Check out this really interesting article and comments at the Bookseller about e-books. I especially agree with the comment by Daphne. If publishers don't come up with an across-the- industry strategy, then they will ultimately lose out to the likes of Amazon who will set the terms and take a huge slice for themselves.
What users want is a reader that works and one that allows them to read all books - novels and illustrated non-fiction. That should be a given. All the publishers should adhere to this format.
If anyone lives in a family of mobile phone users, how many drawers are full of tangled-up chargers? The e-reader should be charged by something universal. Hopefully the Europe-wide charger that is about to be launched.
When I caught sight of my first e-reader - on a bus from Tremezzo to Como, looking over the shoulder of the man reading it - I noticed that he scrolled down what looked like a book page. At the foot of each page was a line of small text, presumably stating it was the bottom of the page. This seems clunky but as with many people who yack on about e-readers, I haven't actually held one so I don't know if this is the norm.
I personally think that the market for e-readers will be boys, men and students. Women will use them for information (recipes, dictionaries, DIY, helping children with schoolwork, etc) rather than leisure. I could be wrong about this, but it is gut instinct.
The human e-reader is going to be web-savvy, know where to get things for free. It is therefore important to set a price that they are willing to pay, not what the publisher thinks it deserves. Maybe the solution is to adopt a loan system. After all, it is not like an e-book is something you can keep on a shelf.
Why not offer them for rent for £2 or £3 or £4 as well as for firm sale. The rent should last 3 months after which the e-book will eat itself.
Publishers need much more imput from their staff to come up with a creative solution. They have to think much more laterally. They should test out current e-readers on interested staff and find out what they like and don't like about them and how they can be improved. That is just the start. But if they don't hurry up, someone outside the industry will come up with a winner.
When I was at HarperCollins they brought in a speaker to motivate us. He said something that has stayed with me. The story told of how he was a spotty short teenager living in the Welsh mountains and was in love with Lisa, the lovely tall girl in his class. He had personality, but what use is that when you are a spotty short Welsh boy? Then as he was walking by a shoe shop window he saw the answer to his dilemma - red (with blue laces) four-inch platform shoes. At last Lisa was in his reach. Prior to walking by the shoe shop he had no idea that this was the answer to his dream, he would never in a million years have come up with this as a solution. That is genius marketing - providing a product that your customers were completely unaware that they wanted. Apologies to the man who told this story. I forget this name.
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