I teach in the classroom and online publishing courses that incorporate all types of media, which allow students to learn using tools that complement their learning styles.

We cover all digital rights, including e-books. Students come to class expecting to talk about digital rights and the future of publishing.

The gap I see is that the students often have more
e-savvy then their bosses.

I often wonder if these graduate publishing programs are really missing the market. Perhaps it is the 40+ generation of publishing professionals who need to go back to school.

Perhaps a higher proportion of people who see themselves as managers. They would certainly would have computers, but obviously they are not curious enough to try and find Literature with it. It does not take long to come across ebooks, even if you are not looking for them.

Mike Cane: “OK, this article was really getting up my nose because, as someone who’s been p-published 4x, and screwed by it, I hated to see The Enemy being enlightened about what will probably surpass all other rights: e-rights.”

It got up my nose as well, and I am merely a reader. No-doubt most publishers get the author’s film rights, along with every other right under sun, I just cannot see any moral justification that they should.

After all, novels have to be rewritten as screen plays, very little of the original p-work remains in that, except the author’s concepts of plot, theme and character, perhaps a handful of well turned phrases.

It is true that editors sometimes shape a novel, with advice and editing, my guess is that usually this hardly touches the fundamentals, and is probably increasingly rare these days anyhow.

So where is the justification for publishers to hold so many rights? Only in that monopolise the presses, the outlets and the promotion of the book.

I.e. the very things that digital communications sets aside. Anyone one can become a publisher on the net, and anyone can become an author. That means a lot of bad literature will be produced, but it also means a lot of very good literature that would never have made it into p-books also comes available.

The role of the publisher essentially changes within digital publishing. At the moment they can only see this as an extension of what they already do (hence DRM, high prices, and demands to rights that they only got in the past because they stood between the author and the press).

They no longer stand between the author and the press — the world is changing, I think this article is a good indication of why this change will be a very good thing for authors and readers.

Then I got to this:

>>>my own book will one day be an e-book (yes, I maintained electronic rights—the editor I had at the time knew little about electronic publishing at all and put up absolutely no argument).

OK, so she’s not all evil… ha!