They may have fewer middlemen between them and the end user which may reduce bargaining power. Electronic books are more expensive to typeset. It would also be easier for an author to sell their books without the publisher. More authors may choose to distribute their books in epub format and handle their own marketing.
It is inevitable that books will move to electronic distribution. I think it is the natural evolution of books to become more interactive. Any publishers dragging their heels will more likely be left in the dust. That would be much worse then loss of profit I think.
So with a current model that dictates a given number of runs per book (including hard cover, soft cover/paperback) based on an author's popularity or a media blitz by the publisher (plus book tour, etc), they have some decisions to make. The cost the publishers charge to the booksellers (B&N, budget box retailers, airport convenience stores, etc) is the wholesale price, that the sellers then decide to charge more than, or less than based on their particular needs. The cost of the editorial staff, layout staff, assistants, PR, pre-pub, engraving, cover artists, photographer for author photo and stipendary costs are all covered under the wholesale costs, based on estimated demand, all scaled to, in the end, produce profit and reduce risk of loss.
What is directly impacted are the engraving house and printing companies. Especially those that are scaled for large production runs. Look for those to close down or consolidate into a more boutique approach - where the art of binding returns to a more decorative end product - but not for years and years yet.
I wonder if there will be another subclass of device, a throw-away electronic book, or even less expensive forms of the eReader devices which can be stocked in large numbers at new style libraries. These would have all the book data stored digitally and you bring in your own eReader or "borrow" the library's public eReaders to download material to for a set amount of time. This would give the libraries the continuing ability to stock "books" and loan them out to the public. They could offer an option of purchase when the "loan" period is over, otherwise the data simply locks or is removed. It is interesting to think about what the logistics would be like to do this.
While I have an iPad on pre-order, reading books on it are not high on the list. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who read books and take pleasure in reading a physical book.
funny my sister is home sick and having a Buffy fest and I hear this is the background about an hour ago.
"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"
"The smell."
"Computers don't smell, Rupert."
"I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be smelly."
Quote:
Originally Posted by pmz
This is very, very disappointing for me. Random House better get their s*** together.
Random House isn't against ebooks. Just Apple's way of handling them. What real difference does it make if you buy them from Apple or Amazon or direct from RH. If you use ibooks, kindle for ipad or some converter you googled to make them PDFs.
And just as Apple has a right to yank app spammers, porn etc from their store, so to does Random House have a right to say no to a store. No S*** involved.
At least someone has the balls to tell Apple that their way isn't what some companies want. Whether it works out for Random House or not, at least they stood up.
Funny they didn't feel like standing up to Amazon, who was offering a much worse deal...
Random House will come around - once they see the success of everyone else. Just like the music industry that offers DRM free music now - and has historic revenue.
The TV and video content companies are next... Apple does have an ace up their sleeve with Disney.
Since I don't see DRM content leaving anytime soon, I personally would rather be locked into Apple's system but know that I can purchase most of the content I want through them, than to have to purchase separate hardware for each publishing company's proprietary DRM schemes.
I think Apple would rather be out of the DRM business and I don't see them making it easier for industries to cling to failed models...
They are willing to go toe to toe with Adobe on Flash, I don't see them backing off on DRM any time soon...
As it stands now, Apple does not even offer localized iBookstores for localized markets in other countries.
"As it stands now" they don't even offer it in the US so I'm not sure what the significance is.
At one point in time iTunes was US only, and then it expanded.
It's not something Apple has control over - if it upsets you let the publishers know, but moaning about it to Apple or on an Apple board isn't going to change anything.
In both cases the business model has been... throw a bag of cash at 10 different artists and if we hit ONE or TWO then we got what we need and then some for the bag of cash we'll need for next years dart game. (and I'm totally making up the numbers... I don't know how many failed artists are signed for each successful one... it could be 1 - 20 or 1 - 50 for all I know... I just know that for every King, Rowling and Steel there are untold thousands of other published authors that MIGHT be lucky enough to break even or only be a SLIGHT loss for the book publishers.
Having had an iPad for a couple of months now I think it is too bulky and heavy to be even used seriously as an ebook reader. I think the printed book will be with us for a long long time yet.
Comments
That's here Ireland not hear.
Can you hear me now?
Thats neither hear nor their...
I'm not so sure I buy Random House's reasoning. This deal is clearly better for them and the market than what Amazon offered.
Maybe it's longterm concerns about the iBookstore taking too much business, like the iTMS, thereby hurting every area of business involved with printed distribution. Or perhaps the threat Amazon has made to publishers who go for the agency model Apple is offering.
It was mentioned earlier that the publishers are worried about losing the economy of scale in their print business. If electronic books take off, the remaining print books will cost more to produce and their warehouses will cost more to operate per book because they will have lower stock. They will have more books that will be returned to the publisher from the book stores. They may need to increase the price of paper books. That would cause traditional bookstores to die more quickly. They may have fewer middlemen between them and the end user which may reduce bargaining power. Electronic books are more expensive to typeset. It would also be easier for an author to sell their books without the publisher. More authors may choose to distribute their books in epub format and handle their own marketing.
It is inevitable that books will move to electronic distribution. I think it is the natural evolution of books to become more interactive. Any publishers dragging their heels will more likely be left in the dust. That would be much worse then loss of profit I think.
What is directly impacted are the engraving house and printing companies. Especially those that are scaled for large production runs. Look for those to close down or consolidate into a more boutique approach - where the art of binding returns to a more decorative end product - but not for years and years yet.
I wonder if there will be another subclass of device, a throw-away electronic book, or even less expensive forms of the eReader devices which can be stocked in large numbers at new style libraries. These would have all the book data stored digitally and you bring in your own eReader or "borrow" the library's public eReaders to download material to for a set amount of time. This would give the libraries the continuing ability to stock "books" and loan them out to the public. They could offer an option of purchase when the "loan" period is over, otherwise the data simply locks or is removed. It is interesting to think about what the logistics would be like to do this.
----
Truth is I prefer their audio books, so as long as they keep doing those, I don't care.
Exactly- just like an actual performance will never be supplanted by a movie, a live concert by a CD, etc. etc. etc.
YEAH......... because that's the same exact thing. Good grief, you are very unstable.
So now Apple runs the publishing world- I'd thought I'd heard it all until these comments on here today.
You all assume everyone will own an iPad and this will be the only source to read from.
No, only you would bother posting something so unimaginably retarded. congrats
While I have an iPad on pre-order, reading books on it are not high on the list. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who read books and take pleasure in reading a physical book.
funny my sister is home sick and having a Buffy fest and I hear this is the background about an hour ago.
"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"
"The smell."
"Computers don't smell, Rupert."
"I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be smelly."
This is very, very disappointing for me. Random House better get their s*** together.
Random House isn't against ebooks. Just Apple's way of handling them. What real difference does it make if you buy them from Apple or Amazon or direct from RH. If you use ibooks, kindle for ipad or some converter you googled to make them PDFs.
And just as Apple has a right to yank app spammers, porn etc from their store, so to does Random House have a right to say no to a store. No S*** involved.
That's here Ireland not hear.
Can you hear me now?
That's the first time you've ever been right about something. Remind to make more typos to try to improve your confidence.
At least someone has the balls to tell Apple that their way isn't what some companies want. Whether it works out for Random House or not, at least they stood up.
Funny they didn't feel like standing up to Amazon, who was offering a much worse deal...
Random House will come around - once they see the success of everyone else. Just like the music industry that offers DRM free music now - and has historic revenue.
The TV and video content companies are next... Apple does have an ace up their sleeve with Disney.
Fun times!
Since I don't see DRM content leaving anytime soon, I personally would rather be locked into Apple's system but know that I can purchase most of the content I want through them, than to have to purchase separate hardware for each publishing company's proprietary DRM schemes.
I think Apple would rather be out of the DRM business and I don't see them making it easier for industries to cling to failed models...
They are willing to go toe to toe with Adobe on Flash, I don't see them backing off on DRM any time soon...
As it stands now, Apple does not even offer localized iBookstores for localized markets in other countries.
"As it stands now" they don't even offer it in the US so I'm not sure what the significance is.
At one point in time iTunes was US only, and then it expanded.
It's not something Apple has control over - if it upsets you let the publishers know, but moaning about it to Apple or on an Apple board isn't going to change anything.