 Over the past 15 months there has been a continuous drop in the price of e-books. Digital Bookworld have been tracking the prices of the bestselling e-books, and they have found that the average price has dropped by half in the past 15 months. Originally the top 25 selling e-books averaged at a price of $12.00, now they average at $6. There have been a few factors that have affected these prices. Firstly in America, the U.S. Department of Justice won the e-book pricing case. This means that retailers are now allowed to discount e-books from all publishers and not just a few (Greenfield(a), 2013). This will have a big impact on small independent publishers that rely on the sales of their e-books to help keep them afloat. The discounting can be seen in the top 25 selling e-books with the prices ranging from $3.00 to $8.00. Only one book didn’t fit into this price bracket, and it was under $3 (Greenfield(b), 2013). There has also been a rise in the popularity of self-published books, which tend to be priced lower (Greenfield(a), 2013). This isn’t surprising due to the success of many self-published authors recently like E L James. This means that publishing houses are having to compete with these authors that not only can sometimes be well written, but are at lower and more affordable prices. In the first quarter, 22 self-published titles hit the bestseller list in 13 weeks. In the second quarter, that number jumped to 44 (Greenfield(c), 2013). With these issues affecting publishers, it means that they have to take more aggressive pricing strategies so that they can compete, especially with retailers discounting them so much. For example, now that the Department of Justice won the case, there will be more discounting of Penguin Random House books as they now have new contracts with retailers (Greenfield(c), 2013). How are publishers going to deal with this issue? Well one idea for a digital publishing strategy is to change their subscription services so that they are more like how Spotify is for music, and Netflix is for film and TV (Galaria, 2013). 98 UK publishers went bust last year, so a new digital publishing strategy is just what publishers need. “Subscription and ad-supported streaming services accounted for $1.2bn of the global music industry revenues in 2012, up from $700m in 2011. They also accounted for 20% of the $5.8bn of digital revenues earned by the industry, up from 13% the previous year, according to a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.” (Galaria, 2013). If publishers implement this kind of strategy within their digital books, they may be able to start making money through this. Wordcount: 460 BibliographyGalaria, F. (2013). The Guardian. Publishing Crisis? Time to Create a Spotify for Books. [Online]. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/nov/13/publishing-crisis-spotify-books-musicGreenfield, J (a). (2013). Digital Book World. Tracking the Downward Trend on eBook Prices. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/tracking-the-downward-trend-on-ebook-prices/Greenfield, J (b). (2013). Digital Book World. What Does an eBook Bestseller Cost? About $6. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/what-does-an-ebook-best-seller-cost-about-6-00/Greenfield, J (c.). (2013). Digital Book World. Why eBook Best Seller Prices Will Continue to Decrease. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/why-ebook-best-seller-prices-will-continue-to-decrease/
 The first home 3D printer (the Cube by Cubify) was launched in the UK, after its release in the U.S. earlier this year. This product is around £1000, and comes in five different colours (silver, white, magenta, blue, green), comes with 25 designs, has wifi, can print anything up to 5.5″ x 5.5″ x 5.5″, can print in 16 different colours and can print in ABS (recyclable) and PLA (compostable) (Cubify (a), 2013). The 25 designs that come along with the Cube, come in the form of a memory stick. Users just plug it into the back of the machine, and choose which design they want to make. These designs range from a plastic chess piece to a plastic tea cup (Viner, 2013). Owners of a 3D printer can also create 3D designs on their computer to be printed. The 3D printing process turns an object into thousands of tiny slices, and then prints these slices bottom to top. These slices stick together to make a whole object. Each layer is complex, so the 3D printer has the ability to create moving sections such as hinges and wheels if spaces are left in the right places (Walker, 2013). This all seems good, but is this the next technology to fall foul of Jackie Fenn’s ‘Hype Cycle’? At the moment floods of good news is coming in about 3D printing with everyone talking about it from the President of the United States, to Amazon. But is this just the over enthusiasm that comes before everyone starts to slate the technology? As Vivek Wadhwa (2013) says in the Washington Post “We are only in the early stages of 3D printing. The curve is flat for the foreseeable future.” According to an email from the executive vice president of products from Stratasys, which makes 3D printers, 3D technology is like Moore’s Law. The resolution and speed of inkjet-based 3D systems, double every four years. Considering how it takes several hours to print something bread box sized, with time and cost increasing with the size of the object (Wadhwa, 2013), how good actually is this? It may be many years before this technology is fully ready. With printers like the Cube, how much are they actually needed in the home? I’m not saying we should ignore this technology, but I think it is better suited as an industry based machine. In the future I think it has great potential, maybe even being able to go on to print human body parts. Wordcount: 421 Bibliographycubify (a). (2013). Home. [Online]. Available from: http://cubify.com/cube/. cubify (b). (2013). How it Works. [Online]. Available from: http://cubify.com/how_it_works/cube.aspx?tb_howitworks_cube. Viner, B. (2013). So will this £1,200 gadget transform our homes - or just drive us all dotty?. Daily Mail. 14 Oct. p.15. Wadhwa, V. (2013). Washington Post. Let’s curb our 3D-printer enthusiasm, folks. [Online]. Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/08/02/lets-curb-our-3d-printer-enthusiasm-folks/. Walker, A. (2013). Independent. 3D Printing for Dummies: How do 3D printers work?. [Online]. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/3d-printing-for-dummies-how-do-3d-printers-work-8668937.html
In my last blog, I talked about one of Disney’s new developments which allows users to have interactive books without the need of batteries. In this blog I will be talking about another of Disney’s new technologies which they brought out around the same time. This new technology allows users to be able to touch the screen of a tablet, and feel images in 3D but on a flat screen.
This is able to happen because of an algorithm that Disney created. The algorithm was based on a discovery that when a person slides a finger over a real physical bump, the person perceives the bump because lateral friction forces stretching and compression of skin on the sliding finger (Anderson, 2013).
"Our brain perceives the 3D bump on a surface mostly from information that it receives via skin stretching," said Ivan Poupyrev, who directs Disney Research, Pittsburgh's Interaction Group. "Therefore, if we can artificially stretch skin on a finger as it slides on the touch screen, the brain will be fooled into thinking an actual physical bump is on a touch screen even though the touch surface is completely smooth."
Tactile feedback is usually done by having a library of canned effects that are played back when certain interactions happen, which is hard to do for dynamic visual content which is constantly changing. Disney’s algorithm doesn’t have a few effects but a set of controls that makes it possible to tune tactile effects to a specific visual artifact (Anderson, 2013).
So Disney use an electrovibration-based display which allows the human hand to feel textures of objects displayed on the screen (Strange, 2013). They determined a psychophysical relationship between the voltage applied to the display and the subjective strength of friction forces, and used this function to render friction forces that are the same gradient as the display shown (Anon, 2013).
I think this new technology could have a prominent place in the future of publishing. Touchscreen is becoming more and more the used technology with smartphones, tablets, e-readers and even desktop computers, so having the ability to touch 3-D objects on a flat screen will be a benefit as it will be enhancing the use of these objects. This technology will benefit publishers as it will bring an interesting new feature to e-books. For example, geography books and map topographies will now give readers the ability to feel what they can see. As I said in my first blog, tablets are becoming the top choice for children when e-reading. So with child e-reading on the rise, and a big brand name such as Disney at the forefront, this technology will be a big hit within the publishing industry.
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Below is a video of this technology:
Paper Generators are a clever piece of technology that Disney have recently created. They have found a way in which they can create interactive stories (including the lighting of LEDs, the use of e-ink displays and the movement of small motors) without the need of batteries.
How does this work?
Well, there have already been demonstrations by other researchers on how electrets can be used to convert finger tapping into enough power to light LEDs using expensive, microfabricated structures, but Disney researchers have found a way to do this in a cheap, low-tech way (Solon, 2013).
Disney’s Paper Generators rely on electrets (material that holds quasi-permanent electric charge), and involves a thin sheet of Teflon between two conductive layers of metallized polyester. The polyester serves as electrodes, and the teflon harvests energy when paper is rubbed against it, while the electrodes — if made to move relative to each other against the sheet — creates a tiny alternating current (Anon, 2013).
As well as the things listed before, this energy can also be harvested to be used to sound buzzers and power infrared communication devices. This means that this technology has the potential to make new interactive products such as books and posters without the need of batteries (Solon, 2013). Which in the world today, as conscious as it is with the decline of natural power resources and being green, fits right in. As we've seen before, the non-use of paper in e-readers and tablets, doesn't mean that the product is actually greener.
However, there has been no release date as of yet which says when this technology will be available to the public, and no reviews on the product. But from viewing the video below (which shows how paper generators work, and what they could be used for), the product still seems to be in developmental stages which explains the no release date. The product looks pretty basic, and I think it will have a hard time competing with digital products that can already do all this and more.
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Here is a video about this development development:
Environmental issues, carbon footprints and being green are all popular topics within this day and age. So it’s not a surprise when this subject is talked about within publishing. What is better for the environment? The traditional book where trees are cut down to produce paper, or e-readers which are made from plastic and non-recyclable materials. When looking at this issue “we must consider not only the trees needed to make paper versus the manufacturing of electronics products, but the shipping costs, fuel, and ultimately, the energy needed to recycle these materials at the end of their days” (Anon, 2013). The number of books being sold each year is increasing regardless of whether it is print or digital format. However, e-books still account for a small fraction of sales compared to print books due to things such as disposable income, availability of technology and connection to the internet (Moran, 2012). It is assumed that because there is a rise in digital reading, that traditional reading is on the decrease. However, the sales of traditional books are on the rise along with the digital. This means that the digital carbon footprint is being added on to the one of the traditional book. Here is a link to an article by Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris (2010), on The New York Times online, where they show you step-by-step (materials, manufacturing, transportation, reading and disposal) which out of the two is more environmentally friendly: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/04/opinion/04opchart.html?_r=0According to this article, the impact of one e-reader is equal to 40 to 50 books, and when it comes to global warming, 100 books. A more recent article by Alanna Brown (2013) in the Huffington Post shows that these e-reader manufacturers have lowered their carbon footprint. An e-reader now equals out to about 20 books. So avid digital readers are okay, but more casual readers are better off reading the traditional book. One major difference between the traditional book and the e-reader, is longevity. No matter how long a reader has a book, it will never go out of fashion or style. In fact, the older it is the better. But e-readers face the problem of not only braking and having to be replaced, but also being seen as a statement item. As with any technology, consumers want the newest and fastest product, so the e-reader also has the issue of being just thrown out. The advice of many articles I read about this subject, is that the greenest way around this subject is to just visit your local library. Wordcount: 435 BibliographyAnon. (2010). SCGH. E-Readers vs. Old-Fashioned Books—Which Is More Eco Friendly? [Online]. Available from: http://www.scgh.com/videos/e-readers-vs-old-fashioned-books%E2%80%94which-is-greener/Brown, A. (2013). Huffington Post. How Green are E-books and E-book Readers? [Online]. Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luxeco-living/how-green-are-ebooks-and-ebook-readers_b_3468080.htmlGoleman, D and Norris, G. (2010). New York Times Online. How Green is My i-Pad. [Online] Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/04/opinion/04opchart.html?_r=0Moran, N. (2012). The Millions. Are eReaders Really Green?. [Online]. Available from: http://www.themillions.com/2012/05/are-ereaders-really-green.html
With December approaching, it is nearly time for Bloomsbury Children’s launch of their new imprint ‘Bloomsbury Spark’. It will only be printing titles into physical books that will have gained success through the launch of the imprint, meaning the imprint will be 'e-book-first, print later'. The imprint will be focusing on fiction for teens, YA and new adult readers, and will cover multiple genres (including romance, contemporary, dystopian, paranormal, sci-fi, mystery, thriller) and will be publishing new and established authors (Bloomsbury, 2013). These books will be available anywhere that e-books are sold for example, Amazon and iBookstore (Bloomsbury, 2013). “The majority of today’s digital imprints are genre-focused and narrow in scope, but teen and new adult readers have diverse interests and tastes,” says Cindy Loh, U.S. publishing director for Bloomsbury Children’s Books. “We have designed Bloomsbury Spark specifically with the reader in mind.” (Publishers Weekly, 2013). You could say that the imprint is definitely reader focused, as according to a report made at the beginning of the year by Playscience (The ABCs of Kids and E-books, Understanding the e-reading habits of children aged 2-13, 2013) children’s e-book revenue raised 117% over the course of 2012 compared to 2011, bringing in almost $500 million. This showed that digital content was becoming an important aspect to children’s reading habits. The report also showed that from a nationally representative survey of 1200 parents, over half of the kids were e-reading, with 85% of them e-reading at least once a week. So based on these results, releasing an e-book-first imprint fits this market’s recent needs and trends, and gives better content to these readers, as e-reading seems to be where they are shifting to. How does this affect the future of reading? Well the second volume to the report above created by Digital Book World and Play Collective and made this summer (Back to School in an E-reading World: Understanding the e-reading habits of children aged 2-13, with a focus on educational ebooks and ebooks in the classroom, Volume 2 of the ABCs of Kids and Ebooks, 2013), talks about how now the tablet is the platform of choice for e-reading when surveying 750 parents of e-readers. The survey showed 84% had access to tablets, it’s the technology that 60% of them used most to e-read, and the use of dedicated e-readers dropped to 17% from 24% six months ago. The report also showed that Amazon’s Kindle Fire was more popular with families rather than the Apple iPad, which could be to do with the decreasing prices, increased advertising, and the selection of children’s books. Tablets tend to be more interactive, which makes reading new again and gives excitement to the experience, and makes reading more like playing. But if children from a young age are mostly reading electronically, and publishers are aiming at and selling e-books to children without the choice of a print version, and schools are starting to integrate the use of tablets in schools, what happens when they grow up? These readers are the future adult readers. So if they don’t read print books now, are they likely to read print books in the future? However, the results of these reports are based on figures from 2012, and according to Publishers Weekly (2013) in the first six months of 2013, sales of e-books in the children’s/young adult market fell by 22.1%. According to the same article, the drop could have been caused because of the increase in sales during 2012 because of bestsellers such as The Hunger Games. This means that there might not necessarily be a huge shift in reading from print to e-book, but that the rise in sales of children’s e-books during 2012 were caused by best sellers. Wordcount: 600 BibliographyBacon, B. (2013). tablets reign as digital platform for children. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/tablets-reign-as-digital-platform-for-children/Bloomsbury. (2013). Bloomsbury Spark. [Online]. Available from: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bloomsbury-spark/Digital Book World. (2013). kids have easier time reading when read to by iPad new study says. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/kids-have-easier-time-reading-when-read-to-by-ipad-new-study-says/Digital Book World. (2013). Report: kindle fire surpasses iPad as most popular e-reading tablet for kids. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/report-kindle-fire-surpasses-ipad-as-most-popular-e-reading-tablet-for-kids/Digital Book World, Play Collective. (2013). Back to school e-reading. [Online]. Available from: http://store.digitalbookworld.com/back-to-school-e-reading-world-childrens-report-t1046Greenfield, J. (2013). Look into the future of reading through young eyes. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/look-into-the-future-of-reading-through-young-eyes/#commentsPlayscience. (2013). ABCs of kids and e-books. [Online]. Available from: http://store.digitalbookworld.com/abcs-of-kids-and-ebooksPublishers Weekly. (2013). Adult e-book sales post small six month increase. [Online]. Available from: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/59157-adult-e-book-sales-post-small-six-month-increase.htmlPublishers Weekly. (2013). Bloomsbury Children’s Sets December Launch for e-book Imprint. [Online]. Available from: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/59380-bloomsbury-children-s-sets-december-launch-for-e-book-imprint.html
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