E-Books & Sage Visit

Are E-Books the Future?

 Today's lectures included two publishers' perspectives on e-publishing.

Ruth Jones - Ingram Digital

According to Anthony, Ingram Digital  has "probably the biggest footprint of any company in the e-book space particularly as an aggregator." Ruth Jones, Director Publisher Business Development spoke with us about Ingram, her job, and the development of the e-book market from the publisher's perspective.

Ruth explained that the e-book trade is a "changing marketplace." There is a new focus on the direct consumer, as opposed to retail or distribution partners (with whom publishers traditionally do their business). Web 2.0 presents new ways to drive content discovery and sales online. Consumers have new expectations, such as relaxation of digital rights management (DRM), content available in multiple formats, and the expectation of content that is "always be available." Green marketing is now a huge factor.

An Apple iBook and its digital bookstore displayed on an iPhone.

Publishers have reacted to these trends by relaxing DRM, simultaneous publication of multiple formats (while also committing to move towards a standardization of formats), and a firm commitment to digitization. Ruth sees mobile devices, such as iPad and e-readers as the future - a place where consumers can "buy anywhere and read anywhere." E-book stores, such as  iBooks, will redefine how people acquire and read books in much the same way iTunes and the iPod redefined how people purchased (or didn't purchase) and listened to music. The unavailing of Google Editions, Google's soon to be opened e-content store, will be a "major game changer" in the market.  

Alison Jones - Palgrave Macmillan 

After a lecture focused to the consumer, Alison Jones, Director of Digital Development atPalgrave Macmillan (a major humanities and social sciences publisher) spoke with us about e-publishing and textbooks and scholarly communication.

Alison broke down Palgrave's e-products into the following categories and explained the business model and common formats for each: journals, monographs, business and professional publications, trade publications, and textbooks.  Other products include e-learning systems (such as their Skills4Study website), mobile apps, virtual learning environments (such as systems that allow for distance learning).  She also briefly introduced Digital Object Identifier system (DOI), which would be discussed throughout the course and conference. 

She discussed the differences between the perspectives of librarians and publishers - mainly the issue of revenue. According to Alison, librarians, who are traditionally concerned with the open flow of information must remember that publishers are for-profit institutions. Her main point - "publishers must make money" in order to keep producing content and maintaining the flow of information.

One of the most interesting aspects of the lecture was the discussion of e-textbooks, and how they represent a shift in the role academic libraries function and how the textbook (and the "book" itself) are being re-conceptualized. While it has traditionally been the financial burden of college students to buy their own print textbooks, there is a growing expectation that academic libraries provide e-textbooks (and related resources) to students. Some publishers, such as Palgrave Macmillan, are also now offering e-textbooks piecemeal - selling individual chapters. This has major implications for how textbook publishers and authors information present information and how it is received by students. It implies that the traditional long form, carefully planned out textual course of learning is being supplanted by fragmentary sources, assembled at will by instructors. 

Visit to Sage Publications

After lunch, Anthony led the by tube from Bloomsbury to the East London offices of SAGE Publications Ltd. 
Our host was Martha Sedgewick, Sr. Manager, Online Product Development, who spoke to us about e-resources in the social sciences, and SAGE's e-content portal Research Methods Online. 

Huw Alexander, Rights and Digital Sales Manager, also spoke to us about the difficulty in defining and conceptualizing "what e-books are."   He took us through the "Why? Where? Who? and What?" of what e-books are - the main points being that they are searchable, discoverable, space saving, and represent "freedom to learn anywhere" and "spontaneity of purchase." Hwe said that e-books and "what they are" and how people will use them will change and continue to redefine the concept of the book. He left us with a quote from Alan Kay - "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."