Dear Mr. Jobs:
Congratulations on your recent launch of the new iPad device! I know that many pundits were more whelmed than overwhelmed (having fallen for the hype they themselves created; I recall no hyperbole out of Cupertino), but I think it is important to point out the acidic combination of bad memory and lack of foresight that allows such mavens to be hypercritical without applying the company’s past accomplishments to the likely developmental future of your wonderfully promising device. The potential is all there.
But my main point in writing you this open letter, Mr. Jobs, is to urge you to allow the e-book portal on the laudable iBooks section of the iPad to have a section devoted to free e-books, with content provided by users who format their own works using the easily available ePub platform iBooks already utilizes.
I strongly believe this would do for digital books and magazines what podcasting did for digital audio: bring millions of eyes to the device, allow niche publications that otherwise would be unaffordable in the traditional bound-print model, democratize the end-user experience regarding popularity of such works, and give yet another voice to creative people previously unable to garner what has long been considered the imprimatur of traditional publication.
As someone who created one of the world’s most popular music podcasts, Podrunner, I can attest firsthand to the power of such access, and to the broadening, enriching, and enlightening experience of finding and directly interacting with a hitherto unidentified, and indeed unavailable audience. It is empowering at all points of the transaction, from creator to consumer. For what is the purpose of such technology but access?
I believe such a free e-book portal — call it bookcasting — would not harm the present book industry one whit. It would instead provide an outlet and a potential audience for writers denied such by the expense and often the subjective whim of commercial publishing. The need to turn a profit would not be part of the bookcasting equation. It would allow writers the opportunity to supplant or even derive the totality of their income from reader donations.
Bookcasting would provide readers with access to perfectly fine authors denied publication because, while they may be talented artists, they are not necessarily commercial ones, and publishing them is not justified under the current and much more expensive publishing model. Readers would also have access to authors for whom there has simply not been room in a crowded marketplace with limited shelf space.
Bookcasting would even allow established traditional-publishing authors to have a venue for works outside the purview of their genre, books long out of print, or books considered too obscure or experimental for mainstream publication. It would also give traditional publishers an adjunct to offer works, interviews, and other material as a gateway to their commercial publications.
I believe that bookcasting would also usher in a renaissance of literary periodicals. Many prestigious bedroom periodicals of high repute that have been uable to remain viable due to production and distribution costs would suddenly be able to thrive, with overhead drastically reduced if not altogether eliminated.
I will be one of your first bookcast providers and one of your first bookcast readers. And I think there are millions of us out there.
Thank you for your attention, and I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Steven R. Boyett
I decided to search for iPad Bookcasting and found this article. Book/Storycasting will be what makes the iPad a huge success. Anyone with the ability to write and format in the ePub format will have the ability to get more readership. I suspect that it will be part of the Bookstore in the near future, (we can’t be the only ones that have thought of it) just like Podcasting became apart of the iTunes store.
I appreciate the overall message, here, about the potential of what you call “bookcasting”, which is an intriguing concept. But I’m afraid I can’t quite square this: “I recall no hyperbole out of Cupertino” with this: “We’d like to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product today.” Okay, granted, this wasn’t from Cupertino, but from Jobs’ speech, but hyperbole is what it is (you were never going to get it out of Cupertino beforehand because Apple is very good at keeping a lid on that sort of thing; on the other hand, Jobs has a flair for the hyperbolic in his speeches, it seems).
Still, it (the iPad) is still an interesting (and nice-looking) device (too rich for my blood, but there you go) and this (your hope for a free e-book store on iBook) could be a great tool for writers and readers of all stripes. Now, hopefully, it’ll be DRM-free, too, so readers can read it on their non-iPad readers to, if they have them.
Apple was not hyperbolic prior to the release of the iPad; as I said, the air of expectation before Jobs’ presentation was created by the same people who were hugely critical after it.
I was very disappointed to learn that the ePub format supports DRM; I certainly hope the iBook store does not utilize it. In any case, bookcasting won’t; otherwise, it ain’t bookcasting
I did concede that, prior to Jobs’ announcement, there wasn’t any hyperbolic anything coming out of Apple (attributing that to the nothing-definitive-comes-out-of-Apple-until-Jobs-speaks culture). I just thought it worth pointing out that Jobs was no slouch in using the hyperbole himself, once he was on stage lifting the curtain, as it were.
I guess you’re right about how to define bookcasting. It’s just that Apple’s track record on the issue isn’t precisely spectacular.
I certainly can’t argue that Mr. Jobs isn’t hyperbolic! I should blog about the day his dramatic sensibility backfired on him — with me as the reason why. It’s a funny story.
Not sure what you mean about Apple’s track record vis a vis bookcasting (though god knows I’m no fan of their “our way or else” monopoly even while I admire their engineering). Do you mean their record on podcasting?
I meant their record on DRM. I know iTunes is now DRM-free, or so I’ve heard (I get my music elsewhere so I don’t really know), but it wasn’t really something Apple was really that keen on until they realized they’d have to.
That aside, I still have to give them props where props are due on what they do really well (engineer easy-on-the-eyes, easy-to-use gadgets, keep wraps on their projects until they’re ready, etc.)
Someone else chimes in… http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/?p=4588
Technically speaking, this can be a reality for those using iTunes on the desktop.
PDF files may be set up as Podcast attachments which show up in iTunes. You have all the protections that the PDF format offers. You can even put in iTunes-specific tags and they will appear as an episode with metadata. It’s easily done with a program like Podcast Maker by Lemonz Dream.
However, what needs to happen is to have Podcast PDF files directly viewable on the iPod touch/iPhone and iPad. That is currently not implemented, but there is no technical reason why it couldn’t be done.
While it’s possible to implement this solution, bookcasting won’t be anything like a legitimate viable alternative to traditional publishing until and unless there is (a) a major portal granting searchable access, and (b) availability in the same formats allowing the same functions and features as commercially available iBooks. PDF just ain’t gonna cut it.