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The emerging ebook industry is built on the wellestablished base of quality reading products that has existed since Gutenberg first turned books into a mass market opportunity with movable type. Book publishing is a mature industry producing quality products for a strong, reliable customer base served by a clear, efficient distribution system.
One of the clear hallmarks of ebooks has been the expansion of consumer options. Content is no longer tethered to the printed page any more than it is chained to library walls. Today, consumers can buy hardcover, paperback, e-reader, or other devicedelivered service or as snippets through Google Books, publisher sites, Amazon's "Look Inside," and similar services. Publishers are beginning to test options for content delivery - as, increasingly, are authors themselves. Yesterday's publishing system is dying, today's may be quite transitory, and no one can predict the future of publishing with any certainty. All we know for sure is that, today, we have unprecedented consumer choice.
Choice is wonderful, but sometimes trying to serve these markets, with so much ongoing change in the book world, can be very challenging. J. J. Keller & Associates' Webb Shaw sees strong value to the growing, diverse ebook marketplace. "One of the most significant effects of the internet as a whole has been to bring choice to the market. Every segment can purchase and consume goods - which, for the sake of this discussion consist of intellectual property - in the way that makes the most sense to that segment. I think there will continue to be differences in the way different groups consume books." Each segment is able to grow and have their unique preferences represented in their mix of products and services.
"The providers that deliver the content and functionality people want - when and where it will do them most good - will win. That might not be a single device, app or platform," Shaw believes.
"The publication time-lag between release of print and ebook is narrowing," notes Ann-Marie Breaux, vice president of academic service integration for YBP Library Services. "When we first started profiling ebooks simultaneous with print a few years ago, we were seeing about 10-12% offered both formats, and today that is about 20-25% of new titles each week....