Special Guest Post - Nick Hornby on ebooks

Last Friday some Penguins presented other Penguins with our plans for the (re)launch of ebooks which will be happening later this year. We, like other publishers, are frantically digitizing our books because, as we are all aware, The eBooks are Coming!!! This is, of course, a tremendously exciting time - we might be at the brink of a revolution in the way that we distribute books and the way that people access books. But the key word is 'might' - the really exciting thing is that no-one really knows how things will turn out. Ebooks might change our world ... but they might not. We'll know a little bit more a year from now.

Within the publishing community there's no shortage of opinions about the future of books and the future of reading, but it is refreshing to see the views of a reader and writer on this topic. So below, reposted from Nick Hornby's own blog, are his thoughts on books, ebooks and readers. Feel free to comment and let us know your thoughts.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

 

In branches of Borders, they are trying to flog us their e-book reader, the ‘Iliad’, for £399. Meanwhile in the London Evening Standard, David Sexton seems quite taken with Amazon’s version, the Kindle. In my branch of Borders on Monday, the Iliad was piled high on the left, just as you walk in; on the right is their wall of bestselling paperbacks, many of which are being sold at half price. It was a quiet Monday morning, and there didn’t seem to be too much interest in the four hundred quid e-book reader; what was striking, though, was that there didn’t seem to be too much interest in the four quid books, either. Attempting to sell people something for four hundred pounds that merely enables them to read something that they won’t buy at one hundredth of the price seems to me a thankless task. (A member of staff at Borders told me that he attempted to persuade a young and famous comedian to buy an Iliad last week. He seemed interested, until he was told the price, at which point he swore loudly and walked away. So at the moment, they are priced too high for millionaire showbusiness entertainers.)

There is currently much consternation in the book industry about the future of the conventional book, but my suspicion is that it will prove to be more tenacious than the CD, for the following reasons:

1)    Book readers like books, whereas music fans never had much affection for CDs. Vinyl yes, CDs no. They are too small for interesting cover art and legible lyrics, the cases break easily, and despite all promises to the contrary, they are extremely easy to break and scratch. Books have remained consistently lovable for several hundred years now. For readers, a wall lined with books is as attractive as any art we could afford to put up there.
2)    E-book readers have a couple of disadvantages, when compared to mp3 players.  The first is that, when we bought our iPods, we already owned the music to put on it; none of us own e-books, however. The second is that so far, Apple is uninterested in designing an e-book reader, which means that they don’t look very cool.
3)    We don’t buy many books – seven per person per year, a couple of which, we must assume, are presents for other people. Three paperbacks bought in a three-for-two offer – expenditure, fourteen pounds approx – will do most of us for months. The advantages of the Iliad and the Kindle – that you can take vast numbers of books away with you – are of no interest to the average book-buyer.
4)    Book-lovers are always late adaptors, and generally suspicious of new technology.
5)    The new capabilities of the iPod will make it harder to sell books anyway. How much reading has been done historically, simply because there is no television available on a bus or a train or a sun-lounger? But that’s no longer true. You could watch a whole series of the Sopranos by the pool on your iPod touchscreen, if you want.  Reading is going to take a hit from this.

But – and this is the most depressing reason – the truth is that people don’t like reading books much anyway: a 2004 survey of two thousand adults found that thirty-four per cent didn’t read books at all.  The music industry’s problems are many and profound, but you never see advertisements asking us to listen to more music; there are no pressure groups or government quangos attempting to ensure that we make room in our day for a little Leona Lewis. The problem is getting people to pay for music, not getting people to consume it.  Can you see every teenager in Britain harassing their parents for a Kindle? Me neither.

I’m not naïve –  I’m sure that in the future we’ll be able to take a pill that saves us the trouble of having to read anything ever, and books will die overnight. But while people are so resistant to the act of reading itself, the four hundred pound reader is not going to be the must-have accessory of the near future.

Copyright © Nick Hornby, July 2008

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Comments

[James Smythe]

This is good news - I like that people are at least going to attempt to make this work, even if it fails in the long run. I've long been a proponent of the thought that, much as some companies (insound.com, for one) are starting to do with vinyl records and MP3 files, readers should be given a free copy of a digital novel with every purchase of a print edition, and whilst I suspect that this isn't how things will occur - I'm guessing it isn't a terribly valid business model - anything is a step forward. I'm excited to see what Penguin's model for the industry is.

There are so many problems with the concept of reading outside of a book - the technology, the cost, the much-adored 'feel' of books - but there's also another one that recently crossed my mind: the concept of validation of a text. Suddenly publishers open themselves to competition in a way that they have never really done before by allowing the market to throw the doors open wider than before. Suddenly websites can sell ebooks - the type of ebook that has never seen an editor, and is essentially vanity publishing - and sell them on the back of the stories etc. The concept of who published it - which is very much important to many, such as myself, at the moment - suddenly begins to fade.

If you have an online ebooks store a la iTunes, all the tiny publishers can start to put their eBooks on there, and, as has happened with many branches of the independant music sector, those books will get equal billing with some big names, rather than languishing on the bottom of shelves. The fact that that billing is significantly smaller, and not built in piles, as Mr Hornby says, by the front of a shop is a problem, yes, but it is a problem for everyone, I think.

Me? I'll never stop buying books. I suspect that I will invest in an e-reader if I can get free copies of texts I have already paid for, or if the price comes down so low that I might as well. But the more recent e-book experiments (and I'm thinking of the Sony e-book shop, here, and Amazon) are insane: you simply can't charge the same price for something that has no physical form, particularly when the physical form is what people love about it in the first place. I just don't think it works that way.

[Ricky Maveety]

As to Mr. Hornby's various points:

1. Book readers like reading. Many of us live in spaces too small for a large collection of books. For us, ebooks are a perfect solumtion.

2. None of us own e-books. Not a problem, since thousands of the classics are available for free on the internet. Or ... perhaps you were unaware of that fact??

3. "We" don't buy many books. Not certain who you are referring to. I didn't used to purchase many books because I had no more room to store them all (and I have a good sized library). Since purchasing my Kindle, I have read 4 books in the past 2 weeks, bought at least 14, and downloaded (for free) another 100.

4. Book lovers are "late adopters." Another unsupported generalization. I am a book lover. I always have been. I've also been building computers from scratch for the past 20 years. I purchased my first ebook reader several years ago (the first Rocket Ebook), and I have always been an early adopter.

5. Some of us don't always like to watch tv or listen to music. Some of us actually enjoy reading. And, there are even people who like to have a choice in their entertainment. And ... big shock here ... not everybody liked the Sopranos. The iPod is not going to decrease my reading ... at least not now that I have my Kindle with me everywhere I go. I might even listen to music while I read. What a concept.

6. I would be willing to hazard that a survey of 2000 adults would find they can't locate India on a map of the world. Perhaps if they had learned to read in school, they'd know a little more about the world outside of the little patch of earth on which they live.

[DMcCunney]

I don't blame Nick for his gloom over the state of reading in general, but whether ebook readers will take off is a different matter.

Comparisons with the iPod are specious. *Everybody* listens to music, so no surprise the iPod is an enormous success. Everybody *doesn't* necessarily read, so a reader *can't* achieve iPod numbers.

But it doesn't have to. It just needs to sell enough for the folks offering it to make it worth doing, where "worth doing" defines as "generates enough profit to cover the marginal cost of the capital invested to produce it".

Readers are niche market products, and *can't* achieve the economies of scale that let Apple price the iPod nano where it is. They are also constrained by by the fact that the eInk technology currently adopted has a single source.

But you don't need a dedicated reader to read eBooks. My ebook reader is a Palm OS device. I have about 3,500 ebooks on an SD card, and add more regularly. There are several ebook formats out there, like the Mobipocket format used by Amazon in the Kindle, where viewing software is available for PCs, PDAs, Blackberries, and even cell phones.

I carry a library in my pocket, and can read wherever I am. I may be in a minority, but from what I've seen, I'm part of a big enough minority to make electronic publishing worthwhile.
______
Dennis

[LightX]

Hey that was a really interesting post. By the way,
there is a really cool website out there called
ebookhorizon.c0m.
You can download free ebooks there and buy premium ones of the like.
Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

[Mike]

Nick,

I think you are missing some of the game changing aspects of eBooks. There are lots of reasons that eBooks make sense for both readers and publishers. The people that should be most excited, however, are authors.

1) Your reasoning that the average reader only buys 7 books a year, doesn't account for the fact that owning an eBook reader increases the number of books readers buy. The Amazon Kindle allows readers to sample the first 30 pages or so of the books that it sells. This means, if I hear about an interesting book I can start reading it minutes later without leaving the house or paying anything. If after 30 pages it has kept my interest, I buy a copy. The lower cost of books, combined with easy access and less risk when buying, should increase the number of books people buy.

2) One thing that as a reader I hate, but as an author you should love, is that ebooks can't be resold, traded or given to a friend. You would think this would be enough to cause authors and publishers to embrace the format with more enthusiasm.

3) Lastly, one of the most interesting thing about eBooks, is how it should democratize publishing, and allow authors to cut publishers out of the sales channel. Successful authors should be able to make deals direction with Amazon and other eBook resellers. Unknown authors will be able to control the publishing of their own works. This should scare the hell out of the publishers, but for readers, it means more choices and hopefully, less expensive books.

Mike Schneider
www.thisistech.com

[Thomas Krotkiewski]

Well, well well. I hear this type of comments often, being an ebook reader for some 9 years or so. I'm not buying a Kindle. I don't care about cover art, either. But the fact that I can carry (at present) 30 books in my pocket (in my phone, previously in my Palm Pilot), and buy a new book ON THE SPOT by going to my ebook store on line via the phone, is fantastic. I can also read at night without disturbing my spouse (there's a back-lit screen). I can read when I am waiting in line at the supermarket, or the bank, or even in a traffic jam. I read maybe one or two books a week. For me this technology is utterly enabling. And yes, while I don't own and iPod, I can of course watch video by the pool. But why would I? Have you ever tried watching a movies for hours on end? If the majority of people prefer television, so be it. If people who read have more reasons and opportunity to do so, then great!! The big problem is that media attention focuses on DEVICES like the Kindle. Who cares about the Kindle, for me that is just a bulkier take on my 9 old year habit of ebook reading.
Best,
Thomas

[Mike]

All interesting points, but it ignores the fact that many of us simply focus on the content and the media, paper or ebook, is largely irrelevant. In my case I like the Kindle because, like Ricky, I live in a relatively small space that my 200+ books have gradually overwhelmed. The only reason I have completely replaced the paper habit it that replacing my library is very expensive, the technology isn't to the point that it can replace my art, architecture, etc. books (i.e. resolution and color), and there's no easy means to hand annotate (i.e. touch screen) them. I have no doubt that within 10 years these issues will be resolved and my paper habit will be a dusty memory.

Anecdotal data point ... my kids are absolutely hooked on the Kindle. The future is pretty clear.

[bob]

I have to agree with Mr. Krokiewski though I've only been using ebook readers for two years and 90% of my actual usage has been since I got and an iPhone. Would I like it a little bigger, yes, but only a little. I still want it to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket. Would I like to be able to create my own book marks with comments and be able to e-mail them to the author, definitely. The problem with the current ebook readers then, is more about form factor; the Kindle, the Sony, the Cybook; they're too large, and software; I want to be able to do more than just read, particularly with non-fiction.

[AJArend]

I agree with Mr. Hornby to a point. I think that "ebook readers" as a standalone product will never be successful. BUT, eBook reading on other devices will continue to grow in popularity. I wouldn't buy a Kindle or any other product just for its eBook reading abilities. But, eBooks on my PDA or iPhone? I have and will continue to use them. Why? Just because it's so handy to always have a book at my fingertips. Depending on the device I use, I can even go online and purchase a new one right then and there wherever I am if I'm in the mood. Try doing that with print media. Will eBooks ever completely replace paper books? Time will tell. But it's way too soon to be predicting their ultimate demise.

[Luis Waesler]

Well, Nick has a point.

As far as I can see, I am the only one commenting, who really owns a dedicated ebook device. I have been using a Sony PRS 500 for almost a year now and absolutely love it. It is the best electronic device I have ever bought. Why? Because it does exactly what I need: I can read books on it. Nothing more, nothing less. And it allows me to carry quite an extensive library with me when on holiday.

But it is a niche product. I am the only person I know who reads more than one book a month. I am the only one I know who manages to go through 10 - 12 books on 14 days of holiday.

My friends simply don´t see the point, because they don´t read that much. But most of them own an ebook reader in one form or the other, at least on their mobile phones, anyway but none of them use them. Too much hassle, too small screen, eye strain etc. But they are all quite fascinated by the Sony display, its battery life and ease of usage.

So I reckon ebook devices will only succeed as dedicated devices - if not with their current price tags. But if you strip out unneeded features (who needs wifi while reading a book anyway?) and get display prives to drop, then...

And while points 1 to 4 of the article smell of badly researched generalization (although they might be valid), point 5 is absolutely valid. Why read on the train or bus, if you have TV or the internet available there. Maybe books in general are on their way out...

[Charbax]

The Kindle will be given away for free with content subscriptions. It'll quickly become the way number 1 that people are going to read blogs and RSS feeds. It's going to make people read more and better books, giving also personalized recommendations to people. It's going to enable people to collaboratively analyse books. It's going to be used by all students and they will like it.

[blog.techflaws.org]

> E-book readers have a couple of disadvantages,
> when compared to mp3 players.

Well, and why would I want to compare them to mp3 players rather than - say - books? Compared to them they do have quite some advantages and I'm not only referring to bookworms who want to carry their entire collection with them whereever they go.

I for one would be perfectly satisfied not to have to balance the weight of a 1000+ pages hardcover (Harry Potter 5 in German comes to mind) when I'm reading on the john, in the tub, in the bed. I'd prefer a small, lightweight Ebook-Reader displaying one page in bright, high resolution with only a few navigational buttons (more Sony design than Amazon's kindle).

Don't get me wrong, I've seen enough crap from engineers when it comes to designing flawed consumer electronics (just see the examples on my blog) so I'm not expecting the perfect device anytime soon.

Of course it's totally beyond me how coporate suits apparently seem to be astonished by the slow uptake given the prices they're charging for their readers. Get real, morons!

[Nergal]

I love to read books, for hours, the bigger the better, but that is exactly the point, why I have such an iLiad :) - it is less clumsy, I can have a whole book-shelve with me (including dictionaries). oh and I do not like the book shelves full of books in my room. they spoil the acoustic of my room, take valuable space away that I would love to fill with living green plants instead of dead trees.
Oh and btw - I am sometimes an early adopter.
Cheers,
Nergal

[Brad]

I understand what Nick is saying, I love the feel of a book, how it sounds when you thump it with your finger, the "smell" of a library, but. . . I have been reading ebooks for almost 10 years now on various palm pilots, pocket pc's, and handhelds. I would never spend $800 for an ebook reader, but the Kindle is only $350 and if I don't get one for my Birthday, I'm buying one.

The main advantage in ebooks is the ability to read anything just about anywhere, I have all the classics and there are plenty of places to buy books from.

The thing I like about the new readers is being able to read in bright sunlight without draining the battery and the ability to download new ebooks just about anywhere for $10.

That being said, I will still buy hardbacks, new and old (I like to rebind the old ones) and I don't think that book binding will ever go out of style, ebooks is just a way to supplement your library without adding too many books to your wall!

[Jackie Kahane]

Nick,

You are simply a great author. Period.

[Thougth]

I would respectfully disagree with Nick. I have both a Palm and an iPod. Due to having a Palm I have read a lot more books. I don't have to pay for postage, I don't have to wait for delivery, and I don't have to order a book that isn't at my local bookstore. What's not to like? Plus, I can read the book on my computer if that's more convenient. And, I can of course make notes and bookmarks. The only downside of the eBook reading experience is that the number of books in eBook format is paltry.

If they make reading books on the iPhone/iPod Touch as easy as it is on Palm/WM devices they will have a total winner. If you have one device (the much ballyhooed "convergence" device) that can play music, do your email, make phone calls, read books, play video, take notes, etc. it's a no brainer. No matter where you are you have the information and the entertainment of your choice.

[Nettie Hartsock]

Great points both pro and con. Excellent post and insight and I think in terms of ebooks the jury is still out.

[Lancelot Kirby]

I wrote an aritcle some time ago about this very issue:
http://www.thecheers.org/article_2667_The-Printers-Devil.html

[Muffy Clayton]

Newspaper column in response to this blog entry at this link...

http://www.7days.ae/showstory.php?id=75665

['Lux']

I am saddened by this. Clearly Hornby is not referring to vivid readers but people who generally don't read a book a week or so. I like the smell of new books and the cover art. I usually have multiple copies of books with different cover art. What will become of collecting the works that have taken so long to construct?
What will become of the poetic words spoken by true kings or queens of words when they are mere text on a computer screen?

[Brennig Jones]

Nick Hornby argues:
Book readers like books, whereas music fans never had much affection for CDs. Vinyl yes, CDs no.

But what has been the trend for vinyl sales over the last 10 years? And as you rightly say, it is surely a continuing trend.

What, however, is the trend for booksales over the last 10 years?

This surely will continue too - perhaps not to the point of extinction, but pretty close to it.

[George Jones]

Books for me are like some peoples record collections bring back memories of times and places and people. I doubt I would get that with an e book. Also £400 for a reader means £400 less for books I know what I would choose.
E books might be useful for Doctors and Lawyers would be a lot easier to carry and keep updated.

[Daniel Preston]

I just got a Kindle for my birthday. I'm not sure, though, if I would have forked over $350 out pocket on my own.
That being said, I do love my Kindle. As some have already commented, it is not as portable as ebooks on the Palm (for instance), but it is easier on the eyes. And the instant downloads via the (presently) free Whispernet is particularly appealing.

[Children Anxiety Disorder]

I really like those e books because you can take more than 1 book with you an a easily way...

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