The Danger of the Kindle Lending Library

Will Kindle lending create a monopoly?

A few days back, Amazon announced that it would allow its ebooks to be available for lending via Overdrive and, consequently, Kindle owners would be able to borrow ebooks from their local library’s ebook service.  Of course, for those of us that have been keen to support ebook availability in public libraries, this was good news.  Kindles are the most popular ereader on the market, mainly because they are cheap and have an appealing user-friendly purchasing system.  Much as I like my Sony Reader, it is not the easiest for purchasing books (although it sure looks a damn sight more attractive than the Kindle).  However, it is not all good news, and some aspects of the announcement should cause alarm amongst information professionals.

A number of concerns have been raised by librarians, particularly in terms of the addition of an extra format to the Overdrive catalogue set against a backdrop of budget cuts.  Would libraries have to purchase another file format?  Apparently not.  A whole host of other questions have been raised too:

• Will this represent a change in pricing and licensing models for titles?
• Will self-published authors on Amazon’s platform have a chance of being on library “shelves” now?
• Can library patrons opt out of linking their Amazon accounts to their library account?
• How much check out information will Amazon have access to? How will that change if someone purchases a title they’ve borrowed?

But a far more important question is raised as Kindle becomes ever more dominant.  As Mike Cane (a fellow Kindle hater) put it last year:

How many Kindles are now out there vs ePub devices? If there are MORE K, then isn’t *K* the goddammed “standard” for eBooks now!?

He went on to add in the comments:

How long will it be until Amazon wakes up to public libraries offering Kindle eBooks — as they have with Adobe DRMed ePub? Will we soon see an agreement between Amazon and OverDrive? Or will Amazon snub OverDrive and directly woo public libraries?

The iPad cannot borrow eBooks from public libraries. They use Adobe DRM.

If Amazon gets public libraries on board, it would be the death of ePub. [my emphasis]

This is the really big question behind Amazon’s announcement.  The fact that Amazon does not support the open standard has always been a fundamental objection of mine.  The fact that this deal could effectively end the attempts to establish an accepted open standard is a very worrying development indeed.  Amazon already have close to a monopoly of the ebook market.  The death of ePub would effectively rubber stamp Amazon’s monopoly.

It goes without saying that a monopoly is a very bad thing for consumers in any market.  A monopoly in the provision of information could be a very dangerous thing indeed.  We have already seen Amazon remove books and journals from people’s devices without warning, can they really be trusted to act responsibly with such a monopoly?  I’m not sure we can.  A monopoly in the provision of access to information is a very dangerous thing.  Unless Amazon decide that the Kindle should support ePub, I see no reason to end my personal boycott of the device.  In fact, as futile as I know this is, I would encourage others to do the same until such time that Amazon supports ePub and encourages an ebook market that truly benefits the consumer.  As Mike Cane writes on his blog:

Amazon now has more power than any other book company on earth. And yes, you damn well better be afraid of this.

I am. Are you?

Google Editions on the way…….

Could Google change the ebook market?

Now, I’m well-known for being a bit of a fan of the Sony Reader and not so keen on the Kindle.  The reason for this?  I think that all the players in the ebook market should gather around ePub as the standard format for ebooks.  Sony has certainly got onboard with this, Apple sort of have, but Amazon so far have not.  The main drawback to being a non-Kindle fan?  The price of compatible ebooks.  Sadly, well for me anyway, Amazon offers fairly good deals on ebooks (although this may come to an end with increased agency pricing – see earlier post).  Owners of Sony Readers on the other hand are stuck with slightly more expensive ebooks via Waterstone’s or WHSmiths.  Although I shouldn’t forget that ePub is also the format that library ebooks are delivered in – that’s quite important! Well, there could be some good news coming after Christmas.

It looks very likely that Google are going to announce details of their (much delayed) Google Editions service after Christmas.  From InformationWeek:

Google Editions are digital books with digital copying restrictions; they look like what’s currently offered through Google Books.

Purchasing a Google Edition will give the buyer the ability to access that book from most devices that support Web browsers and devices offered by an as yet undisclosed set of supported device partners. This marks a significant point of differentiation from Apple and Amazon, which limit purchased e-books to proprietary hardware.

In another departure from what Apple and Amazon are doing, Google is taking a federated approach, allowing Authorized Resellers to sell Google Editions through their own online book selling sites.

Pretty good news, and could almost certainly prove a serious challenge to Amazon if it takes off (Google Wave anyone??).  What makes this all the more exciting is that Google has already done a deal with Sony for its scanned Google Books, and that deal is likely to be extended to Editions too.  This means that Google Editions books may also be downloaded onto a Sony Reader, as well as iPads and iPhones.  Really good news for Sony Reader owners.

Of course, a lot can change between now and the launch, but it is an exciting prospect.  Let’s just hope it isn’t another Google flop akin to Wave.  That would be really disappointing.

Kindle, ebooks and agency pricing

Is agency pricing the future for ebooks?

This is not the post I was originally going to publish today,  I was actually going to post a blog post comparing the cost of ebooks on Amazon and WHSmiths – to see what the price difference was between ebooks for the Kindle and the Sony Reader (it worked out, over 29 random books to be just under 30p more expensive for the Sony Reader btw).  But you know what?  I’m bored of posts filled with numbers, so I thought I’d fill one full of text instead!  This was mainly prompted by the following story on The Bookseller:

WH Smith has began selling Penguin and Hachette e-books at agency prices, with the retailer’s digital offer falling into line with Amazon.co.uk and Apple.

The retailer had been at an impasse with Hachette since it switched to agency pricing in September. Until now, Hachette titles were removed from sale from WH Smith’s website, as well as Waterstone’s and Tesco’s digital offer. Penguin implemented agency pricing, along with HarperCollins, on 1st November, leading to their books also becoming unavailable at online retailers, with the exception of Amazon and Apple.

The agency pricing model seems set to be the standard pricing strategy for the delivery of ebooks in the future.  Under the ‘agency model’ system, publishers set the retail price for books which booksellers are then obliged to sell at.  The ramifications of this are obvious.  If publishers set the price for books, then there is no room for suppliers to offer a variable pricing strategy and one format will not be able to steal a march on any other (naming no names *ahem*).

Of course, this is not exactly good news for the consumer either.  It will prevent ebooks from being more realistically priced in comparison to their print counterparts.  That is hardly going to persuade huge swathes of people to ditch print and take up ebooks.  Handily for consumers, Amazon have made it very clear that they are completely opposed to the agency pricing model:

“We believe [the publishers] will raise prices on e-books for consumers almost across the board. For a number of reasons, we think this is a damaging approach for readers, authors, booksellers and publishers alike.

“In the UK, we will continue to fight against higher prices for e-books, and have been urging publishers considering agency not to needlessly impose price increases on consumers.”

Although, obviously, Amazon aren’t exactly in this solely to protect the consumer, oh no.  There’s the question of a monopoly to consider.  As author Charlie Stross explains:

“…..to customers, Amazon would like to be a monopoly (i.e. the only store in town). To suppliers, Amazon would like to be a monopsony (i.e. the only customer in town). Their goal is to profit via arbitrage, and if they can achieve those twin goals they will own everyubody’s nuts — the authors, the customers, everyone. They are, in fact, exactly the kind of middle-man operation that the internet tends to squish, gooily.”

Interestingly, he also adds:

“Just before Apple announced the iPad and the agency deal for ebooks, Amazon pre-empted by announcing an option for publishing ebooks in which they would graciously reduce their cut from 70% to 30%, “same as Apple”. From a distance this looks competitive, but the devil is in the small print; to get the 30% rate, you have to agree that Amazon is a publisher, license your rights to Amazon to publish through the Kindle platform, guarantee that you will not allow other ebook editions to sell for less than the Kindle price, and let Amazon set that price, with a ceiling of $9.99. In other words, Amazon choose how much to pay you, while using your books to undercut any possible rivals (including the paper editions you still sell). It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the major publishers don’t think very highly of this offer …”

I think this gets to the heart of the problem and is one of the reasons why I am unlikely to be converted to Kindle any time soon.  Essentially, they want to stitch up the market so that they are the sole provider of ebooks.  This would be fine in principle if they employed a format that worked across all products.  They don’t.  Instead of supporting an open format like ePUB (which doesn’t, incidentally, mandate DRM – vendors add that), they utilise only their own format which is incompatible with others (unless you push it through some conversion).  The agency model is bad news for them (as it is for the consumer of course) because it becomes a level playing field and they no longer have the advantage over Apple, Sony etc.  This means that there is starting to emerge a straight choice between AMZ and ePub.  With the latter having the added advantage of being the format that library ebooks are delivered in.

Amazon have two choices, either adopt ePub as a standard format for the Kindle, or try to fight off the inevitable leveler.  It’s interesting that, in recent weeks, they have been employing some aggressive marketing (particularly attacking Apple’s iPad – Apple being the driver behind agency pricing) – with ads all over the newspapers, billboards and regular TV spots.  Maybe they are trying to get people to buy Kindles before agency pricing is applied across the board.  Once it is widespread, it is hard to see what advantages there are to having a Kindle at all.  Interestingly, agency pricing could be a good thing for libraries….just a thought.

Of course I could add that this the agency model is regressive and flawed, but that’s another post for another time.  In the meantime, for that argument, check this post out on FutureBook.  I’ll be interested to hear people’s thoughts on what agency pricing means for ebooks, Amazon, ePub and, of course, us consumers.  Good for some and not for others?  Bad across the board? What do you think?

Will the iPad Kill the Kindle?

So finally, after months of speculation, Apple’s iPad has finally been unveiled. Although there is much to discuss about Apple’s latest device, the aspect that is most interesting to me is its use as an ereader. What was particularly intriguing about this development was the announcement that the iPad would support the ePub format. This could have massive implications for the ebook market, and is potentially disastrous for one market player in particular.

The iPad - Apple's Kindle Killer?

I have been fairly sceptical about the Kindle for some time. On a number of occasions I have questioned the wisdom of Amazon’s decision to pursue its own format rather than embrace ePub which has quickly become the industry standard format. Whilst they have had fairly limited competition in the ebook market, they have been able to getaway with backing their own proprietary format. However, now Apple have entered the fray, Amazon’s Kindle could be in real trouble. By supporting the ePub format, Apple have left Amazon nowhere to turn. Surely no-one will seriously consider a Kindle when it doesn’t support a format that has pretty much become standard? Although speculation is a dangerous game, it seems hard to see much of a future for the Kindle unless it adopts the ePub standard as soon as possible. If it does not, it is dead. And even if it does, it could be too late. The Kindle has not been able to get a foothold in Europe due to various technological issues (Amazon’s Whispernet cannot be used in Europe). Should the iPad launch over here before the Kindle gets a proper Europe-wide release (which is pretty much a nailed on certainty), the Kindle won’t have a chance.

However, Amazon may have one thing in its locker. The one drawback with the iPad, in terms of ebooks anyway, is that users could suffer from eyestrain as it is has a backlit screen. Reading from a screen using e-ink is far more comfortable than reading from a backlit screen as it puts no strain on your eyes whatsoever, and comes close to the experience of reading a ‘real’ book. That said, more and more people seem to comfortable reading text from their iPhone/Touch. I have even heard people suggest that they will ditch their ereader in favour of reading from their iPhone. So maybe it isn’t that much of an advantage after all!

As well as sounding the death knell for the Kindle, the iPad could have a very positive impact on the ebook market as a whole. With Apple’s current strength, is it unlikely to see the cost of ebooks come down and for this new format to finally take-off? Could it be that 2010 will see real growth for ebooks? It’ll be interesting to see how things develop in the light of Apple’s foray into the ebook market.

Update

Looks like my initial excitement may not have been well founded.  Just discovered this on an Adobe blog:

It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple’s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.  And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.

I do hope this isn’t the case.  If the iPad was to adopt an ePub standard compatible with other readers then, as I said above, we could really see the ebook market take-off.  Maybe this will change before launch, if it does not it’s not the step forward I hoped it would be.

Ebooks – Is A Breakthrough Near?

With the press coverage that has accompanied the release of the latest Dan Brown ‘novel’ (I’m not a fan!), I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to look once more at ebooks and share a few thoughts of my own experiences, as well as what I think publishers need to do to ensure the success of the format.

It has been nine months now since I first got my hands on my Sony Reader.  Although I have always read a great deal, I am not particularly precious about hard/paperbacks.  The thing that has always been of primary concern to myself is the actual content.  Now, some may say that there is nothing like the smell and feel of owning a book, and that may well be true for them but I don’t buy books for smell and appearance, I buy books because the content interests me.  That’s not to say that the opposing view lacks legitimacy, it’s all about personal preference.  At this point I feel I should re-iterate my position on ebooks and their place in the publishing world.

In my view, ebooks are simply an alternative format for the delivery of text.  They will not replace paperbacks or hardbacks anymore than audio books have displaced paper copies.   My attitude to ebooks is much the same as it is to MP3s.  Some bands I set out to purchase hard copies of everything they release (in my case everything by Pearl Jam or Radiohead).  Some other bands I will mainly buy hard copies, but the odd EP/single I will download (for example, I own all Bloc Party’s albums, but I only have digital copies of their EPs), whereas some others I will simply buy the digital download and that is all.  For me, this is the same with ebooks.  Should it be a book by Bret Easton Ellis, I will purchase a hard copy without hesitation.  If it is an author I am less interested in, I will simply download a copy of the text (I have recently downloaded Slaughterhouse 5 having never read a Vonnegut before).  To me, it is not a case of either/or, there is much more to it than that.

Anyway, I digress.  I have been very happy with my Reader since I received it as a gift.  I find it exceptionally easy to read from the screen and although there is a slight delay when turning pages, it has become barely noticeable with time.  I like the way that I can carry a whole library of books around with me and dip in and out of any of them at any moment (aided by the fact that you can have multiple bookmarks on as many books as you like).  I like the fact that I can organise them into collections (such as ‘non-fiction’, ‘fiction’ and ‘classics’ – you can categorise however you see fit) just like I was carrying my own personal library.  One of the biggest benefits, however, has been when travelling.  On my last trip to Spain I had read all the books that I had taken with me, leaving me nothing to read on the flight home.  However, instead of rushing to the nearest bookshop and hunting down an English language text (both hard to find and ridiculously expensive), I visited the WHSmiths ebook store, found an appropriate title and downloaded it, all in a matter of minutes.  Thus I ensured that I didn’t have to endure the flight home without something to read.  Overall, my experiences with my Reader over the past 9 months have been very positive and it has become one of my best loved gadgets.

Despite my attachment to my Reader, there are a great many people out there who are very sceptical about ebooks.  A recent poll in The Guardian suggested 77% of people would not consider using an ebook reader (although the poll itself is flawed as it uses the common either/or dichotomy which is not appropriate as I have already indicated).  The comments that follow certainly seem to support this viewpoint (although they are perhaps misled by the false dichotomy of the poll in question).  Whilst a number of comments relate to the physicality of books and an emotional attachment, there are a number of valid comments from people regarding the format itself.

Although the potential for ebooks is great, there are still a number of factors that need to be addressed for the sceptics to be won over and for ebooks to become a popular alternative:

1. Reduce the price of ebooks and readers – The cost of ebooks is still far too high compared to paper copies.  When you also factor in the cost of the equipment needed to read ebooks, it is clearly an expensive option.  A case in point: Dan Brown’s heavily promoted novel is retailing for £13.29 in ebook format and the hardback is available for £4.99 at Amazon.
2. Publish more ebooks – Although more and more ebooks are coming onto the market all the time (and perhaps more will after the release of Dan Brown’s latest), there is still not enough choice to warrant the purchase of a reader.  Even now, it is quite a rare thing for me to find something that I really want to read in ebook format.
3. Support one format -  The best way for ebooks to succeed is for one solitary format to be the preferred method of delivery.  Amazon are still promoting their format over all others for obvious reasons.  EPUB would be the preferable option (in fact that format is pretty much accepted as standard now so one wonders how Amazon intend on proceeding with their format).
4. Address DRM – Digital Rights Management is still a concern.  Whilst some ebooks have been relaxed regarding DRM (Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science allows 35 copies every 7 days) others off no such relaxation.  If ebooks were to take off, the DRM issue needs to be seriously considered and addressed, particularly with the associated danger of losing your entire collection.
5. Improved retailing – At present, ebook retailing in the UK is pretty poor at best.  There is a very limited choice of retailers (at present you can only purchase through Waterstone’s, WHSmiths and Borders) and the actual purchasing experience through any of these retailers is pretty poor (the fact that WHSmiths of all places is the best tells you all you need to know about the state of ebook retailing in the UK).  There needs to be a dedicated UK based ebook retailer who can provide a much better purchasing experience).

Although addressing these issues would not necessarily ensure a bright future for ebooks on their own, they would remove some of the doubts in people’s minds about the rationality of purchasing an ebook reader.  If these issues are not addressed, ebooks are in danger of becoming very much a niche product that will never break into the mainstream, no matter how hard manufacturers try to appeal to the iPod generation.

International Digital Publishing Forum – Digital Book 2009 Event

For the past two days, the IDPF have been holding a conference entitled ‘Digital Book 2009′ in New York.  As you would expect, the event has been accompanied by some live tweeting from the conference itself….and some interesting tweets they were too.  Amongst some of the more interesting tweets is news that Sony are working on a wireless reading device.  This could be a very interesting development, particularly considering the delay in the release of the Kindle over here (we haven’t even got v1.0 and the US media is already talking about v3.0!!).  Should Sony get this out quick, it will pretty much own a sizeable chunk of the UK market and make it very difficult for Amazon’s Kindle to compete.

Another interesting revelation was the impact that ebooks have had in public libraries.  A representative from Brooklyn public library has revealed that ebooks have overtaken audio books in terms of issues.  This underlines that despite the common view that ebooks are a threat and not an opportunity, ebooks in libraries have proved to be a popular alternative to other formats.  It certainly doesn’t appear to suggest that ebooks will be the library killer that some people would lead you to believe.

There have been many other interesting developments (like Acrobat export from PDF to the EPUB format) and there are sure to be more to come.  Meanwhile, you can follow the event itself via the Twitter hashtag #idpf09 either on Twitter itself or on the quite wonderful Twitterfall.

Ebooks – It’s All Going On…..

There have been a few interesting developments of late regarding ebooks.  Firstly, there was the announcement by Faber that they would be publishing an ebook that would work on the same principle as Radiohead’s In Rainbows.  The book, entitled What Price Freedom?, will be available for download six weeks prior to the publication of the paper edition and will give readers….

…..the freedom to set their own price, or even download it for free.

Whilst this offer differs slightly from that offered by Radiohead (the download was compressed so there was still a reason to then go on to purchase the ‘hard copy’), it is an interesting development and certainly worth keeping an eye on come the release date.  Although one wonders whether this model will ultimately succeed as there is no actual incentive to own the hard copy, other than for presentation value.

Sony and Google Make Ebook Agreement

Exciting though that news was, today came some even more exciting news.  Google and Sony have announced an agreement that will see all of Google‘s scanned public-domain books available to read on the Sony Reader.  This means that Sony Reader owners will now have access to a further 500,000 books – free of charge¹.  The following is taken from Yahoo! News:

NEW YORK – Google Inc. is making half a million books, unprotected by copyright, available for free on Sony Corp.‘s electronic book-reading device, the companies were set to announce Thursday.

It’s the first time Google has made its vast trove of scanned public-domain books available to an e-book device, and vaults the Sony Reader past Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle as the device with the largest available library, at about 600,000 books.

The scanned books were all published before 1923, and include works like Charles Dickens‘ “A Tale of Two Cities” as well as nonfiction classics like Herodotus‘ “The Histories.”

The books are already available as free downloads in the Portable Document Format (PDF), which works well on computer screens but not on e-book readers. Google will provide the books to the Sony Reader in the EPUB (electronic publication) format, which lets the lines flow differently to fit a smaller screen.

Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson said the company wants to make the books available as widely as possible.

“Really our vision is: any book, anywhere, any time and on any device,” she said. “We want to partner with anybody who shares our vision of making them more accessible.”

This is really quite an exciting development and really ensures the Reader is a viable alternative to Amazon’s Kindle, particularly as the Kindle relies on books produced in Amazon’s proprietary format (AZW).  Although EPUB formatted ebooks can be converted using special software to enable them to be read on a Kindle, it is a big advantage point for the Sony.  It is especially advantageous given that the Kindle is currently unavailable in Europe and unlikely to be available for sometime due to its reliance on Whispernet,   which is not currently compatible across the region.  At this rate, Europe is going to be a tough nut for Amazon to crack, particularly given the widespread adoption of EPUB as the format of choice for ebooks.

These really are exciting times for the ebook.  As predicted, the format is really moving at quite a pace in 2009 and there is no telling where the format will be come December.  Maybe, just maybe, widespread adoption of ebooks is just around the corner.

1. You can download the software to enable access to Google’s public domain books here.

E-books Competitively Priced?

One of the problems with the provision of ebooks at the moment has been the perception that they are not significantly cheaper than old fashioned paper books.  For ebooks to really take off, there needs to be a significant price differential to encourage people to ditch the paper and take up e-readers.  Curious to find out the actual price difference, I took a sample of 40 books and compared prices between electronic and paper versions.  For the electronic versions, I took the prices from the WHSmiths ebook website (in my experience they have been very reasonably priced) and for the paper versions I used Amazon.  Whenever there was a hardback and paperback version on Amazon, I used the paperback as the comparison.  I also ensured that the same edition was compared to ensure parity between the formats and I used the EPUB standard for ebooks.  A wide variety of texts were compared.  Old and new.  Ficiton and non-fiction. So what did I discover?

Well, overall there was a slight difference in price that was favorable to ebooks.  Overall, the paperbacks totalled £296.74 and ebooks totalled £291.30 – a total saving of £5.44.  Out of forty texts, eleven titles were cheaper in paper format than electronic (27%).  The biggest price difference in favour of paper books was £4.85 (where the ebook copy was £12.76 and the paper version was £7.91).  The biggest difference in favour of electronic books was £1.75 (ebook: £5.24; paper: £6.99).  Overall, the e-books selected were generally under a pound cheaper than the paperbacks.  A very minor saving between the two formats.  In fact, taking the price difference between the formats, ebooks were on average only 13.6p cheaper (total saving ÷ 40).

Clearly pricing needs to significantly improve for ebooks to really take off.  There is a slight saving overall from the purchase of ebooks, but it is very slight at best.  We are certainly not seeing the kind of price differentials that developed with the emergence of mp3s – not yet anyway.  When one paper book edition is selling for nearly £5 cheaper than its electronic equivalent, there is clearly something wrong.  For ebooks to really take off, the price difference should be consistently and significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts.  Until that happens, ebooks will remain on the fringes of the publishing world.  Should this change however, ebooks could really fulfil their potential and breakthrough into the mainstream.