Danny O. SnowIn the middle of the e-book hurricane, it may be time for some calm thinking – along with a little debunking. Founder of Unlimited Publishing and book industry analyst Danny O. Snow tells Chris Kenneally now is a good moment for publishers and authors to stop all the rushing about.

“Having observed what happened in the music business ten years ago, we are on pins and needles not to be left in the dust of technology,” Snow says. “Actually, publishers are very lucky to be behind the curve, which is kind of surprising, but we can learn from the mistakes, and the good things, that are done by others.”

Without denying that the time has definitely come for book publishers to take e-Books seriously, Snow seeks to debunk some of the more prevalent myths about e-Books under current market conditions and technological realities. These are:

  • Myth #1: e-Books: will soon overtake tree-Books in the marketplace
  • Myth #2: EPUB format is a cure-all
  • Myth #3: e-Books Will Always be Hard to Publish
  • Myth #4: The Market for e-Books is Peaking

A senior research fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and a board member of the Independent Book Publishers Association, Snow admits that e-Books solve serious problems in traditional publishing, nevertheless, and that those benefits virtually insure continuing growth for e-Books.

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