TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘TeleRead’ Category

By David Rothman

A young Brooklyn novelist named Tao Lin offered 60 percent of his royalties from his next book to members of the public. Would you believe, investors snapped up six shares. Each share, hawked for $2K, will bring in ten percent of royalties.

Yes, as you can see at left, Tao has a track record as a fiction writer. And, yes, the existing global publishing industry so often bungles in gauging the financial prospects of books. I wish Tao all kinds of luck. He is quoted as saying that "I actually will work better on my second novel, the way the novel is right now, if I have no obligations or responsibilities at all.” So why not get the money up front?

The nobody-one-knows-nothing factor

But do we really want this new option to become a common practice? Might the public end up buying Brooklyn Bridges, so to speak? Didn’t William Goldman, the Hollywood screenwriter, once say, "Nobody knows nothing"? And he was talking about pros.

Of course, the argument could be made that the $2K shares will be feel-good patronage of the arts. But potentially some real legal issues might still arise with the SEC and other agencies. And beyond that, isn’t the "literary" world fixated enough on money? Some houses won’t even buy books unless they see best-seller potential.

This is a little close to home, with The Solomon Scandals, my D.C. newspaper novel, due out in the fall from Twilight Times Books in P and E. Writing a good book is time-consuming enough. Do I really want to worry about government forms such as disclosure statements? I’d rather write about imagined scandals than risk being part of a real one.

The real problem—and opportunity—for writers and publishers

Meanwhile, as amusing as the Tao’s gimmick is, lets consider the real financial problem of writers and publishers—or maybe the opportunity. While the U.S. GDP is maybe $13 trillion, Americans are probably spending less than $100B a year on books. I’d like to see that increase, given the value that the best books deliver in enlightenment and entertainment. A TeleRead-style library system could help by creating demand, not just through library purchases but also by building interest in books for sale by the private sector. The grubby stuff isn’t as much fun as Las Vegas-style schemes, but for readers and writers alike, the end results of a TeleRead-style approach will be endlessly more satisfying.

Related:  The Telegraph, a New York Times blog, and the Mumbai Mirror.

(Thanks to Tamas Simon and Mike Cane.)

By David Rothman

How to get a TeleRead-style national digital library system started in the U.S., one that could inspire similar efforts elsewhere?

One of the best hopes lies in the Digital Promise legislation—passed on July 31 by the U.S. House and Senate, and expected to be signed by President Bush in just days.

The project will establish a National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. It’s to be a nonprofit with nine directors chosen by the secretary of education from congressionally recommended nominees. Funds for fiscal year 2009 could reach $50 million for the center if its backers are successful on Capitol Hill.

TeleRead-friendly language in legislation

Now here’s a PDF where things really get interesting: "The purpose of the Center shall be to support a comprehensive research and development program to harness the increasing capacity of advanced information and digital technologies to improve all levels of learning and education, formal and informal, in order to provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy."

Notice the language? "Formal and informal." Perhaps that could pave the way for public-library-related activities, as well as school-related ones.

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By Paul Biba

One of the real problems with sites like this is that they often turn into the “converted” preaching to the “converted”. So I need to let you know that I really mean the the headline to this post. The only people who understand ebooks are Amazon (and Fictionwise).  Everybody else doesn’t get it.

What made me think of this was that I tried Adobe Digital Editions with my Sony 505. Who cares what the result was, the point everyone is missing is that the process sucks. Why anyone would do this is beyond me.

OK, I want to read a book. First I start my computer, then I find something called Adobe Digital Editions and download and install it. This doesn’t let me read the book, however. Next I have to find a book, then I download the book. Having fun yet? Then I have the book, but I can’t read it. I have to take it into the Adobe Digital Editions software and then move it to my Sony. Wow - how simple!

Then I want to read another book, but it’s in the Sony format. All I have to do is fire up the computer again, be sure I have downloaded the Sony Connect software, go to the Sony store and download the book and then sync it to my Sony Reader. Wow! Neat! Now I have two different programs on my computer and I have to remember which one to use for which book. We’re really having fun now.

Want to have even more fun - try to explain all this to someone who would like an ebook reader but is not a computer geek (and that’s most of the world, by the way.) (more…)

By Jon Noring

Flexibility helps keep us healthy. We can better enjoy physical activity which, in turn, motivates us to exercise. Keep on stretchin’!

Likewise, a flexible digital publication format is much better for the industry—and for readers—than a rigid, limited one.

To be more precise, a flexible format is more likely to be embraced, due to business pressures.

The IDPF’s new open standard e-book format, ePUB, is rapidly proving its flexibility. And ePUB’s flexibility is, of course, intentional by design.

A little history of ePUB’s predecessor as a consumer standard

Five years, two months and eight days ago, I published the reviewed eBookWeb article: “OEBPS: The Universal Consumer eBook Format?” My article delved into some of the requirements an e-book format must meet to be potentially embraced by the digital publishing industry as the consumer standard. From the requirements analysis, I concluded that IDPF’s OEBPS specification met these requirements and could become, when the time is ripe, the industry standard.

And indeed we are now seeing a groundswell of interest in ePUB by publishers and application developers. The primary reason is its flexibility in a number of areas, some of which are only now being recognized. I’ll delve into a couple of them in this article. [Note 1]

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By David Rothman

With color, E Ink would be much more appealing for, say, K-12 use. Not to mention manga reading!

The TeleBlog has covered the Fujitsu FLEPia in the past, and now Engadget says this color e-reader will launch soon. It’ll go for $941, offer WiFi and "run up for up to 50 hours on a single charge." Screen size is to be A4. Can’t wait to see what the color quality is. Will it be vibrant or washed out?

Also of interest to hardware fans: Evidence mounts for August EEE PC carnage with $299 Dell E launch, in Engadget. Display is said to be 1,024 by 600, and, yes, WiFi supposedly will be offered. Also see Dell to do OLPC/Asus act, with mini, a previous TeleBlog item.

The OLPC angle, close to home: In line with one of the TeleBlog’s missions—keeping up with the latest e-reading tech for general use and K-12—I may sell my OLPC laptop. It would be to raise money for purchase of a more recent machine like the Dell. There’s more to life than e-reading, and you may want to keep your own XO-1 because of ed-related apps. I might even hang on to my XO-1 and switch to Ubuntu to increase my software options. Remember the special characteristics of the XO-1’s display.

Russian-sold E Ink e-reader: MobileRead post here.

By David Rothman

TeleRead may be the world’s longest-running English-language site offering e-book news and views.

It often shows up on Techmeme and the New York Times’ Blogrunner service and is blogrolled by such major publishers as Simon & Schuster.

We’re particularly interested in digital divide issues and in e-book standards—which in turn are good for people with vision problems and other challenges. For years, we’ve advocated well-stocked national digital systems.

Here are six ways you can help:

1. Write for us or at least share news tips. You don’t have to agree with us—we’re after a broad range of well-informed perspectives on topics ranging from the Amazon Kindle to copyright. Just be factual, interesting and clear. As for news tips, we’ll credit you by name and, if you want, point to your site. Here’s contact information.

2. Link to us and otherwise spread the word about the TeleBlog, directly or via Digg, Slashdot or other sites. Click on the headline links in our posts to see the Digg icon and the rest.

3. Share business ideas, as Michael Harris recently did. As Michael points out, we want sponsors or others who will not compromise TeleRead’s independence. Would you feel uncomfortable about embedded merchandising links to books and other items we genuinely feel might interest you? By the way, Michael believes that many of our visitors aren’t seeing ads because of blocking software. True?

4. Use the TeleRead site to buy what you’d normally purchase from Amazon or Powell’s. Look in the two sidebars, to the right, for search forms. You can even buy a Kindle directly by clicking on the display ad we’re running. Recently two Kindles moved on the same day. Since then—no more. Oh, the mysteries of life and commerce. I personally dislike the Kindle’s DRM and some other aspects, but many of our readers love the machine, and we’ll continue running both the pros and the cons, along with tips.

5. Advertise your book or book-related product or service on TeleRead if it makes business sense to you. Here are the kinds of books that members of the TeleRead community go for.

6. Volunteer technical services or copy editing.

TeleRead in one form or another is not going away, not with the hundreds of thousands of unique visitors we’re drawing each year. But in the interest of long-term sustainability, Robert Nagle and I do intend to make changes, and we’ll welcome your thoughts.

Image: CC-licensed photo from Hulagway.

By David Rothman

Microsoft without Bill Gates as a full-timer might warm up eventually to open source. That’s what some optimists are speculating, especially with Steve Ballmer about to depart in the near future.

If Microsoft is less maniacal on proprietary vs. open, could that have e-book standards implications? Perhaps even to the point where Microsoft would rejoin the IDPF, the e-book standards group that it helped found? One can dream. An open source ePub reader bundled with Microsoft-distributed software?

For now, maybe I should be grateful that Gates retains various Microsoft ties. Maybe his old company can sway him and the Gates Foundation in the right direction.

The TeleRead angle: Grubby money-makers more clueful than Gates Foundation?

Interesting, wouldn’t that be? The grubby, money-making corporation ahead of the oh-so-staid nonprofit? The late William F. Buckley Jr. once suggested that Gates buy the TeleRead concept from me for $1. What a shame that Billg’s proprietary approach, especially his DRM fixation, gummed things up. I never could pursue this to the max. Not that the idea is "for sale." It’s in the public domain and builds on similar concepts.

The original TeleRead idea’s main distinction is the comprehensive approach–everything from hardware to the digital libraries to efforts to blend them in with local schools and libraries. OLPC, alas, still hasn’t gotten that right.

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By Jon Noring

AAP’s recent open letter strongly supporting the use of ePub by publishers was covered by David Rothman in a separate blog article.

Reading the letter, it was unclear to me whether AAP supported ePub as a consumer format. The letter focused mostly on using ePub as an intermediary format to be converted by wholesalers and retailers into various proprietary end-user formats currently in vogue.

The letter did imply support of ePub as a consumer format, by the use of the word “IF” in the second paragraph, but it was not explicit and some might have interpreted the letter differently. If so, they should read the clarification by Ed McCoyd, the Director of Digital Policy at AAP, who signed the AAP open letter. With his permission I am quoting part of his reply to the letter I wrote him:

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By David Rothman

Via e-mail you can now keep up with TeleBlog comments from a specific discussion—whether or not you’re participating.

Richard Crocker of Planet eBook was kind enough to call our attention to a WordPress plug-in called Subscribe to Comments. I installed it last night, and so far, it’s apparently working fine. STC’s use here is still experimental, though. To use STC, just scroll down to the area under the comment form and check the box or fill in other information. You can also keep up with comments via RSS for individual posts (see instructions below any post that you click on) and for the blog as a whole (here’s the URL). Feedback welcome!

Ads

On another matter, what suggestions do you have as far as ads we should be running (the idea being to make this site sustainable for the long term)? Just what products do you want to see advertised? What would you be most likely to buy via advertisements here? Hardware? Software? Books? Other thoughts to share with us?

E-mail question

Anyone having problems getting through to me at drNOSPAMteleread.org? Michael Harris did. No other reports of trouble so far, but if there is a problem, I’m at 703-370-6540 in Alexandria, VA.