In the very near future, many of you will either write original e-books or have one of your print books' e-rights exploited by a publisher. An e-book is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer, an e-book reader, and, now, even an iPhone. I have mixed emotions about e-books.
In the very near future, many of you will either write original e-books or have one of your print books' e-rights exploited by a publisher. An e-book is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer, an e-book reader, and, now, even an iPhone. I have mixed emotions about e-books. For my last four books, the publisher retained the digital rights. A reader's cost for my d-book versions is $9.99 compared to $14 to $27 for the paperbacks. When I was first approached for granting e-book rights — before e-books even existed — the publishers offered a 50 percent split; the same as the rights for paperbacks. Now, the publishers are offering 5 to 10 percent.
E-book rights and payments are in flux, so you or your agent have to really negotiate. On the other hand, if you want to write an original e-book, you can do it with some help from a knowledgeable computer friend or a commercial company. There is, I heard, a program that will let you convert your print book to an e-book yourself. It may not be on the market yet.
You don't even need and editor or a publisher if you produce an original e-book but you do have to publicize your work. Distribution, which was always a problem for self-publishers, is no longer a barrier. There are inexpensive or free ways to sell you book on the Internet.
The aspect that worries me most about e-book, however, is the copyright. There are already pirate sites available to steal your digitalized work. If you have a hot seller, they may even scan it or copy it by hand on a computer. In fact, any smart kid or evil computer interloper can hack into an e-book and distribute it for free or for a small cost. It is the same situation that happened to song writers. You, of course, will not get any money, just as the song writers royalties disappeared.
Stephen King, who is a millionaire from his many bestselling books, is one of the most digitally hacked writers. He has said he doesn't have the time to chase book pirates.
On the other hand, some very legitimate sites are offering free e-books. Wikibooks, the sister the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, went online on July 10, 2003. Wikibooks is a collection of open-content textbooks that anyone, including you, can edit by clicking on the edit the page link that appears near the top of each Wikibooks' module. Contributors maintain the property rights to their contributions, while the GNU Free Documentation License makes sure that the submitted version and its derivative works will always remain freely distributable and reproducible. There are more than 127 free Wikipedia textbooks. I downloaded one which I believe is accurate and very useful: Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.
All contributors to the book have extensive references for their contribution. The book is copyrighted but "permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document." Among the chapters: "Cognitive Psychology and the Brain;" "Problem Solving from an Evolutionary Perspective;" and "Motivation and Emotion and Decision Making and Reasoning." The writing, definitions and illustrations are very well done. Why did the authors contribute to the book for free? What does it mean for the future of text books and consumer books?
We would like your thoughts about the changes in the production and sale of books. If you write them, how will your readers read them and how will you make a living? If you wish to book at and even download Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, here's the URL: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cognitive_Psychology_and_Cognitive_Neuroscience.
Ruth Winter is the author of 34 popular health books and regularly contributes health and science stories to major national magazines.
(NASW members can read the rest of the Summer 2009 ScienceWriters by logging into the members area.)
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