Frankfurt eBook award funding dries up

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=339">http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=339</a><br /><br />Well, Microsoft has discontinued its funding of the Frankfurt eBook Awards. Microsoft had given <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/Oct99/FrankfurtAwardsPR.asp">$100,000 in 1999</a> and continuted to fund the awards until now. I am not sure how much of this is related to the poor showing of ebooks in the marketplace (thank the publishers for that) or squabbles between various ebook organizations, which you can read about in the article. Whatever the cause, I am sick of bad news in the ebook world. These little groups can spat amongst themselves as to how ebooks should work and the publishers can continue to sell a very select number of titles with asinine DRM restrictions all they want. The public will continue to give a big YAWN to the whole concept until people can buy (yes - <b>buy</b>, not rent) ebooks by well known authors, or it will remain a niche market. That may be what the publishers want anyway. They despise digital media and rather than find a DRM solution that protects their rights and allows people to get material at a reasonable price and with minimal headache, they would likely prefer the whole concept die and continue to sell us paper. Rant over. :-(

[Don't Panic!]

Luckily I fall directly into the ultimate niche market, Science Fiction. Baen Books is doing an excellent job in selling up to the minute titles at reasonable prices. You can even get titles a month before they reach the paper market. They've been doing it for the past three years and if it wasn't working you would think they would have shut that site down by now. Go to www.baen.com/library for some free samples, I wonder why other publishers don't follow their example? Could it be GREED?

Don't Panic!
Bobby

[Take1]

The eBook should be every book publisher's dream -- little overhead and you don't have to worry about the eBook showing up as a 'used' book option at Amazon. I purchased quite a few titles (both Peanut Press and MS Reader format) over the past couple of years and none of them have wound up on anyone else's PDA.

I don't know how much warez type activity is going on with eBooks, but I suspect there are some enterprising folk who are taking PAPER books, scanning them with OTR programs and sharing the text. That's probably how most eBooks are getting illegally distributed.

[Ed Hansberry]

I don't know how much warez type activity is going on with eBooks, but I suspect there are some enterprising folk who are taking PAPER books, scanning them with OTR programs and sharing the text. That's probably how most eBooks are getting illegally distributed.

Every single "shared" ebook I've seen is from people using scanners. I've never seen a Peanut Press or MS Reader ebook that was protected being pirated. I am sure they have been, but it must be on a remarkably small scale.