One of the great things about ebooks is that they can be published very fast and into the hands of consumers in a short amount of time. With print, the book needs to prepared, printed, stored and shipped.

So when major news breaks, like the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden, authors are able to publish (usually self-publish) their books within weeks of the event.

Mediabistro posted an article that explains:

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File this post under “More fearmongering about the end of publishing.” Another industry analyst has come out saying that the publishing industry is in serious trouble. And guess what’s being blamed? Ebooks!

I’d love to be able to ignore these types of articles, but I just can’t help trying to counter the techno-phobia out there by people who can’t envision publishing being anything more than selling traditional print books.

An analyst from IHS iSuppli gives us this dire warning:

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Before you gasp in horror and set fire to your computer, I will qualify this post title by saying that ebooks are going nowhere. In fact, ebook popularity will continue to explode in popularity.

I’m referring to dedicated eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle. They are threatened by tablet computers. The Apple iPad has thrust tablets into the center of the tech world.

It seems that people want devices that can multitask, rather than just perform one task, like reading ebooks. This Huffington Post article explains:

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Simon & Schuster reported a large increase in ebook sales during the first quarter of the year, according to this Publishers Weekly article.

Aside from giving specific figures on how much ebook sales have increased, the article also mentions something interesting. I’ve never heard one of the large publishing houses say this (emphasis mine):

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Whenever a new technology comes out, there will always be people who try to exploit it. Ebooks are no different. I’ve already written about one scam in which people write ebooks with little or no useful content that has been lifted from other sources and sell them on Amazon, Smashwords, etc.

A new scam is emerging involving hyperlinks embedded within ebooks. Hyperlinks are nothing new in ebooks, they can take readers to websites related to the book.

But with this scam, the intent is much more malicious. An article on the MSNBC website gives an example:

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The argument over the right price point for ebooks still rages on, though many readers and writers can agree that ebooks should cost less than their print counterparts.

How much less? That’s the big question. Publishers argue if you set the price too low then it will give readers an expectation of that low price and they’ll refuse to pay a penny more.

That argument fails, at least on historic grounds. When paperback books were introduced around the 1930s-ish, people moaned they would be the death of the hardcover because of the cheap prices. Hardcovers are still around and flying off the shelves.

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Everyone wants to find a scapegoat during hard economic times. But to blame something as innocuous as ebooks is just plain silly. That’s exactly what one congressman is saying.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) says, more specifically, that the iPad is to blame. As an example, he cited the recent bankruptcy of Borders Booksellers as an example of how ebooks are ruining the economy:

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February was a good month for ebooks. Ebook sales outperformed all other publishing segments. According to Publishers Weekly, sales jumped over 200%:

E-book sales growth showed no signs of letting up in February, increasing at an even faster rate than they did in January. According to AAP

NOTE: Read the latest on JK Rowling & Harry Potter in my new post. And don’t forget to check out all the latest Ebook News.

For years JK Rowling has been avoiding ebooks like the plague, worried that an ebook version of her Harry Potter books will only encourage piracy. As I have written over and over again, she’s been making a huge mistake.

Rowling, her lawyer and literary agent have finally come to their collective senses and appear to be seriously considering the release of her Harry Potter series in ebook format.  A person close to Rowling says no definitive decision has been made.

What I find more interesting though is the predicted implications for the ebook industry as a whole if/when Rowling turns Harry Potter digital. It will also mean a very healthy payday for Rowling:

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I remember back around 2002 doing a Google search for ebooks. Most of the results that popped up were ebooks about getting rich, transforming your life in some way, how to work at home and be your own boss, but mostly how to get rich.

Another common thread running through the early days of ebooks was the concept of ‘reselling.’ Reselling means you buy the ebook, then you have the right to turn around and sell it again, often for a profit.

The ebooks in those days were mediocre, at the very best. Most were only available in PDF format. The content was poorly written, sometimes riddled with too many errors to count. A lot of the ebook content seemed like it was scraped together with no attention being made to quality.

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