Yesterday’s announcement that Amazon had acquired the eReading App That Could, Stanza, has set keyboards to clacking across the blogosphere (yes, I said blogosphere—but I promise I will never, ever call Twitter users “tweeps”, “tweeple” or anything along those lines. A girl’s gotta have a code).
What’s done is done. Now onto the big question—why and how does this news affect Canadian publishing?
The recent tagging spurt/protest of Amazon Kindle owners rebelling against eBook prices above $9.99 sheds a lot of light on the way power dynamics are shifting.
The electronic supply chain is still evolving but at least three factors are influencing existing power dynamics when it comes to pricing (and maybe more).
It’s finally happening. The eBook is coming to fruition as a thing that some people want. It didn’t work with Rocket EBook, but with new technologies—eInk, wireless readers, smart phones, etc—people are reading books off of a screen.
BookNet Canada and the Association of Canadian Publisher’s EPUB Boot Camp was a great introduction to the format and general overview of the available tech.
Before I joined the BookNet gang as their wily intern, I was (and still am) a coordinating editor at a small literary press. Admittedly, I had seen the electronic book and the online world to some extent, a dystopian literary landscape composed entirely of celebrity scandal pics and text-message shout outs to various boo’s across the cyber-sphere.
I learned a lot. The BNC Technology Forum 2008 was a great conference and really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the future, and specifically how small presses have an incredible advantage right now. Publishers need to embrace the new mediums and prosper. In that vein, I’ve created a list of five things every small publisher should consider when evaluating their place in this brave new world.
BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country.
