Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Audience Development Director at F+W Media, had an interesting op-ed at Publishing Perspectives last week about e-books and e-readers:
[T]here is a lot of R&D money being poured into [e-readers] — that’s how technology companies work — and one or more of them may eventually click with consumers, but right now it’s a fledgling market and the hype surrounding it has reached irrational levels in publishing circles… There are many fundamental business issues that need to be addressed related to e-books — rights, royalties, pricing, distribution, marketing — and it’s up to publishers, agents and authors to figure them out together and not be distracted by every new shiny object the technology companies come up with.
Although clearly not a big advocate for e-readers, Guy raises a lot of the question marks that I think still hang over the devices in a fairly balanced way, and the article as a whole expresses a lot of the doubts I hear from other quietly skeptical people in publishing.
Needless to say, the whole thing is worth reading and Guy has more to say on the subject at his blog loudpoet.
Similar Posts:
- Not Quite A Crisis, November 13, 2008
- The World’s Most Advanced E-Reader or the Worst Product Name Ever?, October 22, 2009
- What’s Next For Publishers?, May 26, 2009
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