POD Repercussions

Authors at first only signed away print rights. When publishers started seeing the advantage of keeping derivative rights, those became a matter of negotiation. Now, due to POD technology, will authors have to fight for reversion rights?

Traditionally, once a book's out of print for so long, the author gets his/her rights back. But what's "out of print" these days when publishers can always print on demand? And should this count?

Simon and Schuster, as reported by The New York Times article "Publisher and Authors Parse a Term: Out of Print" (see full article below), has changed their contracts accordingly, much to the dismay of the Authors Guild.

May 18, 2007

By MOTOKO RICH

When is a book out of print?

A change in standard contract language at Simon & Schuster could effectively alter the answer to that question, and the Authors Guild, a trade group that says it represents about 8,500 published authors, is urging writers and agents to exclude the publisher from book auctions because of it.

Traditionally, if a book falls out of print, authors are contractually allowed to ask their publishers for their rights back so that the author can try to have the book republished somewhere else.

Until recently, that has meant that if a book was not available in at least one format — hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback being the most common — or if sales fell below a minimum annual threshold, it was deemed out of print.

But with the advent of technologies like print-on-demand, publishers have been able to reduce the number of back copies that they keep in warehouses. Simon & Schuster, which until now has required that a book sell a minimum number of copies through print-on-demand technology to be deemed in print, has removed that lower limit in its new contract.

In effect, that means that as long as a consumer can order a book through a print-on-demand vendor, that book is still deemed in print, no matter how few copies it sells.

The Authors Guild says that is not fair. “If a book is only available in print-on-demand, it certainly means the publisher isn’t doing much to promote the book,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “We’re not against the technology; we’re just against the technology being used to lock up rights.”

Mr. Aiken said that authors often ask to take back the rights of out-of-print books so they can place them with new publishers and give their work new life. He cited the example of Paula Fox, a novelist who had six out-of-print novels when Jonathan Franzen, the author of “The Corrections,” cited her work in an essay in Harpers Magazine. Ms. Fox took back the rights for her novels, resold them to W. W. Norton and revived her career.

Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Simon & Schuster, said that the publisher was acknowledging advances in technology that made it easier for readers to order books on demand. “We’re anticipating that it’s only going to get better and that this is the best way to make our authors’ books available for consumers on a large-scale basis over the long haul,” Mr. Rothberg said.

The agent David Black said, however, that in reality, if a book is available only through print-on-demand, “an author’s book is going to be available in dribs and drabs.”

He added: “If there is the possibility that I can take this book and place it somewhere else where somebody is going to publish it more aggressively than on a print-on-demand basis, shouldn’t I have the opportunity to do that?”

Mr. Aiken said he was not aware of any other publishers who had made similar changes. Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House, which owns imprints that include Doubleday and Crown Publishing, said: “Our authors’ opportunity to have the publication rights revert back to them should their books go out of print remains unchanged.”

Jamie Raab, publisher of Grand Central Publishing, said that its contracts allow writers to take back rights if royalties in any format fall below a certain threshold.

Mr. Rothberg said that Simon & Schuster would continue to talk to authors who wanted their rights back, regardless of changes in contract language. “We’ve always been willing to have the discussions with agents and authors if there comes a time when they feel they need to have a book reverted to them and they can make a compelling case to us that it should be so,” he said.

What do you think is fair?

Romance Goes Digital

Harlequin Readers Find New Ways for Romance with Technology from LibreDigital
(Book Business, 4/23/08)

AUSTIN, Texas– April 23, 2008 – Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. has selected the LibreDigital Internet Digital Warehouse solution to provide readers with new ways to access Harlequin titles across digital channels, including online and mobile. Beginning April 2008, Harlequin will make some of its most popular series—such as Harlequin Presents and books by New York Times bestselling authors like Debbie Macomber, Heather Graham and Mercedes Lackey— available for browsing online.

“Romance readers are having a love affair with digital,” said Brent Lewis, Vice President Internet & Digital, Harlequin. “With technology from LibreDigital, we can give readers an experience similar to walking into a bookstore and flipping through a book to make their purchase decision. We were the first trade publisher to offer our entire front list in eBook format and now our new Browse the Book and widget functionality powered by LibreDigital will offer our broad base of readers fresh ways to interact with, share and enjoy the stories we have to offer.”

Harlequin sold over 130 million books in 2007 and publishes more than 120 titles a month in 29 languages. Romance novels have proven to be one of the most popular categories of digital publishing, and Harlequin titles regularly top eBook bestseller lists. Beginning this month, Harlequin will use LibreDigital technology to provide readers and authors with a variety of new options to virally spread favorite book titles throughout the Internet, including on author websites, blogs and social networks.

“Harlequin readers are some of the most loyal and active in the industry,” said Craig Miller, Vice President and General Manager of LibreDigital. “Working together with Harlequin, we are giving both traditional and new audiences a way to enjoy their favorite books when and how they want.”

E-Galleys?

New Service Digitizes Galley-Distribution Process
(Book Business, 4/28/08)

Rosetta Solutions Inc., a Seattle-based publishing services company, announced last week a new product that will connect publishers and “professional readers” while streamlining the galley-distribution process. The online initiative, NetGalley, enables book publishers, reviewers, media, librarians, booksellers, bloggers, educators and others to access and share content and information about new book titles.

NetGalley will be launched commercially May 28 at BookExpo America in Los Angeles. Rosetta Solutions says it has already received commitments from book publishers including St. Martin’s Press, Hachette Book Group, Bloomsbury USA and Sourcebooks to participate in the service’s pilot program. In addition, Publishers Weekly has agreed to be the first major media organization to use NetGalley, making the service its preferred method to manage galleys.

“We are delighted to be here at the beginning of this terrific program,” says Matt Baldacci, vice president, director of marketing and publishing operations, St. Martin’s Press. “NetGalley will make our interaction with Publishers Weekly more efficient, and has the potential to show cost, resource and environmental efficiencies. These benefits are good for PW, the publishers that will join the full roll-out, and the industry in general.”

With NetGalley, publishers are able to connect with bloggers, use modern tools like e-galleys and print-on-demand, and promote their titles to an expanded universe of professional readers—including media, online reviewers, bloggers and specialty publications, without the cost of producing and distributing physical galleys.

“The response from publishers to support this initiative has been extraordinarily positive,” says Ted Treanor, CEO of Rosetta Solutions. “NetGalley selected this group [of publishers to participate in the pilot program] for their diversity of size and publishing type, and their willingness to innovate. We’re counting on these partners to help us continue to refine NetGalley.”

"Management" Systems

I remember when about three jobs back, the company I was working for at the time invested in a "digital asset management system." Since they were a medical publisher who often reused images, this made sense. By the time I left the company, which was more than half a year later, several trainings had been held but DAMS, as they called it, was not up and running. I hear that they're finally using it.

At my most recent company, they invested in a "file management system" called K4. K4 is product supported by MEI (Managing Editor, Inc.) that is being used by more publisher all the time. It works with Adobe InDesign and InCopy and allows files to be trafficked via the K4 File Manager as opposed to manually, via paper, as was traditionally done.

After working with K4 for two years, I can say that there are pros and cons to this as to all content management systems. For the company I worked for, the major benefit was version control and file security: many little files and/or packets were being trafficked and often lost, necessitating work to be redone and more time and money spent. So in this sense, K4 allowed process streamlining and efficiency.

On the other hand, since the company was a custom publisher dealing with client demands and last-minute changes, and many non-tech savvy editors, in order to make a deadline we were often forced to revert to the tried-but-true paper trafficking. We were also a cross-platform company--editorial were on PCs while art/production were on Macs--which caused needless font and art problems.

I am still a proponent of CMS and held repeated K4 trainings for my staff and the rest of the editorial department. And although day-to-day workflow will be affected by deadlines, one should not give up on long-term efficiencies that can be improved with new technology.

Fanfic 2.0 and QC

Fans have been writing their own spin-offs for years, but now they can actually publish it for real? At least Dilbert fans can. See below for what TOC had to say about this:

"Dilbert" Embraces User-Generated Content

Peter Brantley
April 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams and his distributor, United Media, are supporting user-generated content through Dilbert.com. Visitors can rewrite captions and redistribute the results, and the full "Dilbert" archive will eventually be available for free. From Webware:

I asked Adams why he and United Media are opening up the Dilbert intellectual property like this, and he sent me a response by email: "We're accepting the realities of IP on the Internet, and trying to get ahead of the curve. People already alter Dilbert strips and distribute them. If we make it easy and legal to do so, and drive more traffic to Dilbert.com in the process, everyone wins. Plus it's a lot of fun to see what people come up with in the mashups."

And this brings up another point. In this world of ever-growing self-publishing, who will QC the content that is "published," whether to the web or to POD? Traditionally there are editors, copy editors, and proofreaders to do so, and often this entails two to three different set of eyes reviewing the content at least two to three times. If the author can skip the publisher, will he/she also skip the QC?

Personally, I hope not but I haven't picked up any self-published books for that reason. As my friends know, after having been on the managing editorial side of the business for over ten years, I have a mental red pencil that does not quit even when I'm reading for pleasure. And if a book is too error-ridden, I will return it on principle.

But I am far from the average reader, and if the authors succeed in cutting out the publishers, it will be up to the readers to demand quality. It wil then be up to publishers to adapt and work with the authors, perhaps as co-partners...perhaps as HarperCollins is trying with its new imprint?

Until next time.

All-in-one device?

We now have monitors that can serve as both computers and TVs; phones that can be both planners, phones, and music players; and e-readers that can be either phone/blackberry-like or their own devices.

And with each new advancement, some will resist the change while others will embrace it. For example, Joe Wikert explains on his blog why he ends up reading so much on his BlackBerry:

Blackberry Reading

The WSJ's Lee Gomes recently wrote an article about reading books on a Blackberry. It's something I originally tried on a 7100t but met with disappointing results. My 7100t died last year though and I wound up switching to the larger 8700g (shown on the left).

Ever since then I've found myself using the Blackberry for more reading than ever before. It's amazing how much the reading experience improves when you go from the 7100t screen to the slightly larger 8700g. Besides the larger screen, the major reason I find myself reading on a Blackberry is the reason Gomes cites in his article: You have the thing with you, so you might as well make the most of it.

I can't tell you how many times I've stood in line in a store, pulled out the Blackberry and started reading. One of my favorite selections: Book summaries from getAbstract, which I might add are available in a simplified PDF format that are ideal on a Blackberry. In fact, I recently read two summaries while waiting for an oil change; now that's productivity!

Other content sources I've dabbled with include DailyLit and Mobipocket, which also offers a free Blackberry reader.

I think that all media is moving to an all-in-one device, and I'm probably not the first to think so. But with the advent of e-readers, I think that this will include publishing as well.

Picture this: You sit down in your living room in front of your large flat screen monitor and instead of a remote control, pull your wireless keyboard to you. You flip through all the options--watch, call, read, browse, etc.--and decide you'd like to continue reading the book that you began on your way home on your BlackBerry...

Given the advancements that are occurring every day, I don't think this is so far- fetched or so far off.

Until next time.

E-Books

Ebook Format Primer

Liza Daly
April 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Amid all the recent ebook news, many publishers may still be unclear about the different formats and devices. How do ebooks actually get made? What changes need to be made to existing workflows to enable content distribution to ebook devices? We've put together this primer to help clear things up.

The simplest solution, of course, is to partner directly with the ebook manufacturers and let them take care of the details. These partnerships must be drawn up for each new platform and publishers are at the whims of the device-makers' terms of use. Innovative publishers may want to first experiment on their own and be prepared to shift platforms strategically: this means ebook distribution must fit into existing workflows. Although some of the formats below support digital rights management, consider eschewing DRM in favor of flexibility and cross-platform support.

Let's start with the major devices first:

1. The Sony Reader primarily uses Sony's proprietary Broadband eBooks (BBeB) format for documents with DRM but also supports RTF and non-DRM PDF. Sony does not provide any official tools for end users to convert to BBeB although at least one unofficial open source tool can convert HTML to BBeB. The most flexible non-DRM formats are RTF and PDF. Microsoft Word can readily save to RTF and Microsoft offers detailed instructions on converting from XML to RTF, but pure open-source alternatives are not mature. XML to PDF conversion has stronger open source support but files may need to be specially tweaked for optimum display on the Reader.
2. The Amazon Kindle uses Amazon's proprietary AZW format, which supports DRM. There are no tools available to directly convert to AZW, but AZW is a wrapper around the Mobipocket format and DRM-free Mobipocket files can be read on the device. Mobipocket documents can be created using a free (but not open-source) tool called Mobipocket Creator. As if the format wars weren't confusing enough already, "Mobipocket DRM" is not the same as AZW, and files created as Mobipocket DRM cannot be read on the Kindle. Mobipocket Creator does have a "batch" creation mode which could be integrated into an existing workflow, but the software is Windows-only. The Kindle also supports HTML and Word documents, but not PDF.

Specialized readers aren't the only way consumers may be viewing ebook content. Ultra-portable laptops like the Eee PC and OLPC XO are price-competitive with standalone readers. (I have an OLPC and reading by the pool in bright sunlight is quite a joy.) The next version of the iPhone is expected soon, and while the first edition was already a serviceable reader, the next version is likely to be more so, and to reach a wider audience.

All the devices listed above, except the Sony Reader, can read a common format: HTML. If XML is already a part of your workflow, converting to HTML is trivial. If not, HTML is a worthwhile investment for a number of reasons:

1. XHTML is the standard markup for book content in OPS/.epub. .epub support is just getting off the ground but is expected to become widespread.
   
2. If your publishing workflow includes HTML, your organization is able to distribute content to dozens of devices in addition to the open Web.

HTML is also the lingua franca of online search engines, and inclusion of partial or full HTML books will attract casual surfers and can drive community engagement with your content. Whether it's BBeB or AZW that becomes the Betamax of the next decade (and one, if not both, will be obsolete by then), HTML conversion is guaranteed to pay off in the foreseeable future.