digital book markets: building markets for access
DESCRIPTION
Growth of digital book markets, changes and stresses in creation of ebooks, discussion of the BookServer Project, and ways in which legislative approaches can facilitate access to books online.TRANSCRIPT
Peter Brantley EU PresidencyOpen Book Alliance Madrid SpainSan Francisco 04.2010
“[A] book is a machine to think with.”
- I. A. Richards,
- Principles of Literary Criticism, 1924
2009 Total books | $23.8B (-1.8%, 2008)2009 Total trade | $8.1B (-1.8%, 2008)2009 Total paper | $2.2B (-5.2%, 2008)2009 Total mass | $1.0B (-4.0%, 2008)
2009 eBook sales | $313.0M (+176.6%, 2008)2010 (01+02) sales | $60.8M (+108%, 4Q2009)
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1Q-2008 2Q-2008 3Q-2008 4Q-2008 1Q-2009 2Q-2009 3Q-2009 4Q-2009
Source: SEC Filing Form 8K
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~03 - 08 April 2010 (5 days):_________________________
450,000 iPads sold.600,000 iBooks downloaded.
• Mobile phones account for more than 86% of ebook sales. • Manga account for 75% of the ebook market in Japan.• Manga account for 82% of mobile sales.
Historically, PDF for print page representation.IDPF’s EPUB for reflowable content.
EPUB = “web site in a file” EPUB = xhtml + css + metadata
Apple and Google utilize EPUB format. Amazon MOBI - proprietary.
EPUB = (also) DTBook + css + metadata
EPUB and DAISY aligning next generationformats to ensure their continued interop.
Designing for the web aids accessible design. EPUB + TTS will become more prevalent. Open source TTS engines (e.g. Festival).
Devices, Delivery, Stores
Early ebook systems married devices with delivery and existing stores. Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook.
Trend is to promulgate the buying and reading experiences through the web.
“Devices without web connections are not landlocked, they are landfill.”
“Cloud based systems offer users flexibility and ebook capabilities beyond just text on the screen.”
- Liza Daly, Threepress Consulting
Ebooks are being enhanced with non-textual media (video, audio, interactivity) and reader driven non-linear narratives.
“Many of Penguin’s iPad books seem hardly to resemble “books” at all, but rather very interactive learning experiences ... ”
- PaidContent UK
Apple and Google are investing in HTML5.Next generation web document standard.Streamlined media, structure, data handling.
Most major web browsers moving to support HTML5, including those on “smartphones”.
Designing for the future of EPUB =designing for the (mobile) web.
Pressure to move digital books from self-contained packages of media assets to a set of pointers to network located resources.
Impacts:
Mobile access (size, complexity) Rights manifests (use vs. acquisition) Content sourcing (contracted vs. user gen)
Networked digital books will stretch our understanding of what a book can be.
Digital book experiences of the future will be delivered in browser-based reading engines.
What readers want to have ..
Be able to find the books they want,in the formats that they can use, forthe reading platform of their choice.
What publishers, libraries, bookstores want -
Make books available for discovery,with accurate descriptive information,at as many different places as possible,under the sales / use terms permitted.
The U.S. Department of Justice advocates:
“[book] data provided should be available in multiple, standard, open formats supported by a wide variety of different applications, devices, and screens.”
Creating a new architecture using common, open standards that permits people to find, buy, acquire, and read books from any source, on any platform, using many different ebook applications.
A list of the titles available -
information about each title, formats the title is available in, costs associated with the title & ways the title can be acquired.
A reader ...
1. browses a catalog of titles -2. selects a title for more information -3. makes a acquisition decision -4. obtains book (payment if required) -5. installs and reads the book.
Because we use open standards for describing data, it is possible to link bibliographic book data more easily.
Book reviews Reading lists Annotations
An open and freely accessible digital public library is the cornerstone of our democratic society.
A fundamental right to basic information access regardless of income or location is essential for societal development.
Private + Public partnerships combine the vision and guardianship role of government with ingenuity, resources, and flexibility of the private sector.
In the U.S., the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office are integral to any solution helping to realize this vision.
Copyright protection is a primary catalyst 4 authorship and creativity. The legitimate rights of authors & publishers should not be preemptively seized by private agreements.
Rightsholders must retain reasonable levels of control over the use of works conditioned through legislative processes.
Digitization of works with uncertain rights (“orphan works”) should be deposited into national public library infrastructures.
Legislation endorsing digital deposit and providing for licensed access mechanisms can engender viable markets for consumer access to digitized books.
Regulated, interactive public-private rights registries can permit the rapid identification of works while maintaining control, licensing, and compensation for books with known copyright holders.
Books know no borders. Core rights data must be exposed through an internationally specified network of registry managers.
Contact :
peter brantley
internet archivesan francisco ca
@naypinya (twitter) peter @archive.org