E-books, A New Beginning

At a "brain storming" session, about ten years ago, at a Canadian Booksellers board meeting, we were asked to imagine what the future of bookselling might be. The president of a national chain postulated that there would come a time when there would be no "bargain priced" remaindered books for his store to buy. He foresaw the bookstore of the future having minimal or no inventory on hand. The bookstore would produce the book "on site" when the customer asked for it. Or, perhaps, the store would sell the customer the book on a computer disk and then the customer could either read it on his computer or print and copy for himself. And the disk would only allow one printing. This would lead to the ability to customise the book. The purchaser could pick the weight of the paper, the size and style of the font, even the kind of binding.

At the time, most of the participants thought that this was a possibility but not a probability. Today, it is a reality. What is the future of books and bookselling? Who is producing electronic books? Who is buying and reading them? Who's writing them? What forms are they available in? What companies are the big players? Will the "bricks and mortar" store be able to compete with the on-line store?

"Print on demand" may be the salvation for both the bookstore and the publisher, allowing both to control inventories. This could also take some pressure off the environment by lowering the demand for paper by eliminating the destruction of millions of unsold books each month!

Like the advent of video which had two incompatible formats, e-books also come in different formats for different e-book readers, but the ability to change the format of a digital book to meet the industry standard (whatever it turns out to be) will be easier than trying to change your Beta tape into a VHS.

This new area of publishing is technology and hardware driven. With names like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Xerox putting big bucks into the industry it almost looks like the scenario that made the LP and the 8 track obsolete. When Sony (the inventor of the compact disk) bought CBS Music, it spelled the end of the LP. Sony got rid of all LP inventory and stopped producing records. If a company like Microsoft buys a large paper-print publisher will history repeat itself?

E-books were the big talk at this year's Frankfort Book Fair. At that event it was announced that next year electronic titles will be competing for literary awards - thanks to $160,000 from Microsoft Corporation. Prizes will include a $100,000 first prize for the best book originally published in "eBook" form and four $10,000 prizes for e-books originally or eventually published in electronic form.

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