The book industry and old media models
Posted by Randy on February 3, 2010
I have held my tongue as far as comments on Apple’s iPad — there is more than enough other chatter from other quarters. But a recent article in the New York Times, The Media Equation – To Deliver, iPad Needs Content Providers on Board – NYTimes.com caught my eye in a comment on book publisher’s response to the platform:
…the book industry seems ill-prepared to take advantage of many of the new worlds the iPad opens up…Readers on the iPad should certainly expect that when they buy a cookbook, building in cooking demos would be a no-brainer, but it may be a long while before the industry has the ability to produce books that incorporate multimedia.
Why is it even a question of who will produce these videos? Haven’t they been watching for the last 5 years? You know the answer, don’t you? The readers will do it! Take a page from the reader book reviews on Amazon — look at what this cookbook fan has to say:
I have to admit I’m a great fan of Michele Scicolone. I got one of her cookbooks long ago, baked the best cookie I’ve ever had, and have been addicted to her wonderful recipes, stories and style ever since. This book continues her tradition of crafting perfect cookbooks. Why do I say perfect? Well, I’m not a professional cook, yet I can follow her recipes and create fantastic meals…
Any doubt that a fan like this wouldn’t be happy to create a short how-to video as they cook one of the recipes? All they need is an easy way to submit them. The technology piece is easy, and there are certainly partners around who would be happy to help — in fact Amazon seems a little panicky over the threat of the iPad introduction. Call them — they understand how this whole internet-user-contributed-content thing works. E-books augmented with integrated reader content — I’d buy that.
Reverend
Andre Malan
Matthew K. Gold