TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘Scribd’ Category

By Chris Meadows

We have probably already given perpetual-copyright zealot Mark Helprin more coverage than he deserves, but this TechDirt article from Michael Masnick is too good to pass up.

It seems that Helprin’s book, Digital Barbarism, has been getting nearly universally panned by reviewers. But according to an op-ed by Helprin in the National Review, the reason for that is not that the book might be bad—it is because publishers assigned the very people Helprin slammed in the book to review it.

If nothing else, Helprin does not suffer from an inadequate ego. In the op-ed, he paints himself as some kind of lone holy warrior, defending the sacred trust of copyright against some vast Internet conspiracy theory:

Because corporate defenders of intellectual property think they need only protect established law, they sit inertially in their towers and forfeit the more general debate to their active and numerous opponents. Thus, unwittingly engaged and with neither allies nor organizational support of any kind, I thought the only way to respond to hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of critics mobilized by “public interest” groups richly funded by private interests such as Google, was to write a book.

Right, Mark. Just keep thinking that.

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By Chris Meadows

One of the most commonly misunderstood things about lawyers is that, as with forensic debaters, they may often choose to argue two opposite, competing sides of the same issue. This is hardly unusual for them—it’s their job to advocate for whatever side they choose, or even both sides if they think the particular cases have merit.

Our pop culture tends to latch onto this and portray any lawyer who does not have a Perry Mason- or Matlock-like dedication to proving clients innocent as being some kind of slimy mercenary—but when you get right down to it,  it’s a very important part of our legal system that people be able to hire someone to advocate for them regardless of public or personal opinion.

I bring this up because otherwise, the natural inclination when people hear that the law form that represented Jammie Thomas against the RIAA is now suing Scribd for copyright violation is to consider them two-faced slimy mercenary bastards—and I have little doubt among the Slashdot crowd there will be a lot of that.

Lawyers Joe Sibley and Kiwi Camara are representing the author of a book who found her work being offered on Scribd, but they are seeking class-action status to represent “every author who owns a valid registered copyright in a work infringed by Scribd.”

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By Ficbot

What are e-book buyers thinking when they shop?

I can’t speak for all buyers, but if you want to know why I buy or don’t buy from various sites—well, here’s the lowdown. No ESP needed. I hope this is useful to retailers and aspiring self-publishers of e-books, although most of the sites named here don’t accept titles from the latter group.

Self-publishers face a daunting learning curve these days. So many stores, so many formats, what to do? Many novices begin with Amazon—Amazon makes it easy, and enjoys a large market share. But the company’s Kindle side officially focuses just on the United States, leaving out me and many other voracious readers (I’m Canadian). Sorry, Amazon. Here’s where I am buying e-books.

Stop One: Fictionwise

Fictionwise (screenshot), which normally does not deal with the self-published, is my preferred e-book store, for several reasons. Firstly, the Fictionwise site is the most pleasant of the big storefronts to navigate. I have checked out its main competitor, Books on Board, and can never seem to find things there when I just browse; I need to have a certain title in mind.

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By David Rothman

“Scribd, the so-called ‘YouTube for documents’ that’s recently also become an Ebook store, has been seeing a major drop in traffic over the last two months.” – Tech Crunch. Click on graph for more detail.

Related: Techmeme roundup.

Also of interest: The AP on legal free e-books to promote authors’ titles (via MobileRead). While the AP call this “the latest craze,” this is really old news—especially for series-related titles in the SF community.

By Paul Biba

This is from The Chronicle’s Wired Campus Newsletter. I tried to link to The Chronicle site but it seems to be down right now. For the full article check here later.

… the Harvard University Press created its own Scribd profile, and the press has already posted hundreds of works for download. “We can’t spend all of our time chasing down every single pirated copy of a book that’s put up, and it’s not a good use of our time,” said Daniel Lee, director of digital content for the Harvard University Press. “We’d rather participate voluntarily, I think, in a good-faith effort among our partners and with Scribd and sort of fight against it. We’re cognizant of the proliferation of piracy online.”

The university is not the first to begin offering content on the Web site — New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have about a dozen articles on their Scribd pages. What differentiates Harvard from the others, though, is that Harvard is charging for its content — and charging the same price as a hard-copy of the same material would cost.

“I’d be surprised if, with the same pricing model, people will be willing to pay for content that can only be viewed online,” Mr. Lee said. He said interest might increase in publishing the material online if Scribd were to develop a way for the books to become portable. Materials downloaded through Scribd can only be viewed through the site’s software, and cannot be printed or replicated. “If we allow the content to be downloaded with no restrictions, it could eat into our print sales.”

By Paul Biba

It looks as if Scribd is becoming the new ebook repository. From a press release:

Scribd, the world’s largest social publishing company, today announced that it has signed a deal with Harvard University Press (HUP) to sell nearly 1,000 digital books through the Scribd Store, a recently launched e-commerce marketplace for written works. HUP joins other university presses such as New York University Press and MIT Press that are already offering free previews of books and reports to Scribd’s readership of millions. The Harvard announcement comes a month after the company announced a similar deal with publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster.

“Scribd’s goal is to collect all the world’s written information — whether for free or for purchase — in one place and then make those works available to as many people as possible,” said Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder of Scribd and a Harvard alum. “Harvard University Press has brought to light some of the world’s most thought-provoking ideas in the form of printed books. We’re thrilled to bring this amazing content to a much larger potential community of information seekers.”

Thanks to Michael von Glahn for the heads up.

By Michael Harris, Assoc. Prof., Information Systems, Indiana U. - Southeast

An article in the New York Times notes that Web site Scribd now allows independent authors to upload and sell their own books.

Scribd’s authors set their own prices and keep 80 percent of the revenue. What’s more, smart authors can choose to keep their books DRM-free. Also, Scribd’s move should help lower the entry cost for first time and niche authors.

But if my tastes are typical, there are still formidable market barriers for these smaller authors.

Spotting the winners

For example, it isnt’t enough to print books—how to spot the good ones? Publishers can help.  Anyone who has read through the slush piles of a major publisher will tell you that the dregs far outnumber the gems. Frankly, I don’t mind paying for someone else to pick out worthwhile books for me.

Closely related to this selection process is that of marketing. I find the online book search process at the Amazon’s of the world to be quite limiting. It works well if I want to find the latest book by a known author. It also works if I want to see similar works that are already hot. How do I find undiscovered works? Today, I turn to publishers I highly regard, such as Baen, and trust their recommendations.

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By David Rothman

A 65-35 percent split in favor of Jeff Bezos—that’s an example of what self-publishers must deal with on Amazon’s e-book side.

What’s more, larger houses also may be hoping for bigger cuts.

But now Scribd, the social publishing site, is offering 80 percent revenue to writers or publishers through  new e-commerce arrangements allowing content providers to set prices.

VarnaInYourPocket

Shown is a guide to Varna, Bulgaria. The entire catalogues of O’Reilly Media, Lonely Planet and Berrett-Koehler are going on Scribd, and Random House has tried out the site.

Alas, however, because of piracy fears, Random House and other giant publishers have not committed all the way. I hope they will—if nothing else, to curtail Amazon’s growing power, which in the end could cost publishers a lot more than piracy ever could.

In fairness to Amazon, let me note the bigger potential exposure to readers that it offers. But in Scribd, I see lots of potential.

Related: Techmeme roundup and New York Times item.