Electronic rights-, power source or static?THE ELECTRONIC FUTURE
As soon as you scratch the surface of this issue contradictions
appear. For example, some see electronic rights as an exciting new
source of income—especially publishers, who are fighting furiously
to hang onto them. Others say the printed book is dying. My fellow
agent Richard Curtis even said in a recent issue of Publishers Weekly
that "we are living in the twilight of the print age."
Both sides cannot be right. If money is being made in the sale of
electronic rights, does that not imply that electronic publishers are,
in part, counting on a healthy and growing book sector to be a
source of their product?
What gives?
Common sense tells us that the printed book is not dying. As I
established in Chapter 2, book publishing has never been bigger or
more profitable. Further, all projections are for steady growth.
Nevertheless, new ways of transmitting data are en route. Surely
some of those will whittle away at the preeminence of the book?
Yes. In fact, certain types of publishing have already changed for-
ever, for example, reference publishing. If you have a spell-checker
on your computer then you have already seen the tip of that iceberg.
Also transformed are publishers of law, medical, accounting, and
other types of professional books.
Scholarly journals, believe it or not, are a hot center of contro-
versy. A huge philosophical debate is under way. Should electronic
access to, say, scientific research be limited? Is it right that scholar-
ship be available only to those who can afford to download it?
Should the Internet be free or commercial?
Good questions, but our focus is on trade publishing. Are com-
mercial books vulnerable to the electronic invasion? Yes, they are.
Many nonfiction books have already appeared in, or been acquired
for, electronic editions: tax help, video guides, Spanish lessons,
photography how-to's, and cookbooks.
You name it, it is coming to a screen near you—an interactive
screen, I should say, and fiction is not immune. Jurassic Park has
sold, as have Random House's extensive Modern Library editions,
John Steinbeck's backlist and Terry McMillan's best-seller Waiting to
Exhale. Getting nervous? I do not blame you. Few thoughts can make