UK: Bloomsbury + Microsoft = Print-On-Demand
I just came across a very interesting tidbit in London’s Telegraph paper.
The article, “Penguin will publish new book titles as ‘ebooks’” was mostly about how Penguin will be releasing e-book editions simultaneously with the printed titles, sold from their own website and for the same price as the printed book (the last bit is, in my humble opinion, a mistake. The Kindle has already taught us that e-book prices should be less).
The most interesting part of the article was the last two paragraphs, however. Is this being covered anywhere else?
Bloomsbury, which publishes the Harry Potter books in the UK, recently signed a deal with Microsoft to be part of its Live Search programme, where users can find books and have them printed on demand.
The publisher hopes that the print-on-demand market, in which customers can have one off copies of out of print titles printed, bound and posted to them, will give older books a new lease of life.
Though backlist publishing via POD has been Big Publishing’s dirty little secret for a while now, Bloombury is coming out of the closet. Let’s face it: POD makes sense.
Scribd: iPaper Review and Tips
Last summer I was looking for alternatives to custom Flash scripts to allow me to put a portion of my novel DisasterLand online. I had no interest in spending time to build something from scratch, and I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted on any of the script sites. I wanted to maintain the look and feel of the book as much as possible, and it didn’t want the excerpt to be easily copied.
Scribd was the only thing that came out of literally hours of searching and though it didn’t offer me what I wanted—a way to quickly add documents to my own site—it did offer something interesting: a way for users to share documents with the public. Basically, a YouTube for documents as others have put it.
After a bit of study, I realized that they had simply created a web-based interface with Adobe’s FlashPaper software. So then I turned to FlashPaper. Firstly, it wasn’t offered for the Mac but that wasn’t a tragedy… Yet why wasn’t it used more often? Why hadn’t I heard of it? Why wasn’t it being updated for Vista? Was it worth $79 for one brief excerpt?
In the end, I decided to spend a bit of time and create a simple Flash script. So I put chapter one online.
A few weeks ago, I realized this wasn’t working. The limited excerpt wasn’t of any use to a serious reader—anyone could write an opening chapter, and there was no indication that any of the rest of the book was of the same quality. I had to find a way to put up a more significant chunk of the book online, easily and functionally.
While working on another project I came across the Saddleback Educational Publishing website, and their very impressive web catalog (top left on the site, I can’t link directly). The VirtualPages catalog from Impelsys was exactly what I wanted: clean, visually attractive and functionally rich. Yet, it seemed, at a price. Their site doesn’t list pricing, which told me whatever it was, I couldn’t afford it. Self-publishing is a cottage industry, and I was looking for pricing in the high teens. Tops. The $79 for FlashPaper had been really pushing it.
Again, I wound up at Scribd: yet this time I was in for a treat. In February, they had released iPaper, their own custom alternative to Adobe’s now-abandoned FlashPaper. iPaper does the same thing—creates .swf files out of documents—but it is web-based and free. In case you’re wondering, iPaper automatically converts: .doc, .ppt, .pps, .xls, .pdf, .ps, .odt, .odp, .sxw, .sxi, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .txt, .rtf files and more.
iPaper offers exactly what I wanted—it was inexpensive, allowed private document access (only from my site, not to the public from Scribd—but if I change my mind I can easily make the document public) and the ability to easily and seemingly embed the doc in my current site with a tiny snipped of javascript. Perfect! The only downside I could see was the potential of losing control of my excerpt (at least theoretically). I decided to give it a try.
Perfect? Almost. The pages look great (the page turn animations are incredibly convincing), offer fullscreen viewing options and customization of how the documents are initially presented to the viewer. With a setting of private, documents can not be emailed or shared but can be printed. The actual implementation was straightforward and quick, though it took me a bit of time to figure out the iPaper/Scribd integration. Scribd bandwidth comes via Amazon’s S3
The downside is that iPaper feels very much like a Scribd afterthought to me, and I’m still not 100% convinced the documents are secure. Also, when a reader clicks to open the document full-screen (something they inevitably have to do to read conveniently), the window that opens up does not open in a new window, but in the same window, and the URL is inelegant. Annoying, but not a disaster.
To save you some time, I’ve written a little guide to adding iPaper to your site, which should save you a bit of time.
Using iPaper
The first thing is to sign up. Quick and easy. Next step is to determine the best way to integrate iPaper into your site. There are several options: QuickSwitch, which will convert all .pdfs on your site to iPaper docs while you click, the Scribd API (with Ruby and PHP client libraries among others) to give you more flexibility, and the Embed option, where you simply upload the files to Scribd and you are given a link to them. There is also a subset of QuickSwitch called slurp, where instead of pasting the javascript onto a page, you create a slurpified link directly to the document instead and iPaper does the rest.
I chose QuickSwitch, even though I had only one document to covert and the Embed option would probably have worked just fine. But with QuickSwitch, I could see the javascript I’d be adding and how to customize it so it made me feel a bit more comfortable.
I created my .pdf file and uploaded it to my site. I pasted the iPaper javascript into the page and added the link to my document. When I brought up the page and licked the link, in only a few seconds the new iPaper doc appeared. Success! After a little bit of tweaking in terms of the size (iPaper lets you specify custom height and widths), I had a great looking page. It really is that easy. I suggest that you go back and remove your .pdf at this point—Scribd doesn’t need it anymore, and anyone who looks at your page source code will be able to grab it.
Quickly, though, I realized I wanted the document to appear as a book, not as the default. I checked the API and didn’t see a way to add that functionality. I eventually thought to check Scribd directly, so I brought up my account and my document. From there I could set document preferences (’Edit’ along top menu bar, then ‘More Advanced Options’)—including default presentation. Perfect!
The further I got into the preferences, however, the more tenuous the security felt to me. The initial preferences were set to private, but didn’t include a copyright specification (I set this myself) and even though the document was set to private, the default is ‘allow users to download as a word document, .pdf and text file’. It didn’t seem to matter as the document was private, but I changed them anyway. Again, disconcerting.
I had done this as a trial, and for the next few days watched my Scribd account to see if anyone was able to view the document from Scribd (no) and to see if any search engines crawled the document (no). I also tried to access the document directly from Scribd using the doc number, but it told me the document had been deleted. This too was a little disconcerting, until I realized that it just meant it was private (why didn’t it just say that?). I also tried pasting the javascript from my page into a new page and setting the public variable to ‘true’ instead of ‘false’, to see if someone could change the privacy of the document and then download or share it (no). I took the URL from the fullscreen version (which is clearly visible to all) and tried to download that URL (as if it was the direct link to a document). Instead of the flash doc, it gave me a short HTML document and there was no flash doc URL there to see. Again, good news.
Recommendations: I tried everything I could think of to trick Scribd into giving me access to the document, but it wouldn’t. So I feel pretty secure. The integration needs to be much better, the options clearer and the settings coordinated between iPaper and Scribd, but everything works like it should. I do wish I could turn off printing if I wanted to—I don’t, but can see why someone would. Also, probably my biggest complaint is the fullscreen version opening in the same window—it should open in a new window/tab. It improves the user experience, but also as importantly to site owners, it keeps Google Analytics functioning since users haven’t been navigated away from the initial page. I also wish the URL was a bit less… brazen:
http://www.scribd.com/word/full/2554616?access_key=key-i0uap177kgmej7f68ll
But just as people can access photos from Flickr or videos from YouTube, I can see Scribd being hacked in the same manner and even private files able to be downloaded. But maybe not. Just to make sure I watermarked the interior pages of my document.
iPaper and AdSense
Another really promising feature is that iPaper’s coders have hacked AdSense to allow ads to appear within your document. I didn’t elect to do this, and can’t find a document that is currently hosting AdSense ads. As has been pointed out (see link), this is against AdSense’s TOS, but Google might go along with this one since it’s in everyone’s best interest. iPaper still prominently touts this feature, so I don’t think it’s been removed. Anyone have any feedback on this?
Good luck!
Print On Demand: The End of an Era
In the last two weeks, we’ve seen what amounts to a sea change in the area of Print-On-Demand publishing, and what I think will be remembered as the first phase of POD is rapidly coming to an end.
In that era, the Lightning Source (LSI) era, clients of Lightning had almost complete access to world markets in a synergistic relationship between companies including Ingram, Lightning’s parent company (and large traditional warehouser/distributor) and Amazon here in the U.S. Equally powerful relationships were available in the U.K. via Lightning Source U.K., including with Amazon.co.uk. Though there were other POD companies offering author services such as AuthorHouse, iUniverse and BookSurge, and companies geared towards more towards authors rather than publishers like Lulu, Lightning Source offered complete control and a truly new way of printing and selling books for small presses.
Recently, Amazon has quietly been approaching high-volume LSI clients and telling them that if they didn’t switch to BookSurge for their printing needs, their “buy” buttons would be removed. For books to continue to be available on Amazon without BookSurge, publishers were told they would have to join the Advantage plan, complete with yearly fee and additional shipping costs, and with the knowledge that they would almost certainly lose sales (fewer customers purchase from Advantage than traditional Amazon). Amazon is saying little publicly, but publishers are saying a lot.
In POD, Amazon can routinely count over 75% of book sales, so the threat was real—in some cases, this could turn off the taps almost completely. Word eventually leaked out as publishers shared stories, and there was an uproar on the many POD groups, including my favorite, even amongst smaller publishers not approached. There was a feeling that the writing was indeed on the wall for each of them.
Throughout, LSI has put on a brave face, but the fact is, even their CEO admitted Amazon is keeping them in the dark. “Lightning Source will continue to monitor this situation and let you know when we have more information,” was how Mr. Kirby worded it in their April 1 email.
The fallout is still being rifled through and the good news is a supposed April 1 deadline has come and gone with no blanket actions by Amazon. Some discounts have apparently been removed and a “one title in stock” notice has appeared on some books [including on mine]. There have been some publishers reporting that titles have indeed been removed, but possibly only ones that offer a short (less than 55% discount). Of the services companies, Publish America seems to have taken the hardest hit.
For Amazon, this move makes complete sense. Why deal with a middleman? For the most part, Amazon’s LSI POD orders go to LSI and LSI drop-ships the titles in Amazon’s packaging (though Amazon does apparently keep a small volume of POD titles ready for Prime shipment). But now that Amazon owns their own printing machines, why shouldn’t they be printing the books directly? Why shouldn’t they maximize their revenue, by making a profit on printing costs as well as sales? Why take 20-30% when they can take well over 50% of the retail price? Theoretically, this could even benefit publishers as well, the revenue being split two ways instead of three.
As always, it’s about profit. And the stakes are quite high. Author Solutions, parent company of AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Wordclay and Inkubook, predicts selling 1 out of every 15 books in the U.S. this year. I’m not aware of any statistics, but I would guess that Lightning Source, simply by virtue of being a printer and not an author services company, could print as many as twice that or even more. So we could be talking 1 of every 5 books sold—and that’s only from these two companies. There are lots of POD printers out there.
What are the real numbers of POD?
Over last weekend, London’s The Times published an interesting story [Amazon furious after publishers undercut its book prices online] with rumors of strong-arm tactics by Amazon again some of Britain’s biggest publishers, insisting that if the publishers were selling at a discount on their own sites, Amazon would assume that was the retail price and take their discount from that figure. So Amazon’s actions weren’t limited to POD.
Many publishers wrote to the Washington State Attorney General who is now conducting an initial review. The Independent Book Publishers Assn., SPAN (Small Publishers Assn. of North America) and the Author’s Guild have all weighed in against Amazon’s actions. All in all, not good publicity for Amazon.
So why such seemingly clumsy moves on Amazon’s part? Are books that vital to their bottom line? To me, these are not the actions of visionary company, but rather a company in a corner.
Could the writing have been on the wall for BookSurge and CreateSpace? BookSurge offered little that a customer couldn’t find at Author Solutions except some discounts on publicity services, and there was no way CreateSpace would ever surpass Lightning’s market share in terms of printing or even perhaps Lulu’s for less business-minded authors. And many of BookSurge’s services related to Amazon were available to outsiders via Amazon itself.
Let’s not forget that Amazon got to the internet first. Their first desks were hand-made out of plywood on filing cabinets. They started from zero. They have continued to innovate—in terms of its affiliate programs, the offering of Marketplace (which many thought would be their downfall) and in the way they integrate product, user-generated content and advertising on their pages. An argument could be made that Bezos is to the web what Jobs is to Apple or even Gates is to PCs. With the exception of a couple of dark post-tech-crash years, Amazon has continued to impress Wall Street and has continued to innovate, venturing successfully into tech services (AWS
So what are they seeing here that we’re not? I think it’s simply that if Amazon doesn’t do this someone else will. Vertical integration makes sense. Controlling production makes sense. What is the use of the middleman if the costs/benefits argue against outsourcing?
Also, don’t forget that Barnes and Noble has brick-and-morter stores—soon, possibly, to be filled with Espresso Book Machines. Borders and Lulu have partnered. So LSI and Lulu in particular are a direct threat not only to Amazon but to online sales of POD in general—which, again, Amazon has largely controlled.
Other factors could be at play. CreateSpace contracts allow the perpetual use of content for Amazon’s Search Inside—so Amazon could be harvesting manuscripts for reasons we can only guess.
The rise of multi-printer titles:
How do I think this will play out? I think it depends largely on the pressure put to bear on Amazon, both legally and publicly. Maybe we’ll see LSI coming to an agreement with Amazon to accept a minimum short discount, as a way of finding common ground.
But in general I see publishers having accounts with multiple printers a requirement. I see the days of one printer serving one publisher or even one title rapidly coming to an end. CreateSpace for Amazon and LSI for Ingram/Espresso Book Machines seems to be the obvious one now, but in the future who knows? For publishers, if a niche company evolves to get product to eager customers, they will want, if not have, to join in.
So the trend is towards publishers and retailers, with nothing in between. Retailers, record companies, etc. have been hard hit with the changes in technology, but I truly do think that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The backbone of the industry—distribution—may be the next to go.
One random note: what’s also interesting is that many publishers on POD groups are wanting to boycott Amazon, and try to lead their traffic to Barnes & Noble. It wasn’t too long ago that Barnes & Noble was the boogeyman, along with Borders. As many have noted, Borders and B&N took many independents out of business and Amazon may be trying to do the same thing with other online retailers. Simply smash competition until they’re the only ones left standing, then raise prices. Control the whole show, Standard Oil-style.
Something in me wants to believe that this isn’t true.
For full disclosure, I’m a client of Lightning Source and have an affiliate account at BookSurge. For many projects, including the DisasterLand audiobook, I’m considering using CreateSpace.
The Espresso Book Machine Part II: Lightning Source
Publishers Weekly reported last week [Judith Rosen, 4/2/2008 7:33:00 AM] that Lightning Source has entered into a strategic agreement with On Demand Books, the producers of The Espresso Book Machine that I wrote about earlier.
“It’s always been the holy grail of the book business to walk into a store and get any book,” said Kirby Best, president and CEO of Lightning Source. With the signing of today’s strategic agreement with On Demand Books, proprietor of the Espresso Book Machine, Best sees that goal coming a little bit closer…
The partnership with Lightning Source gives On Demand access to its scanning facilities, but it also gives the company access to copyrighted material through an opt in/opt out clause that Lightning Source will add to its publisher contracts. At present, the titles available through Espresso fall mainly in the public domain.
I think this a quite amazing development, yet quite natural. With word that the new machines could be the size of business copiers and available for lease next year, its arrival will only accelerate the sweeping changes in bookselling.
This is truly the missing link — offering large bookstores immediate access to LSI’s library without the cumbersome old-fashioned problems of Ingram’s core business, distribution. No shipping costs for bookstores, no wait for customers.
Eventually, it could even spell trouble for online retailers, who traditionally have been the main beneficiaries of POD sales.
This is *huge*.
Test Post: ELA
I’m currently thinking ELA conflicts with All-In-One-SEO 1.4.6.6. I’ve tried posting to my test board with a slightly different set of plug-ins, and there is no trouble. At least one other user reports that ELA works fine with WP 2.5, so I’m thinking it’s a plug-in conflict. The only plug-in I updated that could be causing the problem is All-In-One-SEO.
I was at 1.4.5.6, but for some reason was never encouraged to update — I discovered this accidentally. Anyway…
Here goes nothin’!
Edit: No joy. I’m going to leave ELA functional for now, as the only problem I see is that these posts don’t get added to the archive by category. By date they do.
Edit: Deactivated all plug-ins. One-by-one we’ll find the culprint.
Edit: Got it. It was settings within the ELA plug-in. Not a problem previously, but…
