Simon Drake – Writer

I attended the Frankfurt Book Fair (2008), sitting in on eBook related forums and discussions.
I have two main observations: 1. The US wants Europe to pile into the eBook industry, and 2. the eBook Industry must lift its gain first.
Now for the details.
1. I attended an Amazon Kindle (AK) presentation. AK is keen for European publishers to move their titles to Kindle format. Fair enough, so far. I’m a writer and very small publisher and am based in Europe and have moved some of my titles to Kindle, and one of my publishers sells my Sci-Fi novels on Kindle. I like to be listed on Amazon Kindle but the market is restricted to who has the device – that means the US.
Even before the book fair there was the rumour that the Kindle would finally make its way to Europe – a rumour quickly squashed at the Book Fair by an AK Digital spokesperson, explicitly telling the media (gagging for news) that they should not expect any ‘ground breaking’ news. There was no collective sigh – Europeans are above mass hysteria for battery-run gadgets. The spokesperson ran through the presentation, basically telling the Europeans how wonderful it will be to have their titles on Kindle. But, where’s this Kindle? What good is it across the Atlantic? Is it being manufactured in China as week speak or is still on the negotiating table?
After the presentation, I asked the spokesperson if Kindle’s absence from the European market has to do with the billings system and foreign account settings (as a UK based publisher, selling ebooks via Mobipocket on Amazon Kindle, I can’t see my sales or get into any real statistics about my titles – shame, because most other vendors (Mobipocket and Lightning Source) can. And, when I do earn enough to be paid, I get paid by check in US dollars into a UK account – pain in the A$$ territory in the modern age. Is PayPal an obscene word now?). I asked if the absence of Amazon Kindles in Europe (that is, the physical sale of the reader) was due to a US company dealing with the Europe; complications with different countries, the dollar and euro conversion. The answer was that Amazon is a US dollar based company. Fair enough. I can imagine the hurdles when dealing with the Eurozone but haven’t other companies made their mark? Is the Euro (kicking-A over the US Dollar on the foreign exchange) such a nightmare to deal with?
I later read in the Bookseller (an uber-jolly British self-congratulatory publishing magazine for the UK publishing industry) that the real issue is Amazon’s securing of a pan-European Wifi network; multiple regions, multiple providers, multiple headaches. From personal experience and frustration of using a mobile phone across Europe, I sympathise – The EU exists because of multi-lingual glossy treaties while European Nations will sting you for exorbitant roaming charges. So, Dude/Monsieur/Chum, where’s my European Kindle? According to the Bookseller, ‘not before Christmas’. Well, what will I buy myself for Christmas then, a Sony Reader? Until AK is on the European market, Amazon has very little chance of European publishers migrating, in rapture and in droves, to Amazon Kindle wonderful world of digital publishing.
Now for #2. The next event I went to was about the ePub format. Many Europeans where there, mostly in suits, while I was there with my ‘developer’ hat on. The presenters were from Random House Digital, Sony Reader EU, Overdrive and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).
The IDPF is touting the ePub format. Hooray, one standard! Their Rep was quite open about the ePub’s state: it is new on the scene, arriving after other formats have made their presence, but it should be read by newer devices (iPhone, Sony Reader etc).
The Overdrive was trying to explain and teething dramas of converting books (from InDesign and Quark) into eBooks. He’s obviously been there, but I don’t think the audience has – they didn’t look like the grunts who will have to tinker desktop publishing files into XML and face the (sad) music from unhappy editors who moan about typos and font sizes and random page breaks… Don’t get me started – Show Me the Standard!
The Random House Digtital rep talked about similar issues; converting titles, the extra quality assurance required, and their 50/50 back catalogue/new titles mix.
(I can relate to the conversion issues: Converting a manuscript into an eBook is not done at the click of a mouse, you need to roll up your sleeves and tinker with HTML well into the night.)
Next the Sony Rep was glorifying their reader, it uses a propriety DRM but will work out how to deal with the ePub format.
My Observations: What a mess. How did something so simple get so convoluted and fraught with bugs? One eBook format won’t/can’t work with another. Perhaps I’m missing out the painful evolution of a long-overdue technology, but after so many years it still seems a mess – and though one standard (ePub) is welcome, I do wonder, what if it’s not the best, but something to suffer for the rest?
My Solution
1. Grin and bear it, take up one solution or format – Non-propriety ePub sounds good but from experience, when you convert a manuscript into an eBook – take care. It is not an easy process, because for ePub and PDF eBooks you need a mix of skills: desktop publishing and  typesetting, a bit of graphic design (for the scalable images) and XML/HTML and any other code the devices require.
2. Or, we can all go back to books. I don’t mind reading small sections of text on my PDA, but before I spend a wad of cash or swipe my credit card for an eBook device, it has to pass the Simon eBook Device Three B’s Test: Can it survive the Beach, the Bath, and if I spill Beer on it?