Warring with consumers means no one wins at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

Warring with consumers means no one wins

November 16th 2007 at 4:41 pm

“We used to fool ourselves,’ he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”

When the MP3 program players, and then MP3 devices came out, it shook things up. But I remember in ‘99 discovering all this and people not understanding the shift change happening. Nor do I remember the first MP3 players being easy to use. They were clumsy and annoying, like the book readers.

This weekend I was at a B&N and looked at the latest Sony book reading device. Overpriced, too large, and slow, I wouldn’t buy it. But the screen, this new digital paper, nailed it. It’s only a matter of several more iterations before they take that display quality, slap it on a smaller pocket-sized product, lower the price, and get something. I also view the iPhone as an already existing book reader (both for its connected properties and the sharp screen).

I’m also amused at the number of writers who use the exact same words as former record execs (such as needing to inspire ‘fear’ in people who attempt to consume books in a non-controlled manner, when it’s more the lack of providing them with what they want that leads to this behavior). The closest we have to an iTunes is Fictionwise.com. We have no version of Rhapsody.

I’m not, however, particularly worried about the book transition. It took 10 years to shake things up. And although the music industry borked the entire transition, capitalism is cool, as companies like Apple stepped in to make a mint off doing things right. Now it’s pretty easy to buy music online, and DRM is slowly disappearing.

However, seeing some authors already making money off offering it up right (at Baen, and Romance writers at Ellora’s Cave from second hand reports, Fictionwise non-DRM reprints for other authors), it’s tough to realize its costing me a few thousand a book to not have control of my electronic rights. I’m ever hopeful my own publisher will do something with them. Having seen the Sony reader, I think I will certainly be begging my agent to try harder for a time clause in any novels I sell in the future (ie: if book doesn’t get used in e-format within 24 months rights revert, just like as if the book doesn’t get published within 24 months I get a reversion). I certainly think, having looked at Eric Flint’s columns and talked to a number of authors, I no longer think e-rights can be claimed to be useless by a publisher with a straight face. E-rights are giving a number of authors who offer the consumer what they want about as much money as the advance on a novel for some first time authors.

For a mid-lister like me, that’s as much as a couple month’s income. For larger writers, it’s a drop, but for me, every little drop counts. It’s why I value my agent’s ability to sell overseas so highly as a part of my freelance strategy. I’ve met authors who don’t seem to care about getting $1,000 here or there. But I’ve made more off my overseas advances than my US advances so far.

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11 Responses so far

1. S.C. Butler on Nov 16th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

E-rights are the future, no question about it in my mind. There will always be dinosaurs like me who prefer a book in the hand (I prefer CDs, too), but you have to follow the trail of convenience and ease of use. Which is definitely e-books.
2. Tobias Buckell on Nov 16th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

I think e-rights will be part of the equation, but I think books will be solid for quite a while, at least 50 or more years, as 20 year olds now still prefer paperbound. Until they die they and the generations behind them will dominate, just as CDs are still selling more than digital downloads.

However, choosing to not have a source of income via e-sales is like saying ‘no, I don’t want you to publish me in hardcover.’
3. Larry on Nov 17th, 2007 at 11:47 am

I’m not sure, Tobias. Maybe it’s because I’m 20 years older than you. But I do not think anything will replace the feel of paper in my hand, or the way a new book smells.

And, for my day job, my company writes security software for smartphones (and agree with you that it is not the technology for any kind of DRM or licensing that is holding adoption of a new kind of reader up), so I’m not a complete dinosaur (as my kids claim). I tried a Rocket eBook when it came out long ago, and have downloaded eBooks to several devices for convenience. To me it’s just not the same experience.

But change is a-comin’. My 16 year old doesn’t even read email, he texts. His email gets checked once a week.
4. Tobias Buckell on Nov 17th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

That’s why I said, Larry, that it will take until your 16 year old is the older, dominant consumer until paper gets hit at all. Even 20 year olds my age still prefer paper.

I myself read about 50% of my books on my pda, so it’s comfortable a switch for me, and it doesn’t seem odd to read electronically.
5. Wyman Cooke on Nov 17th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

While I am in favor of e-books, and I do think that e-books will become a larger and larger share of the book market, I don’t think that physical books will ever die out. One reason is electrical, it takes juice to run an e-book reader. Now that is improving, but it will never drop to zero.
6. Steve Buchheit on Nov 17th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

I think e-rights will be important, and hopefully become a major part of rights negotiation, but I don’t think e-reader technology is as good as an interface as actual printed material.
7. Tony on Nov 19th, 2007 at 4:11 pm

Glad to see I’m not the only one that enjoys smelling new books :O
8. tobias buckell on Nov 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm

Steve, have you checked out e-ink displays in person? I actually made the mistake of thinking they’d put a piece of paper over the display when I first saw one. The display technology, IMHO, is there. Now the package (the buttons, the size of the book, the look and the feel, that’s not quite there, I think) is another story
9. Steve Buchheit on Nov 23rd, 2007 at 3:40 pm

Tobias, oh yes, I think e-ink displays are cool since I read the white papers. When I say interface, I’m thinking more of how the user interacts with the book. The display is a part of that, e-ink solves some of the visual recognition issues LCD panels can have (at work we talk abotu how it’s not rocket-science, it’s ink on paper, there is a lot to ink on paper and how the human brain perceives it). Part of what I’m talking about it the physicallity of the packaging, but also how you leaf through the book, turn pages, find info, retain, process that info (line end finding, etc), things like that. Books are actually very complex pieces of kit, it appears to us to be so easy because of when we learn to use them and the ubiquity of them in the culture.

Will pressing a button be transferable to turning a page (not on the device, but in the brain)? Will viewing what is in the mind the same page hinder retention issues (each page can be seen as a descrete item and retained by the brain, but when the same mental page displays different information, will there be a problem of overimaging previous memories)? How many people do you know have problems editing on the screen (that simple errors go pass on the screen that they easily catch on a paper hard copy)?
10. tobias buckell on Nov 27th, 2007 at 4:31 am

Okay, then we sound like we’re on the same page (heh) on this

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Warring with consumers means no one wins

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