November 15, 2010 – The world of books is getting bigger and more complicated. The promise of digital is ultimate flexibility and portability, but unlike magazine or newspaper publishers, book publishers do not own their content outright. So where does that leave the pursuit of standards?
We found this interesting news on Publishing Perspective in their article, “The Future Of Rights: Standards And Shared Metadata.” The transition of books to digital format is going slowly, partly because all of those rights must be untangled, book by book, contract by contract, going back to the beginning of standing copyright sometime early last century. E-books represent over 10% of the market in the US now, up to 35% of sales for front list bestsellers. New multimedia devices like smart phones and tablets are opening up a worldwide market for enhanced content and for richly illustrated books.
This interesting article poses many questions, offers a few answers, and might stir some interesting discussions.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
