Comments on: Why ebooks must fail

By: Alan Swartz

Alan Swartz — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:48:00 +0000

I’m not sure of the direction publishing will take in the future. I do know this: there are books I have read on my Kindle I would NOT have read otherwise. Not to mention the two newspapers I subscribe to on my Kindle.

By: eric

eric — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:43:11 +0000

The phrasing was interesting: ebooks MUST fail. Because if they don’t, the publishing industry is up the creek.

If that’s what he meant, as Paul Raven suggests, it’s a damned odd way to say it. Because most folks in the publishing industry will hear him as saying ‘ebooks must fail because they are a bad model.’ And think that means they’re safe, all they’ve got to do is bide their time….

In fact, ebooks are a great model — for consumers. So yes, the cost structure of contemporary publishing must fail.

By: rocket

rocket — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:35:57 +0000

I agree w/ Dave – this sounds like an echo of the mp3 wars. basically,
books will always be around (old copies and the diminishing % of folks
that love real books…kinda like people who like vinyl records)
, but I think increasingly most people will go towards ebooks as their primary
source…maybe not on expensive ebook readers like kindle, but on their blackberry or
iphones, which even today do a decent job frankly, if you ever try it. The
market right now is set by the publishers because, they like it and are afraid of
change, but also because its still a lot harder to “rip” a book the way you
can a CD…. I think the moment someone comes up w/ a functional scanner that
can rip a book quickly on its own (robotic page-turning arm anyone?), then the
game is all over.

By: Paul Raven

Paul Raven — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:40:02 +0000

With all due respect, Dave, I think that’s exactly the point he’s trying to make – bear in mind he probably wrote that piece aimed at fellow publishing execs, and was aiming for shock value. Us consumers (and loud-mouthed commentators) are ahead of the curve.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:09:41 +0000

Argument is extremely short-sighted. He’s right if no entrepreneurial publisher cuts out all of the now-unaffordable and unnecessary costs of the traditional model and gets a distribution channel. The odds of that are probably worse than 10:1.

It’s dead wrong to say “ebooks must fail.” Ebooks cannot succeed inside the cost structure of contemporary publishing. So the cost structure of contemporary publishing must fail.