The Future of Publishing? - e-Books Are Bright Spot in Dismal Publishing Industry

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On Fire: E-books are flying off the virtual shelves of Kindles (as shown in the photograph above), iPads, Nooks and other e-readers.

By Gordon Haber

Published January 03, 2012, Forward - issue of January 06, 2012.

There is no doubt that e-books are a bright spot in the dismal economics of publishing. The current market is strong — according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, one in six Americans now uses an e-reader, and that number will grow as consumers become more comfortable with the technology.
Actually, the potential for growth is astonishing. The Association of American Publishers reports that e-books have risen in 2010 to 6.4% of the trade market, up from 0.6% in 2008. The Institute for Publishing Research predicts that by 2015, e-book sales will increase to $3.6 billion, from $78 million in 2008. In publishing terms, that’s petrodollars.
But the certainty of growth brings confusion. E-books are transforming publishing, but nobody is exactly sure what that means. We all know that Amazon is dominant, and Apple and Google are now players, but the future of e-books is perhaps better divined by looking at the smaller players: the innovative startups and the individuals in the publishing trenches — the editors, agents and writers.
In terms of digital publishing, perhaps the biggest of the smallest is Open Road Integrated Media, founded by Jane Friedman, a former president and CEO of HarperCollins, and Jeffrey Sharp, a film producer. Open Road publishes 12 to 15 new e-books a year, but its bread and butter is digitizing backlist titles by such authors as Michael Chabon, Leon Uris and William Styron — names big enough to shift a few e-units.
Simultaneously, as an exercise in branding, Open Road produces short films about its authors. The living ones talk about their inspirations (often shown conspicuously absorbed by their e-readers). The not-so-living ones are the subjects of brief documentaries. Though Rachel Chou, its chief marketing officer, wouldn’t provide sales figures, Open Road seems poised to do well — it is perhaps the only publisher, traditional or digital, with such a canny approach to marketing.

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/148713/?p=all#ixzz1iaXYMdG5