The American David Naggar is one of the protagonists of the revolution that has affected the publishing industry and the reading habits. Their connection to the book market comes from the cradle – his mother, Jean, is a writer and renowned agent. Soon after graduating in marketing he has gone to work on large publishers like the New York-based Random House. In 2009, he went to Amazon, which is still, as vice president of Kindle content. In the new home, driving the digitization of books, comics, magazines, everything you read.
Under his leadership, the company failed to publish only e-books on your e-reader and has made available the catalog in applications for computers, smartphones and tablets from competitors. It also invests in the production of “indies,” the authors that autopublicam without the means of publishing, the Internet. This, also, is now one of Amazon’s specialties, owner of the KDP platform where writers can make available, free of charge, his books on Kindle. Hence born bestsellers as 50 Shades of Grey and Lost on Mars .
On a visit to Brazil, Naggar gave the following interview to the SEE site . It provides what the future of reading and spikes that it is not the end of traditional publishing houses, but rather a complete reconfiguration of the market.
As the digitization of books, magazines, everything you read, changed reading habits? Suddenly, we now have in one device like the Kindle or tablets and smartphones, access to millions of titles able to be read after 60 seconds, the time it takes to download them. This immediacy, the almost instant access, democratized reading like never before occurred in history. For example, it used to be very difficult to have access to some foreign works, as strictly in English or German, in countries like Brazil. I had to wait years for the translation, or months for an order came with the book. Now, the title is achieved in seconds. Besides the ease of access, this is a revolution that also directly affects the way we read. You can, for example, read on a smartphone while waiting in line at the bank or the dentist. Without having to remember to charge a heavy amount of paper with you. More than that, your entire library will be available in your hand, the mobile application. This is an essential transformation, adapting to profound reading even complex books, to the contemporary world. Twenty years ago, an individual going to a bookstore for the sole purpose of buying books. There was nothing else competing for your attention. Today, when you connect your smartphone, your tablet, your computer, you choose whether you want to spend time checking Facebook, watching a YouTube video, playing Angry Birds or reading. Literature began to compete with a huge universe of cheaper options, if not free, entertainment. For the book have chance to win this competition for time and attention, we need to be where the player is. That is, offer him also the option to read, cheap and practical way, on the same device that constantly uses for other activities.
This is a change that affects only the reader, and also the way we write? Think of KDP, Amazon’s (the self-publishing system of the brand, in which writers offer no online books through publishers) . Since I was born alive in the world of writing, since my mother’s literary agent. Before coming to the Amazon, I was top executive in traditional publishers. As always worked logic to publish a book? Almost everyone has the idea to write something. But few are those who can an agent to help publish it. Let’s say 5% of the total. Of those, an even smaller percentage persuades a publisher to work with his work. In other words, it was a bargain for the few. With the internet, and innovations such as the KDP, intermediaries can be eliminated. If a publisher does not give attention to what someone wrote, the author can simply switch to online work and compete on equal terms with bestsellers on Amazon.com. This changes the logic of the literary market. Did you know that JK Rowling, Harry Potter author, was rejected thirty times before a publisher, Little, accept it? What if she had given up on the twentieth “no”? We cease to have the stories of Harry Potter. How not want to relinquish their designs against the rejection? With the online world, opened new alternatives. Best-sellers as 50 Shades of Grey and Lost on Mars have emerged in this new model, via KDP. Today, 30% of e-books sold over the Amazon are “indies” (term for “independent,” the authors that autopublicam) . People who probably never would have space in the old form of publication were rich using contemporary possibilities.
It’s the end of traditional publishing? Not at all. Publishers have an irreplaceable role and perform an amazing job together with the authors. However, they need to, yes, to adapt to the modern world. He went up to have more alternatives to readers and writers. Thus, competition is greater. There are several effects of that. For example, in Brazil, historically, books are very expensive. Today, that strategy no longer works. There is dirt cheap entertainment options on the Internet, including reading. Therefore, Brazilian publishers have seen compelled to lower prices. Worth, as ever, the economic laws. But, I repeat, is not the end for them. What happened, in an analogy, it is that before had only one restaurant in town, with 50 customers. With scanning, became 1000, with thousands of customers. In this case, “restaurants” are publishing platforms. The “clients” are the authors and readers. The effect, we feel now is that the literary industry has never been as healthy as today.
If the benefits are for everyone, why some publishers, such as the French Hachette, and authors best -sellers complain of the proposed model by Amazon? Mainly’s strategy to radically lower e-book prices, compared to the value of physical versions. Amazon’s response to those complaints is “look to the future.” If they want to compete in earnest with all that now the reader has access, similar to Facebook, we need to be more accessible. This includes selling cheaper books, something possible to do, with good profit in the online world. If you do not lower the price, the reader will dedicate their time to something else.
In response to the arrival of Amazon in this industry, some publishers have adopted practices such as late publication of e-book titles in compared to their physical issues. These strategies actually increase sales? Not at all. So much so that no great publishing house maintained this practice in recent years, although we are aware that some Brazilian publishers think of doing that. The point is that with this method, the message that goes to the reader is, “you need to adapt their reading habits to what we want.” You think, even, that someone, as a teenager, used to smartphones and tablets, will turn your everyday to buy a book at the bookstore only because they do not have the online option? Our statistics show that this does not occur. If there is no digital option, the player who likes this format takes one of two attitudes. Or arranges a pirated version on the Internet – and, I assure you, there are many sites that offer this – or choose something else to read. Then, another problem occurs in the strategy. The publisher go there and spend a lot on marketing to launch a title. However, only available in bookstores. Then when you finally decide to have a digital version, there is no more money to give gas in disclosure. Ie the one client who did not want to buy the physical edition, and chose to spend their time with other activity, nor is knowing when you wanted to read reaches the internet. In short, the publisher only lose sales with such tactics.
In Brazil, e-books account for about 5% of the book market. Why here that such a reading revolution is not occurring so fast? Do not believe it. To get this number, 5%, is not well understood. E-books do not have much success, for example, in the educational sector. I’m sure if the percentages are sliced, and consider regular literature only, there will be a substantial increase our penetration. Moreover, the account does not consider the “indies”. It is another factor that would change the scenario. I would also add the works in foreign languages, often available only at online. Finally, in any event, our representation in the market has increased by 40% per year. This is surprising, especially when you consider how old and established is the literary industry.
There are many critics of digital reading, as the American writer and researcher Nicholas Carr, who e books and the like can destroy the habit of dipping into a work for hours. Do you believe that tablets and smartphones have even, privileged only quick and superficial reading? Not at all, because people adapt. When you look at the new generation, it is remarkable how getting used to read on smaller screens. However, even in deep reading of large books. I believe, even, that the choice of what we read in digital, or physical, it is up to each client. Some will prefer digital fiction and nonfiction in traditional versions. With others, it will be the opposite. We will adapt. And also will shape technology to us.
For some, tablets and e-readers may seem destined to last for a short time, compared with new gadgets that come up, such as smart watches or spectacles computerized. Do you believe that in the future, reading and writing habits will change again? The logic is actually simple. When the way people access content changes, it is also necessary that the content becomes. Or at least your presentation. In China, for example, it is in vogue a new type of literature, where many writers take turns to spin the same story that never ends and is disclosed strictly online. Experiences like that arise when new platforms appear. It will always be this way. As will be in the future? I have no idea. But this logic will not change.
- TAGs:
- Kindle
- Smartphones
- Tablets
- Amazon
