1. Reviewing the
eBook Landscape
Innovations, Roadblocks, Rules Rewritten
NJLA Annual Conference
June 5, 2012
David Lisa
Associate Director
Camden County Library System
2.
3. So…
1. Economical
2. Convenience
3. Availability
4. Ownership
5. Demand
6. A New Model
7. The Solution?
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. What is the best-selling
Kindle book right now?
28. "There is no (reading) culture
clash – whether it is analog or
digital, reading remains the most
important cultural technology."
Dr. Stephan Füssel
65. Credits
Pew Internet & American Life Project. The Rise of e-reading
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/
E-book hold graphic courtesy of Santa Clara County Library
Kindle on the bus photo courtesy of Brian Snyder/Reuters
WNYC & Ben Bradford
Welcome! Today we’re going to talk about reality, what’s working, what’s not working and what can possibly work in the world of libraries providing e-content to customers.
To review the issues talked about in this report.
I love my Kindle. And I’m rather new to the Kindle owners club.
McDonald’s has the right idea when it comes to technology. They make jumping on the Internet very easy. And easier with every consecutive visit. A strong wireless Internet connection. At whatever McDonalds you wind up at. No additional configuration necessary.Within minutes of sitting down for lunch with my iPad out, I found another person aniPad too.The lesson here for libraries? Don’t make your Internet connection an afterthought. Don’t restrict it’s use. Make it as strong and problem-free as possible. And, most importantly, who-heartedly support your customer’s choice of handheld technology.
There is no doubt that it is very attractive to readers to be able to have all of this…
…on this. In fact, Kindles go far beyond that. At last count, the lowest priced Kindle can hold up to 1,400 books. How long will it be before nearly everyone has one of these because they bought one, or because we gave it to them. Rumors have persisted that Amazon may be about to provide free Kindles to some paying customers.
What is it?
Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
In fact, the entire trilogy sits atop the Amazon Kindle and print best-seller lists.
Have we unwittingly exposed a new benefit of ebooks?
How is this significant to this presentation? Fifty Shades of Grey began it’s life last year as an ebook. It wasn’t until a full year later, March 2012 in fact, that it and the trilogy saw print.
And, oh yeah, they’re banning it down in Florida.
Once again, a quote by Alan Kay, computer pioneer. The message? We are always going to have to be pleasing the rising demand for what is perceived as technology by our customers.
Here are some results of the April 2012 Pew Internet Survey of Ereading habits called The Rise of E-reading..
And, probably, rising.
The number of e-book readers grew after a major increase in ownership of e-book reading devices and tablet computers during the holiday gift-giving season.
The average reader of e-books says she has read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months, compared with an average of 15 books by a non-e-book consumer.
30% of those who read e-content say they now spend more time reading, and owners of tablets and e-book readers particularly stand out as reading more now.
The prevalence of e-book reading is markedly growing, but printed books still dominate the world of book readers.
There are four times more people reading e-books on a typical day now than was the case less than two years ago.
In order of popularity: Computers, Kindles & Nooks, cell phones, tablets.
A majority of print readers (54%) and readers of e-books (61%) prefer to purchase their own copies of these books. This appears not to bode well for libraries. But wait. I contend that no person can pass up something that is free. And what if we work in a way to buy the item they are borrowing if they really like it?
On any given day 56% of those who own e-book reading devices are reading a book, compared with 45% of the general book-reading public who are reading a book on a typical day.
I think this quote accurately defines where we are right now, with reading meeting personal use technology head on.
Having a choice in life is very important. And so it is with choosing hardware to use to read.
The Amazon Kindle. Revolutionary in more ways than one.
To those of you with an iPad, this should be very familiar, because this is what it looks like to read a book that is purchased from the iBookstore. (Demonstrate iPad). (Mention Real Steel connection)
You can also read a book upright too. Even turning a page is fun.
E-books will be bigger than anyone imagines. We are already seeing evidence of this. Hold cues in the 10’s to 100’s of people long because we stick to an outmoded system of purchasing books to make available to borrow.If you thought that the 2011 holiday season was huge for e-readers, wait until the end of this year. There will be an ever growing number of people clamoring for the latest best-sellers and books they want to read delivered their way, to their choice of device.
Want proof that eReading is popular with iPad users? Apple’s own iBooks is the 7th most popular free app on this recent best-sellers chart.
YouriBooks collection.
The iBookstore.
Note the Kindle app is #19 on the free list.
This is what the Kindle looks like on the iPad.
The Kindle Store on the iPad.
It contains everything that you can get from Kindle Store on the web.
Favorite books translate very well to the iPad, in which you get a more graphical reading experience. Even turning a page is fun.
Back to comics for a second. To be able to read digital comics on a handheld portable device, like this iPad, was an important technological leap forward during the last couple years. We are now seeing the rise of a whole new generation of digital readers, to whom reading books, comics, graphic novels, magazines and newspapers in this fashion is very natural, if not preferred.A number of us are beginning to talk to companies about the idea of creating a service where comics and graphic novels are offered as an electronic resource, like ebooks but on demand with an all-you-can-eat flavor. More about that soon.
To prove the popularity of comics on the iPad, note that the Comixology app is #5 on the Top Grossing iPad Apps list. In app purchases on Comixology often rival purchases through other iPad apps. As more and more comics publishers begin simultaneously publishing comics in print and digitally, expect these dollar figures to increase.
Expect the next version of the iPad to fuel even more interest in reading. The rumored retina display, already on all latestiPhones, will be the sharpest yet and provide crystal clear images. This will work particularly well for digital comics.
Exclusivity is going to be a very important issue as we move forward. In this instance, for example, a library customer wanting Penny Marshall’s upcoming book in digital form may not be able to borrow it from our library unless we are offering it through Amazon, if that will even be possible. However, this book will be available in both print and digital formats.
And this is probably the biggest issue in publishing today. Amanda Hocking an example of young adult writer who started out by completely bypassing the traditional scheme of being published a publishing house. Instead, she did it all herself, marketing her own fiction in ebook format on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com, and becoming very successful. Amanda later used this success to sign a traditional contract with a print publisher and one series was even optioned to film.This is just the beginning of a whole realm of popular writers that may never see a library shelf because their books are only available in ebook format. How will libraries be able to provide these authors to customers?Amanda is 26 years old. She’s earned over two million dollars in sales by doing it all herself.
To take this one step further, in FebruaryKerry Wilkinson became the most popular author on the Kindle charts. He took the same approach as Amanda, has no agent or big marketing machine behind him. The three books that he sells through the Kindle store made him the best selling author on their charts for the last quarter of 2011.
E L James is the latest example of a successful writer taking control of her own destiny.
So, ebooks and ereading are important to your customers and will be even more important as we move into the future.
Here’s an example of what doesn’t work.
Why are we shackling a new technology with old borrowing problems? Why do our customers still have to stand in a line for an e-book??? The time is right for a new model that pleases customers/libraries/publishers. Everyone can and should win!Unfortunately, our current method of making ebooks available for our customers is creating roadblocks for these ereaders. Why? Explain cost of making virtual copies of books available. ALL library systems are having this problem. The point is that a new model needs to be introduced that can provide readers with what they want, when they want it, as efficiently and as cost effectively as possible.
Will advocacy from library groups be enough to begin the evolution toward a new model of e-reading?
So, what works better?
Freading! Why? Explain the concept behind Freading, simultaneous titles, “tokens.” How many publishers?
What’s this you say?
How many of you have a Netflix instant streaming account? explain
How many of you use Spotify? explain
Is the next eBook business model based upon all you can eat? If so, we may finally see the point at which customers that want ematerial stop competing to “copies” of books.
Since no one knows for sure what exactly will happen, perhaps it’s better to talk about some possible futures for ereading and how libraries will supply ebooks to customers.
It’s becoming more evident that print and digital will peacefully co-exist. Remember the Pew study chart. People will use the different formats for different reasons. However, will it be possible to produce books in print when the overwhelming majority of people in society do not want them? I contend that this cannot economically be the case.
Freading has the right idea and I think this is the one that will eventually win out. But publishers have to have an incentive to go there. They have to be able to make money just like they did with print books.
The fact is that the future of ereading in libraries is largely unwritten. The rise of digital books as a consumer choice certainly does point us toward a future where customers are getting used to this as a given.The youngest generations of readers are natively digital and WILL (I repeat, WILL) prefer digital to print as they grow older.Libraries are already ramping up to deliver new programs and services to these digital natives and once these kids turn into tax paying adults, we will most certainly see libraries going for more and more remotely accessible digital services to meet their demand.
We shouldn’t be resigning ourselves to accepting this as an inevitable conclusion. This is a very exciting future. We should be whole-heartedly embracing it and doing everything we can to market our support of the digital generations as much as possible.