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Amazon's Kindle is one of many e-book readers currently available to the public. These e-book readers implement an electrophoretic display or e-paper technology which may have ramifications for libraries and publishing. Due to its low energy consumption, low heat production, and thin and portable form factor, e-paper stands to revolutionize how we access and consume information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to assess the extent to which die digital book market is structuring independently from the print edition market by comparing the pricing of 559 digital and print French and American bestsellers during 2011. Two pricing methods are distinguished: "homothetic pricing," where the digital pricing is a reflection of the print pricing, and "heterothetic pricing," where the digital price is set according to new rules. The French and American markets do not have the same propensity to overcome the pricing practices in the print book market: While the French market's e-book structure is mirroring that of the print book industry, die American market tends to be more independent. This can be explained by die significant structural, legal, and institutional differences between the publishing industries of both countries. In addition, some factors favor die "heterothetic" pricing method: the number of pages and the type of book influence the degree of differentiation between print and digital prices of the same title [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For students with print impairments, e-books offer great potential to remove barriers to information. However, for various reasons, not all e-books are fully accessible. Significant variability exists between different platforms and titles. To benchmark e-book accessibility, a group of library and disability professionals across the UK higher education sector organized a crowdsourced e-book accessibility audit, using simple criteria to capture end-user experiences. The audit can act as a framework for librarians and e-book providers to discuss accessibility and effect improvements. This audit was of 275 e-books from 65 publishers across 44 platforms, resulting in an interactive spreadsheet on the project website and individual feedback reports for each platform. Most of the volunteer auditors had little accessibility expertise so a byproduct of the process was training to introduce key accessibility concepts and support for those using the audit tool. This paper explores the process, including key findings from a follow-up questionnaire for testers. The results indicate increased awareness of e-book accessibility and empathy for disabled learners and an appetite for further training, in particular using e-books with screen reading and text-to-speech software. The study suggests crowdsourced research can be highly effective on multiple levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite electronic book (e-book) piracy being viewed by many rightsholders as the greatest contemporary challenge to the publishing industry, there is little research evaluating different anti-piracy methods, and explaining how they work. This paper explores the technological methods that United Kingdom and United States publishers, and their representative bodies, are using to tackle the growing challenge of e-book piracy. Through interviews with industry experts (including consultants, publishers and representatives) and publishing case studies, this paper brings together knowledge previously published and considered separately. The systems considered include The Publishers Association Copyright Infringement Portal, and Digital Rights Management in its various forms. Through these systems, we can reveal a lack of nuanced understanding in the motivations and methods of illegal file sharing, which have led to unsuccessful blanket solutions to a complex problem. By teasing out these problems, this paper will act as a point of reference for current anti-piracy measures, and consider the future options for an industry increasingly using the World Wide Web to distribute content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As e-books start to move from experimentation to expansion in certain sectors and regions of the world, this paper looks to take a fresh approach to the conundrum of aggregator choice. Is the aggregator route the right decision for all types of publisher? What should publishers be looking for in an aggregation partner? What should be expected or requested both in terms of basic provision as well as value-added services. And what will the aggregators expect from their publishing partners? With an emphasis on practical suggestions and tips on how all parties can get the most out of the relationship, this paper explores how things are changing as digital moves to front of stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The aim of the research was to increase understanding of the state of e-book production in Lithuania and collect the data about the opinions of publishers regarding the future of e-books in the country. Method. A review of similar surveys in other countries was carried out and the research method was based on Winston's model of innovation diffusion. The questionnaire to publishers was prepared using the models of book publishing and distribution or book circuit developed by Murray and Squires. Data were collected by surveying respondents using paper and online questionnaires. Analysis. A quantitative descriptive statistical analysis was carried out, while open questions were analysed qualitatively looking for emerging topics. Results. More than half of active Lithuanian publishers completed the survey. Thirty per cent of those who answered the questionnaire publish e-books, but only six publishers had published a significant number of titles. The overall perception of other actors of the book market, such as libraries, book-sellers and self-publishing authors and others is positive. They are not regarded as a threat. The publishers do not expect rapid and significant growth of e-book market in Lithuania in the near future. Conclusions. The biggest hindrance to growth is a small size of the market and the lack of an export market for Lithuanian e-books. The demand of users for portable and convenient format and the use of new technologies in the educational system are the two biggest drivers in the development of ebook production. The user preference for traditional printed book is seen as one of the barriers for further development. Lithuanian publishers regard the market of e-books as rather uncertain and do not risk high investments in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the results of the case study conducted on a sample of 17 websites that identify themselves as e-book aggregators, five platforms for content publishing and 16 websites that present themselves as e-book distributors. While conducting the case study, the answers were sought to the questions about location of website, its owners, activities, distribution channels, services, partners, languages, content protection, scope of activities, number of authors and books, publishing areas, formats, etc. Based on the case studies, the results presented focus on the geographical distribution of the analyzed companies, distribution of companies according to the year in which they were established, distribution of companies by activity, the number of different input formats supported by aggregation companies, a separate service of conversion, output formats supported by aggregation companies, distribution on platforms and in bookstores, content protection options, possibilities of editing content in the cloud, models of payment for services, and other identified services. Based on the results of the study, a conclusion is made that e-book aggregation as a business model exists and that its further development will show the extent to which it is sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The point of departure for this paper is the twofold analogy (analogy of content, analogy of medium) between printed and electronic books, the aim being to draw attention to the usual perception of their capacities and relationships, to provide a rather detailed analysis of the outcome and sustainability of such analogies and ultimately to indicate the drawbacks involved. Method. The contextual analysis of contents of the key themes is employed; in the articulation of the conclusions, analytic and synthetic approaches are used. Results. The definitions of the e-book are not consensual or sustainable, rather reflect the current developmental phase of the phenomenon. The emphasis is placed upon changes, and continuity is ignored, and it is not seen that the possibility of analogies derives from a long historical development. While the analogy of content is sustainable, for it implies the reproduction of the same discourses in different media, analogy of medium is not, for the interactive capacities permitted by the printed and the electronic medium are different. Conclusions. The e-book discourse has to be expanded by understandings drawn from cognate areas such as book history, publishing studies and in general by those from the extremely useful insights employed in the cultural-historical approach, for all the media functioning in any given period coexist and affect each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article includes an overview of the development of e-publishing in Estonia. The treatment is based on the analysis and comparison of existing research, mainly student papers; statistical data from the database of Statistics Estonia and the National Library of Estonia, articles in the periodical press and homepages of various institutions. The beginning of the article presents the description of the publishing industry during the 2000s. In accordance with the development of economy the book production has moved from the peak in the mid-2000s to recession in 2008-2010. The declining market led to the decrease in print runs (since 2008) and book title production (since 2010). The number of publishers, however, increased even during the crisis. The small-language market is of no interest to international companies, so the book industry works on local capital. Estonia is characterised by early adoption and wide use of the Internet. The web publishing by organisations, associations and individuals is widespread since mid 1990s, but commercial publishers remained aside of this trend. As in many other European countries, especially small countries, the publishers were uncertain about the application of copyright in the digital environment and technological skill gaps. These worries were largerly overcome by the establishment of e-publishing service providers in 2010, which led to the take off in the publishing of e-books. The number of e-books produced and the sales have increased a number of times, but their share of the book market is rather marginal. The book buyers and readers still hold to traditional book form. The official cultural policy, however, favours e-books and supports different projects that provide free access to Estonian classical literature and modern authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most European e-book markets are currently being created. Publishers are going through a transitional phase and together with the printed content creators becoming the designers of e-content. The integration of technology into business processes is becoming an important business challenge together with the creation of new publishing products. All this is possible only through mutual work of other sectors in the creative industries. The paper tries to show the possibilities a small publisher has and identify the obstacles to the development of such markets. It discusses the advantages of a traditional publisher compared to new entrants, the skills that a traditional publisher develops and implements. One of the obstacles for the development of a small market is a high VAT rate for e-books throughout Europe. A special emphasis will be put on the Croatian market, which upon the entrance to the European Union had to apply a new tax policy regarding books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon a recent review of the relevant literature in both English and Chinese, this paper assess the current state of and future prospects for digital publishing in China. It addresses developments both in the context of ongoing technological and organizational change and with regard to the wider social and cultural dimensions. Embodying a simulated SWOT exercise it considers the current and likely future state of digital publishing in China through the eyes of western publishers seeking to do business in that country. Digital publishing in China is still in its infancy, while perhaps remaining more opaque to western observers than was expected. Issues around ownership, industry structure, operating platforms, stakeholders, piracy and intellectual property remain critical. Perhaps more than anything, and certainly much more than in the West, the issue of culture, not only in terms of national values and perspectives but also in terms of how things are done, remains a potent influence on business relationships with foreigners. In the West this continues to feed perceptions of legal and commercial uncertainties, risks to intellectual capital and obstacles to the production and distribution of knowledge and ideas. Whatever the perceived downside to such phenomena however, China is still regarded as a major growth market for western publishers. It concludes that whereas there are many opportunities for both parties, and that both can learn from each other, the learning curve is likely to be much steeper on the western side, owing to the significance of the social and cultural dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an announcement regarding various research papers published in the February 2004 issue of the journal "American Naturalist." the journal is taking this course for three reasons, scientific publishing is changing rapidly, electronic publishing is taking larger role, the advent of electronic publishing is radically changing its way in which scientific way can be communicated. There are advantages to the publishing articles electronically because such papers will be freely available to anyone on the Internet.

In this paper, we propose a discussion on e-books as a marked product, not just as a discursive framework or because its format, but also by an editorial process at least partially distinct from the printed book. Moreover, the concepts of material formats and reading practices help to deal with aspects of reading modes that are in evidence when books and e-books are referred. Devices for reading and reader's experience seem to have a key role in proposing a process for publishing electronic books. It is argued here that, since the editorial processes of the printed book and eBook are partly differentiated, besides offering different size and experience, the book could be considered simply as a metaphor of the new editorial product produced to be read in new devices. If the entered text genres are the same, the objects are not, and thus it can be said that those genres that are published in a book not necessarily characterize it, but other elements of its characterization. The arguments posed here are based on discussions on editing processes (Eco and Carriere, 2010; Darnton, 2010; Chartier,1998, 2000, 2002; and Procopio, 2010). The concepts of formats are based on Távora (2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Book digitization is having a significant impact at all economic, business and legal levels. Concepts that had prevailed since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago have to be changed. With self-publishing, authors do not need publishers, and some indie (independent) are getting an enthusiastic public reception, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. For their part, publishers, who traditionally had been confined to one language and one territory, can easily reach a global scale with the advent of the e-book. Large multinational companies like Amazon and Apple have already landed in Europe, and soon they will arrive in the rest of the world. The e-book is not only a change from paper to digital but is also having a substantial impact on reading habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Editech 2011 conference identified that publishers need to follow new paths and experiment more rapidly in all the areas of business related to a growing number of new digital publishing activities. Most important they need to rethink all the relationships actually in place with all the other factors in the publishing value chain and then radically reinvent their role in the quickly changing digital and ebook businesses. It is clear that now most of the changes are driven by the big three Google, Amazon, Apple and the publishers are following. However, especially in Europe the publishers have different approaches based on a brief review of selected key papers presented from different countries and sectors of the digital publishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the topic of electronic books (e-books) and the effect that these digital devices and other new technologies has on the publishing industry. Contemporary society often claims that the publishing industry is dying and that the innovation of the e-book will eventually sentence the printed book to death. But this study will show that such is not the case. While it is true that the world is undergoing a digital revolution, publishers today have not been left in the dust, because these firms have embraced electronic publishing (e-publishing). The invention of e-books opens a world of opportunities and since the e-book market is still in its growth stage, there is much work left to be done. As with any new venture, the industry faces certain challenges, such as piracy, but with tools like encryption, digital asset management (DAM), digital rights management (DRM), and digital object identifiers (DOI), publishers are well on the way to a solution. While it is safe to say that the digital revolution has forever changed the face of publishing, e-books could actually revitalize the industry. No one knows what the future of e-publishing will hold, but developments affect publishing houses, authors, and consumers alike. And while the ultimate fate of the printed book is yet unknown, for now, it is here to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a quantitative study exploring the online usage of the electronic book collection at the J.N. Desmarais Library at Laurentian University, Canada. In 2009, e-book usage statistics were evaluated to provide a better understanding of how the e-book collection has been utilized. Both current electronic book usage data and data from previous years are reported in order to present and understand general patterns in how the electronic book collection is, and has been utilized. The number of e-books, the number of viewings and the number of searches were examined. The size of the collection grew from a single book in 2002 to more than 60,000 in 2008. The pattern of purchase varied from that of bulk purchasing of large e-book collections, to selective purchasing between 2005 and 2007, and then back to bulk purchasing in 2008. Both viewings and searches have increased from year to year at a greater pace than the size of the e-book collection. The number of searches also appeared to provide a viable means of measuring the use of an e-book collection rather than relying entirely on viewings or downloads. Ratios were calculated to compare viewings and searches to the size of the collection. The highest viewings per ebook and searches per e-book ratios were observed in those years when purchasing was done more selectively. It is also clear that the electronic reference collection has seen far greater use than the electronic monographs. Furthermore, usage of electronic monographs appeared to be directly proportional to the size of the collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interpretive study of change in Australian book publishing, included a survey of book publishers and the conduct of 14 case studies in five categories of publisher: general trade, academic, professional, specialist and university. This paper reports in detail on the experience on one general trade publisher as it sought to face the challenges of globalization and of organizational and technological change. The major finding was that digitization is indeed, impacting on business models for book publishing, with current models comprising something of a hybrid between the traditional and the innovative. Reflecting the presence in Australia of similar trends and issues that are affecting book publishing around the world, the findings are of relevance both to book publishers and to researchers. The work is original in that relatively little recent academic research has been conducted into book publishing in Australia, particularly as regards the implications of digitization for business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to show the most important developments of the e-book in the last 10 years. Special emphasis is on the activities contributing to the creation of favorable condition for the production, distribution and reading electronic books. Successful information management with regard to e-books means defining the term e-book itself, developing identification systems, digital rights management and legal deposit as a part of digital libraries and cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper reports on the development of a tool for searching the contents of licensed full-text electronic book (e-book) collections. Setting: The Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) provides services to the University of Pittsburgh's medical programs and large academic health system. Brief Description: The HSLS has developed an innovative tool for federated searching of its e-book collections. Built using the XML-based Vivisimo development environment, the tool enables a user to perform a full-text search of over 2,500 titles from the library's seven most highly used e-book collections. From a single "Google-style" query, results are returned as an integrated set of links pointing directly to relevant sections of the full text. Results are also grouped into categories that enable more precise retrieval without reformulation of the search. Results/Evaluation: A heuristic evaluation demonstrated the usability of the tool and a web server log analysis indicated an acceptable level of usage. Based on its success, there are plans to increase the number of online book collections searched. Conclusion: This library's first foray into federated searching has produced an effective tool for searching across large collections of full-text e-books and has provided a good foundation for the development of other library-based federated searching products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papers on the cataloging of electronic resources have focused on electronic journals and Internet resources such as Web sites and not on electronic books. Electronic books are nonserial monographic resources accessed with a computer either directly or remotely. Rules and standards for cataloging electronic resources have changed and continue to change. This article discusses the electronic book as a unique manifestation and provides practical instruction on the application of current cataloging rules. The cataloging elements covered are control fields and variable data fields, including classification, uniform titles, title information, edition information, type and extent of the resource, publication and distribution information, physical description, series statements, notes, and subject analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between August 2000 and August 2002, the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia distributed over seven million freely-available electronic books to users from more than 100 different countries. Delivered in a variety of formats, including .lit and .pdb, these ebooks have provided proof-of-concept for the adaptive uses of TEI standards beyond the World Wide Web – standards that the Electronic Text Center has employed since its inception in 1992. The first half of this paper discusses the mechanics of ebook production at the Etext Center, the limits of the current technology, and the conversion workflow we hope to implement in the future. The second half discusses user response to our ebook collection, classroom applications of ebook technology, and the advantages and disadvantages that different formats offer to scholars and instructors in the humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses the technological and social impacts of electronic books and electronic publishing. The authors examine the ways that intellectuals in the humanities fields interact with computerized information resources. The article calls for increased users studies to determine the ways that reading has changed when one interacts with digital texts rather than printed ones. Some of the topics discussed include the methods that scholars in the humanities conduct their research, the design and construction of online information resources, and how humanities scholars are different than scientists in the ways that they approach research tasks.