Effects of eBooks

Effects of eBooks

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Effects of eBooks

For at least two centuries, readers were people who read and, preferably, bought physical books. In an industry confronted with an intimidating array of challenges, digital technology clearly has a lot to offer. The industry response has been uneven and at times hesitant, perhaps understandably in view of lessons learned from the failure of earlier technology initiatives. Technological innovations, affordable prices of eBooks, and partnership between small publishers trigger eBooks to influence purchases and reading of fiction and non-fiction.

Small publishers of both fiction and nonfiction have entered into partnerships with eBook publishers, availing more books into the digital world. Independent publishers addressed their distribution problems by taking advantage of social publishing services such as Scribd (Chao, Hegarty & Stefanidis, 2012). Not only has Scribd entered into distribution deals with small independents but also partnered with such major publishers as Random House and Simon & Schuster. For small publishers, this arrangement offers access to a site with 50 million users every month, while authors not only enjoy a return of 50% on net sales but also can set their own prices if they are unhappy with the default level of $9.99 a title (Chao, Hegarty & Stefanidis, 2012). In general, independent online publishing has much to offer to authors when compared to traditional book publishing models. In digital publishing, the process takes a fraction of the time it takes to produce and distribute a book in the traditional fashion and authors have complete control over all aspects of the process, including rights and the prospect of much higher royalties at the end of it. The implication of this development is that authors of both fiction and nonfiction are motivated to avail more content as eBooks.

Technological innovations take credit for an increase in eBook availability and distribution. Many people prefer fiction and nonfiction content on eBooks because the rise in mobile applications eases availability and distribution. Today, when the activity of physical reading is itself in decline and potentially at risk, the concept of e-readers and indeed of e-reading is much more pronounced. People are reading on mobile devices, from Kindles to iPhones, and the content involved includes fiction and nonfiction. Reading devices, single and multifunction and the Smartphone- all of which continue to multiply in number, influence more people to opt for eBooks because of convenience. So far as dedicated readers are concerned, Kindle still dominates, although Sony and NOOK are major players and all face competition from the likes of Google editions and interestingly, Blio and Copia, the latter two offering a potentially potent combination of content consumption and purchasing with social networking (Tian & Martin, 2011). EBooks initiated the competition between the app developers, and eventually promote further availability of fiction and non-fiction in the digital market.

Affordable pricing of eBooks influences e-readers to purchase and consequently read more fiction and nonfiction content. While the agency pricing model seeks to mediate the new pricing challenges posed by the introduction of digital products, it also operates to circumvent the threat that book distribution middlemen poses to the role of publishers in the industry. Rather than dictating that publishers handover their hard-won content to online distributors like Amazon, the Agency model allows publishers to perform their core activities albeit within changing technological and market environments (Tian & Martin, 2011). This is distinct from the traditional wholesale model, in which retailers buy books from the publisher and can then the middlemen set whatever prices they wish for them. Under the agency model, the retailer acts as an agent of the publisher, which itself sets the retail price of the eBooks, with the retailer taking a commission. This approach contributed to the prevailing cheap prices of eBooks, making consumers tread more fiction and non-fiction.

It is clear that both across the publishing mainstream and within its indie segment, publishers are using a variety of digital publishing platforms to respond to a complex of external and internal forces. More fiction and non-fiction eBooks are available online because of technological innovations, affordable prices of eBooks, and partnership between small publishers.

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References

Chao, C., Hegarty, N. & Stefanidis, A. (2012). Global Impacts and Challenges of Paperless Books: A Preliminary Study. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(11), 115-121.

Tian, X. & Martin, B. (2011). Impacting Forces on eBook Business Models Development. Publishing Research Quarterly, 27(3), 230-246.