Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group to Implement Embargo on eBooks
Sony Reader, Nook, Kindle
What a disappointment for those who wake up Christmas morning to find that Santa left an eReader in their stockings! Publisher Simon & Schuster has announced it will delay the ebook publishing of 35 titles* coming up next year. Publisher Hachette plans to implement a similar embargo for new titles.
I have to agree with the Eric Garland quote in the WSJ
“In the Internet age you don’t enjoy the same degree of control,” said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, LLC, an online media measurement company in Beverly Hills, Calif. “You can’t create artificial scarcity by withholding content in one form and making it available later.”
This is a step in the wrong direction. I understand the book publishing industry’s desire to control ebooks is based on fear of piracy and lost money. This attempt to tighten control wont help, in fact it may drive piracy to develop sooner and spread faster. They need to take a closer look at what happened to the music industry and acknowledge they will not be able to control ebooks the way they hope. The sooner they do that the sooner they can start working with ebooks in a successful way.
On a personal note, while I do look longingly at the Nook, I’m still waiting to buy a device. I believe I should be able to load an ebook I purchase onto the device of my choosing, I don’t care where I buy it or if I check it out from the library.
By the way PC World put together their list of Why E-book Readers Make Bad Holiday Gifts before this embargo announcement.
*I couldn’t find the names of all 35 titles, but it does include “Point Omega” by Don DeLillo, “Courage and Consequence” by Karl Rove and “House Rules” by Jodi Picoult
Recommended reading:
- Major Publishers’ e-Reader Embargo Strategy Straight From Tired, Old Play Book
- Two Major Publishers To Hold Back E-Books
- Some Publishers to Delay eBook Releases
- Are we due a wave of book piracy?
- Local Bookstores, Social Hubs, and Mutualization
- Some half-formed thoughts on one future for bookselling
- My ebooks and DRM talk from O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing from Cory Doctorow
- DRM Holding Back Ebook Growth
Books, More Than Just Words
Going West from the New Zealand Book Council
found on Boing Boing
Libraries and Transliteracy – the video version
I took my slideshow on transliteracy and turned it into a video. I was curious about how easy it was to turn a slideshow into a video (its super easy!) so I thought I’d try it. Most of my presentations aren’t meant to stand alone and so don’t really translate well to video. When I was putting the transliteracy one together I wanted it to be able to stand alone, so I thought I’d give it a try. A little self indulgent I know 
But anyway here it is.
Learn more about transliteracy
Libraries and Transliteracy Slideshow
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about transliteracy and how important the concept is for libraries and librarians. I’ve created a slideshow I hope conveys the message and is easy to share.
I have also added page with information on transliteracy.
Libraries and Transliteracy Blog- Media Skills Integrated into Core StandardsA draft of K-12 standards put forth by the National Governor’s Association, as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), integrates media skills as a key design consideration of these standards. The draft points to the importance of these skills: To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students [... […]Tom Ipri
- What is Transliteracy?I attempt to answer some questions about transliteracy including what is it, in my Librarian by Day blog post – Defining Transliteracy I have been asked this question many times by librarians so I am way overdue for this post. Most recently I was asked “….are librarians the people best equipped to define and interpret transliteracy (as opposed [...] […]Bobbi Newman
- Digital Literacy Skills Essential to Closing Broadband Gap #knightcommThe Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy sites the Broadband Adoption and Use in America (pdf) report released by the Federal Communications Commission in Digital Literacy Skills Essential to Closing Broadband Gap when emphasising the importance and need for digital literacy The survey findings reinforce the growing body o […]Bobbi Newman
- Media Skills Integrated into Core Standards
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- Feel free to quote blog posts and link back to the site. Please do not copy my entire post on your site. Thank you
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