Random House adopting the Sony Reader for in-house work!
While I’m not getting too excited, but I was very pleased to read that ebooks and ebook reading devices are getting more and more attention from the large, mainstream publishing houses. When I opened up my daily email newsletter from Publishers Weekly this morning, I was pleased to read that Random House is going to be using the Sony Reader for some of the day-to-day work involved with publishing:
According to RH, the company has bought "several hundred" readers for its sales management, reps, and home office sales support staff. The sales department will use the device to read manuscripts and other relevant material in digital form. The company’s goal is to, as quickly as possible, "eliminate altogether manuscript dispersal to our sales group by migrating this reading experience of many thousands of paper pages to the electronic reader," said spokesperson Stuart Applebaum.
On a basic level this means that the benefits of ebooks is becoming more apparent. I can only imagine the number of hefty manuscripts those who work in the publishing business have to lug around daily. Using the Sony Reader will reduce the paper load significantly. On a deeper level, however, this means that the larger idea of ebooks is
catching on with the mainstream publishing community and that ebooks
aren’t seen as a "gimmicky" way to sell a book. In other words, the "convenience" factor of ebooks is starting to catch on.
My biggest fear is that the world of book publishing goes the way of the music industry and rejects evolving technology as a way to get product out to the consumer. Right now, it appears that the publishing industry is starting to embrace the idea of ebooks and try to work them into their business model.
It should be noted that publishing houses such as Simon and Schuster and others are already using the Sony Reader for distributing material in-house.
RH Latest Publisher to Use e-Reader in-house
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