Information Technology Reference
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individuals. Libraries want to buy e-textbooks, but this demand has
been resisted because 'free at the point of use' access via the library
might destroy the traditional model, which is sale to the individual
student. There has also been, until now, little demand from the public for
e-books, but it would seem that the emergence of e-book readers such as
the Kindle and the Sony e-book reader or the next generation of such
devices may well provide the publishing industry with its 'iPod moment'.
The iPod is ubiquitous and music is generally acquired by download. This
has meant a huge change for the music industry and a radical change in
the business models it uses. Currently, where Amazon has books available
in both print and e-book format, the electronic versions have sales of 35%
of the same books in print (Schonlfeld, 2009). Andrew Marr has written:
'But it's clear enough that after all the waiting and the over-hyping, the
e-book is arriving. Before long you are going to see them being carried
nonchalantly around' (Marr, 2007).
Some publishers have seen other benefits of the move to the
electronic medium. Victoria Barnsley, the CEO of Harper Collins,
pointed out that the e-book offers publishers an end to unwanted
inventory, no more returns, no more out of print titles and greater value
attached to obscure titles (Barnsley, 2008). She sees not only the
advantages of electronic publication in terms of publishing
administration, but also the possibilities of Web 2.0 technologies for a
new type of publishing, which she describes as the 'circular model', with
authors and readers interacting with each other as part of the
publishing process. An example of this is the online publication of Doris
Lessing's
The Golden Notebook
project. Seven readers kept public journals
on their thoughts while reading the topic, and other readers
commented, generating an ongoing discussion in the novel's on-screen
margins. As fascinating as this project is, the business model that would
sustain such publishing is as yet uncertain. Barnsley said it would be
difficult to establish a profitable pricing model when most consumers
were used to free digital content, but nonetheless predicted that 'within
say 10 years more than half our sales will come from digital downloads'.
She has been quoted as saying that the Kindle, with its wireless
connection, will enable impulse shopping: 'Imagine watching Cranford
on the TV, and immediately downloading the complete works of
Elizabeth Gaskell - instant bedtime reading' (Barnsley, 2008).
Another book publisher ready to experiment is Bloomsbury
