Could technology save the Publishing Industry?

Valerie | 03 Apr 2009, 12:09

Unlike other sectors that are reeling from a slowdown in consumer spending, it appears that although certainly not immune, book publishing is doing relatively well, with sales reported to have remained resilient, particularly in continental Europe - the number of books sold in France rose 2.4 percent in January and by 2.3 percent in Germany according to a report in the New York Times.

Earlier this month, the sector was given a boost with the launch of Amazon’s ebook application enabling Apple iPhone and iTouch owners to download electronic books onto their gadgets. This was widely seen as a strategic move by Amazon for a greater piece of the e-book reader market, following the launch of the second generation of its Kindle e-book reader in February. It was also seen as a move to take on Google, who recently joined forces with Sony to launch a mobile version of its Google Book Search, giving iPhone and Android users instant access to more than 1.5 million public domain books. Nintendo also made the move into book publishing in December following a deal with HarperCollins to make literary classics available to read on its DS portable games consoles.

The publishing industry has on the whole welcomed e-books and is genuinely excited about their potential to generate incremental revenue. However, its digital future has caused tension between open-source advocates who would like to see DRM barriers removed and those who want proprietary content regulations strengthened, and those who fall somewhere in between.

The launch of Amazon’s second generation Kindle caused controversy due to the text-to-speech synthesiser feature of the new upgrade, which opponents such as the Authors Guild argued was an infringement of copyright. Another example is Google, who last year settled a class-action lawsuit with the two most powerful authors’ and publishers’ associations in America. Document sharing site Scribd, which has been described as the ‘YouTube for documents’ has also come under fire from authors such as J K Rowling for allegedly allowing users to share copyright protected books.

The opening speaker at the BookNet Canada Technology Forum earlier this month remarked:

“None of us wants our intellectual property to be used without recompense. But we do want our intellectual property to be used to serve our readers”.

The event drew consensus that “change is inevitable, the consumer will be the chief beneficiary and the obituary for the book is not being written just yet”.

With the development of more competitive e-book readers on the horizon – Samsung is expected to unveil its Samsung Papyrus in Korea this summer and rumours abound that Verizon and AT&T are also looking to enter the fold – copyright arguments aside, the outlook for e-books looks optimistic.  The ongoing technological developments are may be what is needed to stimulate innovation and get the publishing industry through this recession intact.