London
8 April 2014
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Digital Minds: Look beyond
Stand G470
Visit us at
the book, keynotes urge
PubMatch
At last year’s Digital Minds conference, author Neil Gaiman e n c o u r a g e d publishers to “try
everything”, advice that was
echoed at this year’s event, as a
morning of keynote speakers
urged publishers to look beyond
the book, writes Andrew
Albanese. “I do not believe that
books will ever die,” said author
Anthony Horowitz in his
opening keynote. “At the same
time we cannot deny we are in an
extraordinary transition, and it
does seem to me sometimes that
publishers are not grabbing the
nettle because they are too afraid
of getting stung.”
the lack of reading for pleasure
in schools. “If you don’t start
young, if you don’t consecrate
readers, you will pay the price
down the line,” he warned. “If
I was to sound a warning for
the future it is that we need to
nurture our love of reading.”
ecosystems is that they deny you
the book’s electronic existence,”
he said, “offering readers
the simulacrum of a page,
piercing every letter with
needles to hold them in place on
the screen, and giving the
companies behind them control
of the ecosystem by limiting the
real possibilities.”
upgrade
That fear, Horowitz noted,
was understandable. He opened
by comparing publishers of
literary fiction to animals in
danger of extinction, and ran
down the signs of trouble.
“Borders is gone, Barnes & Noble
is not looking good, sales at US
bookstores are down by 22% in
five years, UK independents are in
decline,” he offered. And then
there was Amazon. “They really
are evil bastards and I loathe
them, and I fear them, and of
course I use them all the time,
because they are wonderful.
That’s the problem.”
In his provocative closing
keynote, veteran technology
journalist and head of partnership
development at the BBC Archives
Bill Thompson urged publishers
to recognize that the Internet was
now the centre of the creative
universe. But he sharply criticized
the way the book industry was
developing the ebook future,
calling e-reading platforms and
devices such as the Kindle “killing
jars” for words.
“The point about those
machines and those closed
It was time for publishers to
engage technology fully,
Thompson said. “We’ve had 70
years of digital, 40 years of
ebooks, 30 years of the internet,
25 years of the web, 10 years of
Facebook, and the iPhone is
seven years old. This is not new
technology. We should be
horrified at how slow we are to
adapt to something that has
been changing the world for
seven decades.” ■
Pu b M a t c h , t h e b o o k publishing and international rights database founded by
Publishers Weekly and Combined
Book Exhibit, is introducing a new
upgrade at this year’s London
Book Fair–Rights@PubMatch.
Developed in co-operation
with the Copyright Clearance
Center, Rights@PubMatch is a
transaction engine that empowers
its users to buy and sell rights with
a few computer clicks. The
system, which is powered by
CCC’s RightsLink, allows
rights sellers to detail exactly
which rights are available–from
language to territory to format–
and provides sellers with a
contract to execute a complete
transaction. If desired, buyers
and sellers can replace the
system’s standard contract with
one of their own design.
Horowitz praised publishers as
“undervalued” in the discussion
of Digital Books, but insisted that
publishers must grasp the deeper
value offered by digital. “It seems
to me that anything is possible,”
he said of the digital landscape,
“but not very much of it is being
considered.”
Through Rights@PubMatch,
acquiring content has never been
easier: after a buyer accepts a
seller’s terms, they are able to
purchase the right to the book
with a few simple clicks and a
credit card, the collections are
made and the net remittances are
sent to the seller. To ensure that
deals will be completely VAT/
withholding tax compliant,
Rights@PubMatch engaged
the international accounting
firm Deloitte.
PubMatch has more than
8,000 members, and has
featured more than 20,000 titles.
Horowitz also offered a
warning, citing library cuts and
Rights@PubMatch will officially
launch later this spring. Demos are
available on Stand F405. ■