Picador UK going to paperback first-model; how long until it’s e-first or e-only?
Print Is Dead, Jeff Gomez’s book, is on sale, and I recommend that you check it out, in either print or electronic format (Sony BBeB, Mobipocket, Adobe, but not, quite yet, the Kindle format). Now Jeff blogs some additional support for his conclusions:
“In hundreds of small ways print is already giving up the ghost…Picador UK is going to stop publishing hardback books, except in special limited editions. Instead, books will be published directly in paperback format.”
So how long until Picador books are e-first or e-only? I hope that paper editions will be available for a long time. But who can predict, or control, the future?
Earlier discussion of Jeff’s book: See my publishersweekly.com writeup based on several chapters. I have the proofs of the entire book, and they live up to the promise of the excerpts. My favorite material in PID is an anti-DRM quote from Steve Jobs, who calls for an end to format-related barrier so “any store can sell music which is playable on all players.” Exactly.
The above overlaps somewhat with the welcome assurance from Fritz Foy, a senior VP at Macmillan, Jeff’s former employer and the publisher of PID, assuring us that the company favors .epub and interoperable DRM and won’t diss independent e-bookstores. My preference, of course, like Jobs’, is no DRM. But I’m convinced Fritz’s heart is in the right place, and interoperable DRM is better than the current mess.
Related: More details on p-book formats from the Guardian Book Blog. Also see Joe Wikert’s interview with Jeff.
And a similar book, a copy of which is supposed to on the way to me: Sherman Young’s The Book Is Dead (Long Live the Book).
(Found via Peter Brantley.)
Technorati Tags: Macmillan,Jeff Gomez,Print Is Dead
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hi David
Thanks for the mention of my book. For those who are interested, there’s a pdf chapter on the website (www.thebookisdead.com) available for download. I’d love to put more of it up, but us humble Australian academics tend to sign boilerplate publishing contracts that don’t give me much control over electronic or international rights. Oh well
Hope you enjoy the p-book when it finally arrives.
Cheers, Sherman
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Nice hearing from you, Sherman. Coincidentally your book got here today, after I did my post; and my first impression is that the two books actually complement each other–with different perspectives, which is good. I need to read more and I may or may not get to do the review this week. But I will let one cat out of the bag; I agree with your premise that many a book is just part of someone’s marketing or PR machine. What’s more, as you note, the book as a medium was in trouble long before the Internet.
I’ll stop now, but stay tuned for my review of some promising Aussie e-book technology. Lots of good things come from Down Under.
Happy holidays,
David
December 4th, 2007 at 4:39 am
Marlin DRM, used in Sony Reader, was supposed to be the “interoperable DRM”.
http://www.marlin-community.com/press/051003_marlin.html
Don’t see it used anywhere else yet.