Who is to Blame for Slow E-Book Adoption in the UK?

February 11, 2010 Edward Nawotka 9 Comments

By Edward Nawotka

Today’s lead story by Liz Bury documents a recent meeting of the of the digital directors group of the UK Publishers Association. It’s clear from the comments of many present that more has to be done — and fast. The UK has lagged behind the US and, I would argue, Germany in e-book adoption, be it devices coming to market or publishers making titles available.

What’s surprising is that while France, Spain and others still debate the way to go forward with e-books as the rest of the world moves forward, the UK is right there with them. Traditionally, the UK would be more closely aligned with the US than the continent, at least in terms of publishing — particularly when the countries share the same language and many of the same corporate bosses.

All this leads me to wonder if it’s not evidence of some kind of corporate dysfunction that the UK publishers have not been faster to push e-books (YES, there are notable exceptions). Certainly there have been times when UK companies have had very innovative projects online (Penguin Dating, anyone?) but online and e-books are notably different.

Some may cite the lack of devices that have come to market. But surely there are companies working on homegrown readers. Didn’t PlasticLogic originate in Cambridge.

I wonder if, to some extent, the slow adoption of e-books in the UK doesn’t fall somewhere at the feet of the publishers themselves. Should there have been some transfer of technology and expertise among these multinational companies — Pearson, HarperCollins — that have large footprints on both sides of the English-speaking Atlantic? Is this yet another example of lack of communication and, ultimately, dysfunction?

Who is to blame?

Let us know what you think in the comments below or via Twitter using hashtag #ppdiscuss.

GD Star Rating
loading...

9 Comments → “Who is to Blame for Slow E-Book Adoption in the UK?”

Radical Changes Needed to Put UK E-book Strategy on Track

6 months ago

[...] DISCUSS: Who is to blame for slow e-book adoption in the UK? [...]
robert hyde

6 months ago

It’s very deja vu to see Fionulla Duggan and Sara Lloyd’s names leading this discussion. 15 years ago they were at the forefront of the discussion as to whether the CD-ROM would make the printed book obsolete. We (I was there as well)got it all dramatically wrong back then. It is tempting to see parallels here, but this time I reckon a change is truly underway. Your question as to why the US is so far ahead of the UK in taking up e-books? I would venture to suggest that it is primarily a question of relative wealth. There are far more people over the pond in a position to afford a £250 reading device than over here. A device, which, let’s be honest, still looks remarkably clunky. The iPad will probably change this situation, though I must say I am perfectly happy reading books on my iPhone. When the price comes down, so will the uptake dramatically increase over here.
Corporate dysfunction? Probably on both sides, not just here. You can’t overnight expect a generation of managers brought up to create and distribute a physical product to embrace something so wholly different. The problem is that in the transitional period between physical and digital- 10 years?- the industry will still need to have people with two sets of skills.
Marion Tzichlibly

6 months ago

The answer to this question:
Who is to Blame for Slow E-Book Adoption in the UK? is to be found within the ‘Publishing Houses’ themselves. Very slow and wary in anything they don’t fully understand or see as a potential threat. Instead of embracing new technology they seem to shy away from it.
Technology already exists within the UK. Technology created and developed for the Uk, its publishers and authors.
Traditional publishing, as we know it, needs to embrace change and take that much needed step.
Regards
M
Andrew Malkin

6 months ago

Anxiety, fear and the difficulty within larger houses to push through a decision that broadly impacts content are all contributors from my experience. Many lack the staff to participate as widely as they would like too. I can say that conversations with UK houses, at least those unitiated, is more about DRM/privacy and rights concerns but the other obstacle of revenue justification. If you are so focused on that last part rather than experimenting, finding new customers, getting consumer information, potentially testing out new products and prices, then you should pack it up or get on the beam. I think many wait for the better devices to arrive at lower prices and use that as a stalling technique as well as the overwhelming feeling of where do I start between DAMs, rights, formats, conversion houses, retailers and much more.
Theresa M. Moore

6 months ago

As a publisher of my own ebooks I have found it difficult at best to work with ebook hosting sites in the UK when there are obstacles like the conversion engine not being able to parse apostrophes in the titles being listed. When that gets fixed I will be delighted to participate. Also, the issue of ISBNs being required on ebooks is a barrier to those of us who know that there is no inventory to carry. Amazon has no problem hosting ebooks without them, and neither does Barnes & Noble, yet many UK hosts seem to think they are necessary. It is apples and oranges where many readers are concerned. They want the product, not the number. So when UK hosts open up to us independent publishers we will feel more welcome.
Margaret Harrison

6 months ago

OverDrive distributes publishers’ content into many UK channels, including leading institutions, and retailers such as Waterstone’s and WHSmith. An application for publishers is available at http://www.contentreserve.com/publisherapplication.asp.
Marco

6 months ago

Theresa is correct – while OverDrive are doing a great job of attempting to squirt new ebooks into as many channels as possible, the reality is that the only major retailer of eBooks in the UK is Waterstones’ online service. And with all due respect, it ain’t Amazon or iTunes.

When Amazon and iBooks hit, and if there is the equivalent of specialists like Fictionwise and, for the fantasy/SF types Baen Subscriptions etc, there will be far more pick-up. But right now, customers cannot find eBook files easily enough.
Tony Newson

6 months ago

Might it not just be that the public are quite happy with reading a traditional book? Why does the book industry feel it has to try and force the market in a direction where it thinks it should be going – rather than where it wants to go? There’s a terrific article on the Book Trade Info site about this – http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/25652
The book and reading is NOT like the vinyl record and music. The book is the major part of the reading experience – why use just another machine to try and replicate this same experience?
Kobo UK: “First of Many International Launches this Year”

6 months ago

[...] this month we wondered why the UK was so far behind other countries in e-book adoption. Well, things are suddenly heating up: Kobo, the Canadian e-book [...]