ebooks

Are E-Books Actually Destroying Traditional Publishing?

editor — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:26:12 +0000

Conventional wisdom says e-books are destroying the traditional publishing business model. People pay less for e-books and that drives down price.

When you talk to publishers though, you realize the story's not that simple. One advantage of e-books is that they allow publishers to test different prices. With a physical book once you stamp the price on the cover, that's it. Online though, you can easily adjust the price weekly or even daily.

Little, Brown recently tried a 24-hour sale with presidential historian Robert Dallek's book on John F. Kennedy, An Unfinished Life.

E-Books Destroying Traditional Publishing? The Story's Not That Simple

Zoe ChaceZoe Chace — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:45:00 +0000

What counts as a book these days, in a world of Kindles, Nooks and iPads — and eager talk about new platforms and distribution methods?

Traditional publishers are traveling a long and confusing road into the digital future. To begin with, here's the conventional wisdom about publishing: E-books are destroying the business model.

People expect them to be cheaper than physical books, and that drives down prices. But the story's not that simple. For one thing, digital publishers have the same problem that record labels do: piracy.

Margaret Atwood's Brave New World Of Online Publishing

Audie Cornish and NPR Staff — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:56:00 +0000

If you're a Margaret Atwood fan — and you've got some spare change under the couch cushions — just a few dollars will get you a stand-alone episode of the new novel she's writing in serial form.

It's called Positron, and Atwood is publishing it on Byliner, a website launched last year that's one of many new sites billing themselves as platforms for writers.

So what inspired the best-selling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Blind Assassin and The

Change Is The Only Constant In Today's Publishing Industry

Audie Cornish and NPR Staff — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:24:00 +0000
The publishing industry has been in flux for years. First chain stores, then Amazon, then e-books — many forces have combined to create dramatic change in the traditional publishing model.
Mike Shatzkin is the founder and CEO of the publishing industry consulting firm Idea Logical. He says one of the biggest changes happening in publishing right now is the planned merger of two of the biggest players in the field, Penguin and Random House — with whispers of further mergers to come.
Already, there's a lot of debate about what that kind of consolidation will mean for the industry.

Libraries And E-Lending: The 'Wild West' Of Digital Licensing?

Audie Cornish — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:23:00 +0000
Have you ever borrowed an e-book from a library? If the answer is no, you're a member of a large majority.