Abstract
This paper argues that the evolution of e-book technology is related to the penetrating impact of networks and information technology on society. It defines the concept of e-book and describes some aspects of e-book technology. By focusing on book production processes, the paper examines what probable consequences the development of e-books and a global network economy will have for publishers and book industries. E-books, along with other electronic formats, will trigger major changes as the digital products and distribution channels will force the logic of the network economy on the book publishing industry.
that promise to do for books what the iPod has done for music: making them easily
downloadable
and completely portable
Mr. Benkler said he saw the project as "simply an experiment of how books might
be in the future." That is one of the hottest debates in the book world right
now, as publishers, editors and writers grapple with the Web's ability to
connect readers and writers more quickly and intimately, new technologies that
make it easier to search books electronically and the advent of digital devices
that promise to do for books what the iPod has done for music: making them easily
downloadable and completely portable.
For unknown authors struggling to capture the attention of busy readers,
however, the Web offers an unprecedented way to catapult out of obscurity.
For many authors, the question of how technology will shape book publishing
inevitably leads to the question of how writers will be paid.
books themselves are a relatively new construct, inheritors of a longstanding
oral storytelling culture. Mass-produced books are an even newer phenomenon,
enabled by the invention of the printing press that likely put legions of
calligraphers and bookbinders out of business.
Yochai Benkler, a Yale University law professor and author of the new book "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom" (Yale University Press), has gone even farther: his entire book is available - free - as a download from his Web site. Between 15,000 and 20,000 people have accessed the book electronically, with some of them adding comments and links to the online version.
Two million out-of-copyright books that have been scanned by Google could come back into limited printed form after the search giant signed a deal with On Demand Books, the company that makes the Espresso…
Google Book Search is offering a new service that lets customers print new physical copies of rare and out-of-print books from its ebook library. The books will be printed-to-order at local bookstores and sold for under $10.
E-book collections, such as ebrary and Netlibrary, provided an economical opportunity to fill
gaps in our print collection. With an institutional focus on distance education, e-books seemed to
provide the obvious solution for how to serve users who will never come to campus. With our
traditional users taking to e-journals immediately, we thought e-books would be a win-win
solution. However, use statistics indicated that our e-book collections remain underutilized.
Google Books launched an initiative to help authors and publishers discover new audiences for books they've made available for free under Creative Commons (CC) licenses. Rightsholders who want to distribute their CC-licensed books more widely can choose to allow readers around the world to...
It is a good news for Internet users, especially google users to see the google books under cc licenses. The more rights of viewers to see the books, the more criticize and ideas come out. then more crticize, the more critics criticize, the better the information is shared by authors and readers. The better the information is about how to improve the books, the more improvement of content is made.
e-book market is threatened by unfettered proliferation of e-book platforms, formats, and DRMs. Some service providers support multiple e-book platforms and DRMs. They can adopt this type of model, but do publishers agree to support it in their licensing agreements?
Google has tried to made a deal with those opposing it's Google Books deal (such as Amazon and Microsoft) by offering to allow them to resell books from it's site. Amazon has rejected the idea.
With the publishing industry in freefall, what is going to happen to science fiction books? I asked Tor Books senior editor and manager of SF and fantasy Patrick Nielsen Hayden. He thinks the changes coming will be slow but weird.
"For the past five hundred years, humans have used print - the book and its various page-based cousins - to move ideas across time and space. Radio, cinema and television emerged in the last century and now, with the advent of computers, we are combining media to forge new forms of expression. For now, we use the word "book" broadly, even metaphorically, to talk about what has come before - and what might come next."
one eBook-like format has already made it into the iTunes store: a comic book.
Tyrese Gibson's Mayhem!
is now available, together with one song, as an iTunes LP album for $1.99 (iTunes
link).
The book comes with a number of extras, including a 23-minute making-off video,
alternate covers, concept art, wallpapers, and optional voice-over narration and
sound effects
While Steve Jobs just told the New York Times' David Pogue that Apple isn't interested in creating a single-purpose eBook reader and that he doesn't think that eBooks are a big enough market right now, one eBook-like format has already made it into the iTunes store: a comic book. Tyrese Gibson's Mayhem! is now available, together with one song, as an iTunes LP album for $1.99 (iTunes link). Mayhem! was first released as a three-issue mini-series earlier last month
Google's digitized book service will tear down barriers for people living in
low-income areas, added Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights.
A proposed settlement between Google and book publishers and authors will give huge new advantages to students, minorities and disabled people, supporters said Thursday.
Google wants to make e-books available to all devices with web browsers, from mobile phones to desktop computers, challenging Amazon's Kindle e-book reader which forces buyers to buy books through the company