Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close

News, trends, and the future of publishing
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steve
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Re: Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close

Post by steve » November 26th, 2010, 1:43 pm

Publishers Gauge Whether Readers Will Pay More for Augmented Versions of Digital Tomes
Jane Leavy's biography of Mickey Mantle, "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood," has been a best seller for more than month, selling nearly 100,000 copies.

But will its success as a hardcover translate into more sales as a $16.99 enhanced e-book complete with 30 minutes of video? The eight videos include two color stick-figure representations of the late Mr. Mantle's swing as a left-handed batter and a right-handed batter. A traditional e-book edition has sold more than 9,000 copies.

"When both digital editions are available, and consumers are given the choice, in half the cases they'll pay more for extra content," said Ana Maria Allessi, publisher of HarperMedia, a unit of News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers Inc. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.
Read one of the best stories by Borges.

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Re: Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close

Post by Margo » November 26th, 2010, 9:38 pm

I agree that if I were an e-book person faced with that choice I would choose the enhanced material, provided it's nonfiction. If it's fiction, I don't want the additional media. I want to supply that through my own imagination, another reason why I don't like lots of illustrations in fiction. Imagination: why I read a novel instead of going to see a movie.
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Mira
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Re: Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close

Post by Mira » November 27th, 2010, 5:40 pm

steve wrote:Publishers Gauge Whether Readers Will Pay More for Augmented Versions of Digital Tomes
Jane Leavy's biography of Mickey Mantle, "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood," has been a best seller for more than month, selling nearly 100,000 copies.

But will its success as a hardcover translate into more sales as a $16.99 enhanced e-book complete with 30 minutes of video? The eight videos include two color stick-figure representations of the late Mr. Mantle's swing as a left-handed batter and a right-handed batter. A traditional e-book edition has sold more than 9,000 copies.

"When both digital editions are available, and consumers are given the choice, in half the cases they'll pay more for extra content," said Ana Maria Allessi, publisher of HarperMedia, a unit of News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers Inc. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.
Smart. This is really interesting. I'll be interested to hear whether the book does well in it's enhanced version. I suspect it will.

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Re: Will technology kill book publishing? Not even close

Post by Watcher55 » November 27th, 2010, 9:11 pm

Great discussion and lots of good points, but I have to confess that for me there is a degree of nostalgia involved and I compare ebooks to cassette tapes and CD’s. Without a doubt they’re superior to vinyl, but I was bummed because I miss the experience of holding the black platter between both hands and blowing off the dust before setting it on the turntable. I missed the static-y thump of the needle and the hissing overture as it made its way to the more tightly wound grooves made by the artists’ work. Most of all I missed the cover art that you didn’t have to squint to see. I used to leave my albums laying around just so I could look at them.

Reading a book holds the same type of tactile and sensory experiences that can’t be replaced; the crack of a new spine, the smell of new paper and ink and the feel of crisp pages between my fingers. And yes, I leave books laying around just so I look at the cover art.

Superior is better, but it’s seldom as much fun.

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