Scribd and Zinio Offer Full-Length Books in a Browser

Two digital publishing sites have quietly started rolling out electronic books that can be viewed just using a web browser.

Random House is now offering several full length books for free on Scribd. The choices include The Surgeon, a 2002 novel by bestselling author Tess Gerritsen. What's also significant here is that Gerritsen is making the book available as a DRM-free PDF download.

Meanwhile Zinio, a site that offers digital magazines and textbooks, is expanding into mass-market books. Zinio has opened a digital bookstore that features a handful of titles. These include technology tomes like Social Media Marketing in an Hour a Day.

It's great to see the publishing industry experimenting with new formats. I personally think that book publishing is primed to see the same kind of disruption that the music business saw earlier the decade. This is why I am a fan of sites like Safari Books Online.

As mobile devices become more sophisticated, many consumers will aspire to do more in their browsers. This includes, for some, reading books. I think this will lead to a lot of experimentation with different business models. Two that come to mind are a-la-carte pricing for specific chapters and/or books that are free and supported through advertising.

Scribd, which has seen strong growth this year, and Zinio won't be alone. Google could start monetizing out of print books or even current bestsellers in a manner similar to what it has done with magazines. In addition, I would be highly surprised if by year's end the Amazon Kindle wasn't just a gadget but a platform that operates on many devices, including most mobile phones. They will increasingly face pressure from the iPhone.

It's early going and electronic reading is not for everyone. However, millennials and their younger sibings expect all media to be searchable and available in chunks. So this is why I am bullish about ebooks and think they will have a breakout year in 2009.

Comments

[Amit Agarwal]

I think Zinio should also consider launching their own reader device or they should just port the Zinio player to Sony or iRex.

[The Lovable Rogue]

Steve,Whilst I think that it is fantastic that the publishing industry is investigating new business models, I remain sceptical of suggestions that books will suffer a similar fate as the music industry. Although the experience of music can easily be replicated in digital form, the same cannot be said of books. Whilst I can understand the importance of searchable content, I am dubious as to whether digital content will ever provide a replacement for physical books in their entirety. Whilst I would suggest that the offering of electronic books alongside physical books is likely to become common practice, I imagine that physical books will remain dominant. Having said that, as the costs associated with producing electronic content are minimal, I see no reason why said content should not be made available simultaneously. In doing so, experimentations with appropriate business models could be conducted, and a solution for achieving the greatest all round value could be sought.

TLR

[Kevin Dugan]

Seems like there is room for consolidation here. Scribd does pdfs/books while SlideShare does ppts as its specialty. But lately DocStoc has seemed more interesting as it does any type of docustoc.ment. That would seem to have more potential to me. www.docstoc.com

[Serena Ehrlich]

Excellent article, Steve. Publishing and self-publishing on the web continues to grow at a rapid pace. Self-publishing sites like scribd and docstoc provide authors and publishers with tools that simplify the self-publishing/ebook promotion process, from 'email it in publishing' to widgets that allow you to embed your article onto any website. Not to mention, these sites have excellent natural SERPS. We at docstoc expect 2009 to be a huge year for the easy to find, easy to publish document.

The other great point you made is the micro-purchasing options that can come with ebooks and self-publishing such as pay-as-you-go chapters, encouraging purchasing by lowering the entrance price points.

One way we forsee authors/analysts using sites like docstoc is to upload 1-3 chapters or sections of their research reports for free, then charging for the remainder.

Thanks again, Steve. A great read.

Serena from www.docstoc.com

[Jeff]

I'm glad that you modified your projection with the word "some". There's going to be a variety of ways to read in the future...mobile devices, desktops, notebooks, and (gasp) print, too.

I do strongly agree that not everything needs to be a 300 page written book and there's a lot of possibilities for new writing styles that are more modular (i.e., chunks). The issue there is not a different way of reading but a different way of writing...writing in a way that uses not only text but images, audio, video, and links among a variety of different sources. Thinking in terms of e-books is entirely misleading. People have to think in terms of writing and reading on the Web, whether it's a desktop or mobile device.