According to Young, changing technology is easy, changing cultural values is another story. Does this explain why readers are slow to embrace the e-book?
Apple wanted publishers to discount best sellers, so its $12.99-to-$14.99 range is merely a ceiling, according to people familiar with talks with publishers.
Aptara Corp.'s third annual e-book survey of book publishers found a rapid increase in sales and title output, especially among trade houses, but questions still need to be resolved about e-readers, formats, and standards.
This post was originally published on the Frankfurt Bookfair blog on 11th August. Reposted here with kind permission from its author, Huw Alexander, Rights & Digital Sales Manager for SAGE in London. EveryThink: What do you think, Huw Alexander? We think that e-books are a playground for publishers - and not a necessary evil.
It is no secret to anyone at this point that e-books are here, they are real and, as reported this week, they are adding up to a sizable chunk (often 20% or more) of publishers' sales.
"Stanza, a book reading application offered in Apple's
(nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) iPhone App Store since July,
has been downloaded more than 395,000 times and continues to
be installed at an average rate of about 5,000 copies a day... In other words,
Apple may have inadvertently sold more e-readers than any
other company in the nascent digital book market. ...
A description of the new Kindle - new features, same price. Recession makes no difference in setting price. But publishers support the kindle and are increasing the number of books available for download.