Researcher Published by CQ Press, A Division of SAGE CQ www.cqresearcher.com Future of Books Will traditional print books disappear? he migration of books to electronic screens has been accelerating with the introduction of mobile reading on Kindles, iPhones and Sony Readers and the growing power of Google’s Book Search Tengine. Even the book’s form is mutating as innovators experiment with adding video, sound and computer graphics to text. Some fear a loss of literary writing and reading, others of the world’s storehouse of knowledge if it all goes digital. A recent settlement among Google, authors and publishers would make more out-of- Amazon’s Kindle 2 digital book reader can store print books accessible online, but some worry about putting such hundreds of books and read text aloud. Like the electronic Sony Reader, the Kindle features glare-free a vast trove of literature into the hands of a private company. text easier on the eyes than a computer screen. So far, barely 1 percent of books sold in the United States are electronic. Still, the economically strapped publishing industry is I under pressure to do more marketing and publishing online as N THIS REPORT S younger, screen-oriented readers replace today’s core buyers — THE ISSUES ......................475 I middle-aged women. BACKGROUND ..................484 D CHRONOLOGY ..................485 E CURRENT SITUATION ..........488 CQ Researcher • May 29, 2009 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ..........................493 Volume 19, Number 20 • Pages 473-500 OUTLOOK ........................495 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE ◆ AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................498 THE NEXT STEP ................499 FUTURE OF BOOKS CQ Researcher May 29, 2009 THE ISSUES OUTLOOK Volume 19, Number 20 MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin • Will the Google Book The iPod of Books? [email protected] 475 Search settlement restrict 495 It hasn’t been invented yet, most say. ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch public access to digital [email protected] books? ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kenneth Jost • Will traditional print SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS books disappear from the STAFF WRITERS: Thomas J. Billitteri, Marcia Clemmitt, Peter Katel marketplace? Wholesale E-Book Revenue • Will literary reading and 476 Tops $50 Million CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rachel Cox, writing survive online? U.S. electronic book sales Sarah Glazer, Alan Greenblatt, have risen steadily since 2002. Barbara Mantel, Patrick Marshall, BACKGROUND Tom Price, Jennifer Weeks Digital Era Arrives at DESIGN/PRODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis In the Beginning 478 London Book Fair 484 Socrates lamented changing Publishers urged to maximize ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa methods of communication. digital content. FACT-CHECKING: Eugene J. Gabler, Michelle Harris Golden Age 480 Is This the Future of Book 487 Many big publishers were Publishing? “Espresso” machine produces launched in the 1920s. books in five minutes. Decline of the Backlist The Long Tail Phenomenon 488 By the mid 1970s, urban 483 How “low-sellers” revolution- A Division of SAGE bookstores had begun ized bookselling. PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER: disappearing. John A. Jenkins Chronology 485 Key events since 1450. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, REFERENCE INFORMATION GROUP: CURRENT SITUATION Alix B. Vance 486 Print-on-Demand Flips Publishing Woes Traditional Publishing Model Copyright © 2009 CQ Press, A Division of SAGE. 488 Traditional ways of selling ‘Sell first, then print’ is pub- SAGE reserves all copyright and other rights herein, books are changing. lisher’s new motto. unless previously specified in writing. No part of this publication may be reproduced electronically or oth- Writing a Tale With Help erwise, without prior written permission. Unautho- Revolutionary Changes 490 From Your Readers 490 The e-books market is rized reproduction or transmission of SAGE copyright- Readers collaborate with a ed material is a violation of federal law carrying civil small but growing. British novelist. fines of up to $100,000. Appealing to Youths At Issue CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional 492 Publishers are using Web 493 Will the Google Book Search Quarterly Inc. content to entice young settlement expand access to CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- digital books? readers. free paper. Published weekly, except; (Jan. wk. 1) (May wk. 4) (July wks. 1, 2) (Aug. wks. 3, 4) (Nov. Settlement Fallout FOR FURTHER RESEARCH wk. 4) and (Dec. wk. 4), by CQ Press, a division of 492 The Justice Department is SAGE Publications. Annual full-service subscriptions probing the Google Book For More Information start at $803. For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020, ext. 1906. Search settlement. 497 Organizations to contact. To purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or elec- tronic format (PDF), visit www. cqpress.com or call Bypassing Publishers Bibliography 866-427-7737. Single reports start at $15. Bulk pur- 494 Scribd, the popular Web 498 Selected sources used. chase discounts and electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., site, launches an online and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send vanity press and book- The Next Step 499 Additional articles. address changes to CQ Researcher, 2300 N St., N.W., store. Suite 800, Washington, DC 20037. Citing CQ Researcher Cover: Reuters/Mike Segar 499 Sample bibliography formats. 474 CQ Researcher Future of Books BY SARAH GLAZER den popularity of reading on Apple’s iPhone took many THE ISSUES by surprise. Over 1.7 million he university book- users have downloaded Stan- store ran out of the za software, which permits T textbook assigned them to read a book on their for your course? No prob- cell phone from a selection lem. The young woman be- of more than 100,000 titles. hind the counter can print The announcements in Feb- one out in the time it takes ruary that both Amazon and to make an espresso. Google were making their ti- Don’t like the way the lat- tles available on the iPhone est episode of the novel only added to the buzz. 4 you’re reading online has “Suddenly there was a turned out? Write in a plot sense in 2008 that an e-book development of your own. program was something a (But be forewarned: Anoth- publisher couldn’t be with- er reader may edit you out.) out,” says Michael Bhaskar, Forgot to bring a book digital editor at publisher Pan with you on the subway? MacMillan in Britain. And if You’ve got President Barack 2008 was about e-books, Obama’s Dreams from My “this year is about smart- Father on your cell phone, phones,” says Bhaskar. His right at the place you stopped company was one of the first reading last night on your major publishers to make its Kindle. 1 The recent Google Book Search settlement among titles available on the iPhone Google, authors and publishers promises to make The world of reading is millions of out-of-print books available online that were and the BlackBerry and now changing before our eyes. once limited to the New York Public Library and great plans to bring most new titles More books are becoming university collections. But many librarians worry that out in electronic as well as available than ever before, digital access to the world’s great books will be print format. and in many more formats. in the hands of a private company. The fact that today’s new It remains to be seen whether read- new manuscript acceptances and books start out from the writer’s desk ers will flock to these or even more tough times for bookstores, digital as digital files has contributed to the futuristic ways of reading. But already books have entered publishing’s main- growth of another way of producing the innovations have caused anxiety stream for the first time. In this piv- books — print-on-demand. Theoreti- in the troubled publishing industry be- otal year for e-books, Amazon.com cally, books can remain digital files cause they suggest radical changes in introduced the Kindle 2.0 and the until they’re ordered by the customer, how books are supplied to readers, larger-format Kindle DX — which both at which point they are printed on laser much as technological changes are permit the wireless download of a printers, order by order. Increasingly threatening the very existence of the book in less than a minute — and publishers are using this method for newspaper industry. Sony Reader acquired 500,000 titles books about to go out of print and for “The publishing industry is in a dif- from Google. Both companies’ elec- scholarly or obscure books with low ficult position,” says Mike Shatzkin, tronic readers employ a technology readership. For non-bestsellers, pub- CEO of the Idea Logical Co., a digi- that does not require backlighting, lishers can print out one book at a tal-publishing consulting firm. “We have making its glare-free text easier on time, saving the expense of big print all these new challenges to invest in, the eyes than a computer screen. 2 runs, storage and bookstore returns, and meanwhile the old model for pro- For years, e-book enthusiasts have while retailers can avoid holding in- ducing money is in trouble. So pub- said the product couldn’t really take ventory that doesn’t sell. lishers are squeezed from both sides.” off until the equivalent of an iPod for Yet all these innovations still ac- Amid troubling layoffs in publish- books was developed. 3 It’s not clear count for a small percentage of what ing over the past year, cutbacks in whether we’re there yet, but the sud- passes for reading a book. Despite www.cqresearcher.com May 29, 2009 475 FUTURE OF BOOKS tent digitally, while still making money Wholesale E-Book Revenue Tops $50 Million for themselves and their authors.