Virginia is completing the first phase of a pilot program to use web-based instructional materials for high school physics. A first step to replacing textbooks?
PW talks about O'Reilly's TOC conference and where the publishing industry may be heading in the near future. What new business models will emerge? Who will be the big players?
"We know digital book customers want a broad selection of content, a choice of reading platforms and devices and the option to get their eBook from their favorite retailer, local public library or directly from the publisher," said Paul Weiskopf, senior vice president, Corporate Development at Adobe. "Adobe Content Server 4 enables the publishing industry to meet all these needs for eBook customers while, at the same time, protecting valuable copyrights."
Students hate textbook publishers; textbook publishers hate that students resell, reuse, and download copies of their texts. Is there a middle ground, a sustainable business model where all parties have a sense of fairness?
Jobs and recruiting for media professionals in journalism, on-line content, book publishing, TV, radio, PR, graphic design, photography, and advertising
I wonder if publishers can make the argument that the work done on the book as a whole (primarily editing, but the .pdf format of the eBooks are still a very popular format, so design & typesetting come into play) would preclude them from giving the author the final files to create the eBook with another publisher.
Amazon, maker of the popular Kindle e-reader and one of the biggest book retailers in the country, will have the exclusive rights to sell electronic editions of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and a later work, “Principle-Centered Leadership.” Mr. Covey also plans to gradually make other e-books available exclusively to Amazon, which will promote them on its Web site.
The move promises to raise the already high anxiety level among publishers about the economics of digital publishing and could offer authors a way to earn more profits from their works than they do under the traditional system.
Many authors and agents say that because the contracts for older books do not explicitly spell out electronic rights, they reside with the author. Big publishing houses argue that clauses like “in book form” or phrases that prohibit “competitive editions” preclude authors from publishing e-books through other parties.
In The Wall Street Journal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt says that the Internet will not destroy news organizations. He says that Google working in cooperation with publishers of newspapers and magazines can help bring about a business model to share ad revenue from searches." />