[Author's Note: Many of the ideas and passages in this essay are taken from the new book (and ebook): 50 Benefits of Ebooks. — MP ]
Paper books: I love them, and I hope that they are never replaced completely by their electronic progeny. Nevertheless, every day, ebooks are growing in use, in sales, and in significance.
To promote the growth of this young industry — and to nourish the aspects of the digital reading revolution that can make us a nation of readers again — publishers and authors need to educate the reading public about the brave new worlds of ebooks and electronic publishing.
Here are ten myths about ebooks that would be better placed in Bullfinch than in Britannica. First, the 10 myths are listed; and then — myth by myth — the opposite point of view is humbly explained.
- Myth # 1.
The only way to read ebooks is to read them on a dedicated ebook reading device. - Myth # 2.
There are not very many ebooks available to read. - Myth # 3.
Buying ebooks instead of paper books does not really help the environment. - Myth # 4.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is used by many major ebook sellers, so DRM must be good for ebook buyers. - Myth # 5.
There is no end in sight to the ebook format wars. - Myth # 6.
Ebooks have short lifespans, because it's so easy to delete an ebook. - Myth # 7.
If I publish my book in ebook format, it will be stolen by ebook pirates. - Myth # 8.
Books published as ebooks are books that are not good enough to be published in paperback. - Myth # 9.
Ebooks, and electronic publishing, are killing the print publishing industry. - Myth # 10.
Ebooks are not ready for prime time: the digital reading revolution is years away.
Myth # 1.
The only way to read ebooks is to read them on a dedicated ebook reading device.
Not at all. Ebooks can be read on your desktop or laptop computer; or online, using a nice interface such as BookWorm; or on your mobile device such as a BlackBerry, an iPhone or iPod, and many more.
Myth # 2.
There are not very many ebooks available to read.
There are more than 1.5 million public-domain ebooks — free, as in absolutely free — available through sites such as Project Gutenberg; Internet Archive; Feedbooks, Manybooks.net, and Google Book Search. And many more ebooks are available from online ebook bookstores.
Myth # 3.
Buying ebooks instead of paper books does not really help the environment.
To quote Mr. Dickens: "You are wonderfully mistaken!" ...
Ebooks save trees. Ebooks eliminate the need for filling up landfills with old books. Ebooks save energy, and transportation costs, and reduce the pollution associated with driving and flying books across the country and around the world.
Ebooks eliminate the problem of "unsold books", which are often shredded. In the Netherlands alone, more than one million books are shredded every year, and transformed into toilet paper. ( A smart step, but still a waste of energy and resources.)
Electronic publishing saves paper. How many trees are used to produce one week’s worth of paper in a Sunday New York Times newspaper? … One weekly issue of the New York Times consumes 75,000 trees. … One year of Sunday papers produced by the New York Times is responsible for the destruction and consumption of more than 3,900,000 trees.
Myth # 4.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is used by many major ebook sellers, so DRM must be good for ebook buyers.
Said Cervantes: "You are a million miles from the truth."
DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to a method of protecting digital content that a
publisher can apply to videos, music files, images and ebooks. Adding DRM has three drawbacks. Always, DRM makes your digital products cost more. Sometimes, the DRM does
funny things to your computer. And often, DRM limits what you can do with your own
purchase. For example, many DRM-afflicted ebooks do not allow you to print the files.
Ebooks were never meant to be hidden like the lost city of Atlantis, buried like the treasures of Monte Cristo, or guarded like the gold in Fort Knox.
Myth # 5.
There is no end in sight to the ebook format wars.
There is ePub.
It seems as if literature and alcohol always go hand in hand. The ancient Chinese poets, gazing at the bright moon, composed their verse with a writing tool in one hand, and a cup of drink in the other. Gutenberg — Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, who lived between 1398 and 1468 — made the first printing press around 1450, using materials from a press that crushed grapes for making wine. And now we have the leading ebook format, ePub — which sounds like a website for buying beer.
EPub, in fact, is a superb solution for ending the ebook format wars. The standard was
created, and is currently managed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF),
located at http://www.idpf.org. The ePub format has many benefits and
useful features.
Myth # 6.
Ebooks have short lifespans, because it's so easy to delete an ebook.
On the contrary: ebooks preserve books. You make copies of your ebooks; and you can store them "in the clouds" for safekeeping. It is paper books that are more likely to be destroyed by water, fire, theft, carelessness, and old age.
In 48 B.C., the Library of Alexandria (with its 500,000 to one million volumes), was burned to ashes when Alexandria was attacked by Julius Caesar. To delay Caesar’s invasion, Achillas – the Alexandrian leader – employed an ill-considered strategy: he burned his own ships. The fire spread to the docks, then destroyed the great Library of Alexandria.
¤
The original manuscript of Carlyle’s The French Revolution was lost when a friend’s
servant accidentally tossed it into the fire.
¤
Richard Burton’s wife, after his death and against his wishes, destroyed his magnum opus, a risque translation of The Perfumed Garden, a book he had been working on for ten years.
¤
In May 1933, Nazi supporters burned more than 25,000 “un-German” books.
Ebooks are ageless: they do not burn, mildew, crumble, rot, or fall apart. Ebooks
ensure that literature will endure.
Myth # 7.
If I publish my book in ebook format, it will be stolen by ebook pirates.
If you publish your book in paperback, it can be stolen by e-pirates, just as easily. The cutting-edge ebook blog, TeleRead, recently reported a quote from an article in Times Online:
“Publishers and agents representing the authors J. K. Rowling and Ken Follett were battling last night to get free copies of their novels removed from [Scribd] a Californian website that claims to be the most popular literary site in the world.”
The Times Online article states that Follett's publisher, Macmillan, was unaware that the book had been posted there -- for 5 months.
Epiracy is a problem equally challenging for publishers of ebooks and of paper books.
Myth # 8.
Books published as ebooks are books that are not good enough to be published in paperback.
That notion is so old it has whiskers. In the very beginnings of electronic publishing, authors were publishing books in "e" formats when they could not find a major publisher. Now, everything is different. Many major publishers are publishing in paper and in the ebook format. Some University presses are shifting completely to ebooks. And many authors and independent publishers are bypassing New York, and choosing to publish independently. Not because their books are poorly written — but because they see little advantage and less sense in giving most of their profits away to publishers and online booksellers.
Myth # 9.
Ebooks, and electronic publishing, are killing the print publishing industry.
Scapegoating is rarely useful. To say that ebooks are the cause of print's demise is like saying that the oil industry is in danger due to renewable energy. Print publishing is struggling for many reasons. The print publishers who survive will need to embrace electronic publishing, transform their business models, and renew the original vision of publishing, where books are published not for profit only, but to enrich and renew our culture.
Myth # 10.
Ebooks are not ready for prime time: the digital reading revolution is years away.
When Benjamin Franklin first visited the Queen of France, the bright Queen asked him:
"Mr. Franklin, you are famous for discovering that 'Lighting is electricity.' But what use is your discovery?"
Mr. Franklin coolly replied:
"My dear Queen. What use is a newborn baby?"
Ebooks and electronic publishing are young. But ebook sales this year will surpass 100 million dollars. (And this does not account for rapidly-increasing influx of "free culture" works: more than two million ebooks and electronic publications that are available at no cost.) That 100 million dollars is still a small part of total print publishing sales. Yet ebooks are by far the fastest growing segment of this otherwise-troubled industry.
The digital reading revolution is here right now.
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Michael Pastore is a novelist and a non-fiction writer who lives in Ithaca, New York. His latest book is
50 Benefits of Ebooks:
A Thinking Person's Introduction to the Digital Reading Revolution.
The book is available as a 320-page paperback for $ 20, or as an ebook (in PDF or ePub) for one dollar.
For more information about the new book and ebook, visit www.EpublishersWeekly.net.
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Copyright (c) 2009 by Michael Pastore. This essay, and no part of this essay, may be included in a print or electronic publication that will be sold or re-sold. In not-for-profit publications, you may quote up to 500 words from this essay, without permission. To include more than 500 words, or the entire essay, in a print or electronic publication, or a blog or website, please contact us at by email: epubster AT gmail.com.
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