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[동산칼럼] Creative Destruction in the Publishing World

[동산칼럼]에는 교양교육대학 David Steven 교수의 '전자책 시장의 혁명적인 변화로 인한 산업계 전반의 추이와 동향'에 대한 칼럼을 싣습니다. 
[양봉석 ybs@gw.kmu.ac.kr]
 
 

  The eBook revolution began, in earnest, with the release of the Amazon Kindle 2 eReader in February of 2009. Since that time the landscape of reading and publishing have been altered forever. The traditional book is dead—excepting for those whom refuse to sacrifice the romance of paper. Analogue booksellers (physical stores) are closing rapidly, or shifting a significant part of their business model online. Traditional publishers have been squeezed, furiously, by Amazon.com’s Createspace, Lulu.com, Apple’s iBooks, and Smashwords – to name but a few ePublishers. Literary Agents are rapidly transforming themselves into self-publishing consultants. The shift in the art, craft, and marketing of books has been tectonic — and this is but the beginning of the creative destruction. 

  If there is a key to the shift it is in the rapid adoption of the new technologies by readers. Not simply young readers, but young adults, the middle aged, and the elderly as well. Ease of use and function is the key to the cross-platform (all ages) adoption of the technology. No complicated software must be learned, which leaves the technology open to all readers.  This ease of use may be found in the Amazon Kindle, iPad, Galaxy Tab, iRiver reader, Kyobo tablet, iPhone, Android phones, Nook reader, iPod Touch, etc.  The young have especially taken to reading on their smartphones – most notably about KMU Seongseo Campus. This alone is heartening for the future of reading and the broad ranging literacy of the young.  eReading is especially attractive to young and university aged readers because many online books are free and legal. With a limited disposable income and a thirst for knowledge the advantages here are obvious. For elderly readers the eBook revolution has been a boon because the devices are simple to use and font styles and sizes can be altered to accommodate poor vision.  Line spacing and margins may also be altered on some devices as well.  The functionality of the eBooks is found in their ability to reference online information, annotate, bookmark, look up words in the device’s dictionary, and share thoughts & quotes through connected Social Media.
  Then there is the creative destruction occurring in the book publishing industry.  For too long the publishing industry has been just that — an industry, a business.  The art of the book has been lost to the business end of the craft.  Publishers are looking for ‘product’ – books that can be sold and, therefore, are profitable.  Of course, this is perfectly reasonable but the net effect is that interesting and valuable books have been either unable to find a publisher or have been relegated to speciality presses that have poor distribution networks and small marketing budgets. With the advent of ePublishing anyone can publish a book in whichever format they choose: eBook and/or Print-On-Demand (the latter is a method by which a book is ordered online and then it is printed and shipped within approximately 2 hours – thereby avoiding costly warehouse storage fees).  However, marketing the book becomes the sole responsibility of the author.  Although this may seem a significant burden it may not be as daunting once the author engages with the Social Media revolution. 

  Through the use of Amazon.com (as well as other eBook sellers) Facebook, Twitter, KakaoTalk, Google+, YouTube, and various blog sites marketing becomes much simpler.  Book blog sites of particular value are GoodReader and Shelfari (the latter powered by Amazon and used for social medial features in their newer eBooks).  Here it is possible to connect with readers and promote your book with little effort. 

  There are, to be sure, negatives to the eBook revolution.  Two which immediately come to mind are eWaste and Piracy.  eWaste, though important, shrinks to insignificance when placed against the waste found in traditional publishing and its secondary support industries.  Piracy is another matter.  This is a major problem, but it has been made worse by traditional publishing companies over-pricing eBooks and then colluding with Apple to fix the prices.

  At the present time the U.S. Government is involved in an anti-trust investigation of several American publishers and Apple for price fixing.

   Given time people, governments and the industry will discover a more or less equitable solution to this problem — the evolution of technology and culture will force this on them.  Once all is said and done, however, the real winner in this revolution will be the reader — you.

Happy reading.

 

David Wellhauser, Professor, Liberal Education College, Keli House Program

dswellhauser@gmail.com, KakaoTalk – SimiaDei