What Do People Want from E-readers?
As of 2009, 15 e-reader devices have been released, and eight more have been announced. Each has distinct benefits and features. It appears the proprietary or open-source content formats are distilling into standards, or will soon. I am concerned, however, the publishing industry is still asking, “What’s possible?” with ebooks. We are still at a stage of discovering what the technology can be and do. With everyone waiting for an Apple tablet and sexy products like Microsoft’s recently leaked Courier around the corner, the tools are still like Christmas toys—more exciting before they are unwrapped.
O’Reilly Media hosted an excellent Tools of Change for Publishing Online Conference on October 8, 2009. A key question addressed was a very old one revisited: What do the customers really want?
“All too often our understanding of what readers want is based on what we want ourselves, or outdated assumptions, or even worse—guesses.”
What is possible may not be what is wanted or needed. We have to finesse an understanding of needs for each audience and diverse genres.
Panelists argued strongly that their readers just want … books. The enhanced features and multimedia are not the attraction. There is a warning here for publishers, that multimedia is something else, a difference sales model and a different business. I should note the panelists included Malle Vallik of Harlequin. Not surprisingly, her audience wants an e-reader with a price-point under $100 that looks stylish and fits inside a purse.
I have to start with my possibly outdated assumptions, as well. So what would I want?
I often watch the special features and interviews on a DVD—after I watch the movie. So, supplementary material bundled with a fiction ebook may have added value I would pay for. I also watch movie trailers, so I enjoy a good book trailer, if it is honest.
But don’t you dare embed a video of what you think the villain in the novel looks like. I want to imagine her for myself. Otherwise I’ll just wait for the movie to come out. As I’m tracking comments about multimedia options in e-readers, I’m seeing some consensus that visual elements built into a fiction presentation are considered distractions from the essential (as in “essence”) experience of getting lost in a story.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, by all means give me a fully functional ebook do-it-yourself manual. Suppose I want to build a greenhouse. You can provide me text, diagrams, video, inspiring images of my greenhouse stuffed with tropical plants in winter, links to supplemental online resources, built-into-the-reader access to the greenhouse fanatics forum, the works. (Hey, that sounds like fun! Any greenhouse manufacturers reading this are welcome to contact me for a bid.)
Therefore, the features that publishers build into their ebooks to best exploit e-reader functions will have to be developed for each genre, or even each title. What is technologically possible will be refined in the furnace of reader’s needs. This is uncharted, yet somehow familiar, alchemy.