Rather than speculate on what might happen in the e-book sector this year, I thought it would be wiser to simply list the developments I’d like to see.
So although some, and perhaps all, of these are a long shot, here’s my short list of hopes and wishes for the e-book market in the New Year:
Less DRM – Publishers continue to be their own worst enemy with digital rights management. It’s part of what makes it so hard for publishers to create an effective direct channel, and it provides nothing more than a false sense of security. As I’ve said before, if a reader really wants to unlock and share an e-book there are a number of freely available DRM-removal utilities just a few clicks away. Plus, most readers have no idea where their mobi and ePub files are stored on their devices; those who do know the location probably already have a DRM-removal tool on their computer.
Better direct-to-consumer options – Once a publisher abandons DRM, it suddenly gets much easier to create a frictionless direct-to-consumer (D2C) solution. And of course, I’m not suggesting publishers should abandon retailers. But it’s time for publishers to diversify their channel strategy and focus more on the one channel they have 100% control over: their D2C channel. As I’ve said before, don’t assume “if you build it, they will come.” You need compelling reasons for consumers to buy direct (see here, here and here, for example).
New, sustainable unlimited e-book subscriptions – My Oyster subscription expired a few days ago, consistent with the sunset plans Oyster announced a few months ago. Oyster itself is about to expire soon, the victim of an unsustainable business model. The all-you-can-read subscription model is not dead though. I’m convinced the way forward is with topic verticals such as sports, religion, cooking, etc. They need to offer more than long-form book content, and they need to focus on building community. Think “membership” and the old AMEX line, “membership has its privileges.”
Better notes and annotations, outside the book – I’ve read quite a few e-books over the years and I’ve highlighted a lot of passages. I’ve also added notes to several, but not as many as I should have. The reason I haven’t annotated more is because I know those notes are stuck inside the book. I want a quick and easy way to export my highlights and annotations, collate them into other documents and make them fully searchable. For example, I’d love to see e-book applications embrace Evernote functionality, making it super easy to sync all my highlights and annotations to an Evernote folder.
I hope we see progress on all of these fronts in 2016, and I hope that the New Year is a wonderful one for you, your family and your organization.
