Shaping a strategy for e-books

1. Shaping a strategy for e-books Louise Edwards JISC Collections Manager l.edwards@cranfield.ac.uk

2. Outline • What is an e-book? • Overview of e-book industry • Main issues on supply • The lowdown on the aggregators • Main issues on demand • Economic models • Forming a collection • Marketing strategy • Conclusions and discussion

3. What is an e-book? • A device by which to read books online • Multi-purpose e.g. Palm • E-book only e.g. Glassbook • Market specific e.g. GoReader • A book delivered by any online platform • Device • Pc or laptop via the Web • Material type • Monograph • Textbook • Reference

4. E-book devices Franklin Gemstar Palm GoReader

5. The supply side • Phase 1 (Late 1990s to late 2000) • Entrepreneurial activity in the US • New aggregators e.g. NetLibrary, Questia, Ebrary • New distributors e.g. Lightning Source, Versaware • New retailers e.g. Swotbooks • Phase 2 (Late 2000 to Late 2001?) • Funding dries up • Lower than expected sales • Phase 3 (Late 2001 onwards) • Consolidation • New players • Publisher direct Eduventures.com

6. Main supply issues • Availability of electronic format • Impact on distribution chain • Pricing • Understanding user demand

7. Trends - availability of electronic format • Extremes of digitised assets, from 100% of titles to almost zero* • Costs of digitisation means selective conversion • Most academic publishers currently have less than 10% of front-list and back-list digitised • Even over the next five years, many publishers predict less than half of their content will be digitised* • New content will gradually be produced in electronic format as part of publishing process • Mixed views on print-on-demand * Source: Publishing 2001

8. Trends - distribution • Traditional and new players in the distribution chain • Some aggregators experiencing the ups and downs of the ‘dot.com revolution’ • Mixed views from academic publishers on the impact of e-books on the distribution chain • Around 50% agreed that distribution chains would change over next 5 years, 50% said not* • Many expect growth of direct publisher-customer relationship • Mixed views on role of traditional players in chain* *Source: Publishing 2001

9. Price comparison between e-books and printed Source: Publishing 2001

10. The economics of e-books are very different • The relationship between libraries, booksellers, publishers and end users will change • Potential to sell content in a variety of ways • Financial transactions • outright purchase • subscriptions • pay-per-view • new models e.g. leasing • Content delivery • ‘complete’ individual e-books • subject bundles of ‘complete’ e-books • chapters; sub-sections

11. Examples of e-book aggregators • NetLibrary • Dot.com founded in 1998 • Close relationship with libraries • Traditional library business model • Up for sale • Questia • Established 1998 • 65,000 items in humanities and social sciences • Aimed at end user • Subscription period from 2 days to 1 year

12. E-book suppliers (2) • Ebrary • Backed by Adobe and 4 large publishers • Free browsing, micropayments for output • Works direct or with partners • MarketingOnline.co.uk • Publisher Butterworth-Heinemann • New approach to textbook publishing • Subscription model

17. JISC E-Books Working Group • Mission: to provide leadership in establishing a strategy for the develop of electronic books for the benefit of the academic community • Monitor and influence ebook industry • Acquire content for the DNER • Achieve a sustainable economic model • Promote content exploitation • Understand impact on institutions, libraries and users • Advise on content creation

18. Acquiring content: learning from NESLI problems of ‘one-size fits all’ - lack of flexibility of single national deals library budgets - devolved or centralised flexibility of choice: bundles; unbundling; linking print and electronic

19. The economics of e-books Clifford Lynch The battle to define the future of the book in the digital world www.firstmonday.dk/issues/current_issues/lynch/index.html • Can e-books be loaned or given to someone else? • Do you own an e-book or have access to it? • Can you copy an e-book for personal use?

20. Marketing strategy need to consult community extensively e-books reps list already established need to prioritise the targeting of specific content current US bias in e-book collections market research to map UK requirements joint research with publishers? engage user community in developing e-books collections development strategy engage publishers in marketing initiatives

21. User studies • University of Texas • One-third of e-book collection used • Heaviest use in computer studies, economics and business, medicine, engineering • Use of e-books through consortium access • Columbia University • On-line use concentrated on small number of titles • High student, low faculty use • Useful for identification, skim and then print • Cranfield University • No enthusiasm for online working • Useful as reference tool

22. Authoring • Electronic version of a printed book or a new genre? • New authoring skills required? • Roles and relationship between publisher and author? • See history e-book project • www.historyebook.org

23. Conclusions • Need to consult the community extensively • Prioritise on specific content • Market research to map UK requirements • Find appropriate economic models • Undertake end-user studies • Engage all stakeholders, including publishers and faculty E-book issues paper www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ebooks