Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 1 of 7

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Monday, March 30, 2009 Get our New Ebook

10 Popular Myths About Ebooks about Ebooks !!!
(essay by Michael Pastore) Available Now:
New Edition!
October 2010
50 Benefits of
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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 2 of 7

P
aper books: I love them, and I hope that
they are never replaced completely by their
electronic progeny. Nevertheless, every
day, ebooks are growing in use, in sales,
and in significance.

To promote the growth of this young industry — and

to nourish the aspects of the digital reading
revolution that can make us a nation of readers
again — publishers and authors need to educate the
reading public about the brave new worlds of ebooks
and electronic publishing.

Here are ten myths about ebooks that would be

Subscribe to the
better placed in Bullfinch than in Britannica. First,
EPW Feed
the 10 myths are listed; and then — myth by myth —
the opposite point of view is humbly explained.
EPW Feed

(Atom)

Myth # 1.
The only way to read ebooks is to read them on
a dedicated ebook reading device. Subscribe to EPW with Your RSS

Myth # 2.
There are not very many ebooks available to
read.

Myth # 3.
Buying ebooks instead of paper books does not Today's Sponsor:
really help the environment. Zorba Press

Myth # 4.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is used by
many major ebook sellers, so DRM must be Zorba Press
good for ebook buyers. produces books

Myth # 5. (paperback &
There is no end in sight to the ebook format hardcover), DRM-free
wars. ebooks, and videos on

Myth # 6. DVD. Visit the
Ebooks have short lifespans, because it's so website:
easy to delete an ebook. http://www.Zorba.us

Myth # 7.
If I publish my book in ebook format, it will be
stolen by ebook pirates.

Myth # 8.
Books published as ebooks are books that are
not good enough to be published in paperback.

Myth # 9. EPW Information
Ebooks, and electronic publishing, are killing Network
the print publishing industry.

Myth # 10. Buy our Ebooks on
Ebooks are not ready for prime time: the digital Lulu Storefront
reading revolution is years away.

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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 3 of 7

Epublishers Weekly .
Myth # 1. com
The only way to read ebooks is to read them on
a dedicated ebook reading device. Epublishers Weekly .
net
Not at all. Ebooks can be read on your desktop or
EPW Resources Home
laptop computer; or online, using a nice interface
such as BookWorm; or on your mobile device such Page (on Jottit)
as a BlackBerry, an iPhone or iPod, and many more.
Blog Archive
Myth # 2.
There are not very many ebooks available to ► 2010 (61)
read.
▼ 2009 (56)
There are more than 1.5 million public-domain ► December (4)
ebooks — free, as in absolutely free — available
through sites such as Project Gutenberg; Internet ► November (8)
Archive; Feedbooks, Manybooks.net, and Google
Book Search. And many more ebooks are available ► October (4)
from online ebook bookstores.
► September (3)

Myth # 3. ► August (3)

Buying ebooks instead of paper books does not
really help the environment. ► July (2)

To quote Mr. Dickens: "You are wonderfully ► May (7)

mistaken!" ...
► April (11)

Ebooks save trees. Ebooks eliminate the need for ▼ March (3)
filling up landfills with old books. Ebooks save
10 Popular Myths
energy, and transportation costs, and reduce the
pollution associated with driving and flying books About Ebooks
across the country and around the world. (essay by
Michael Pa...
Ebooks eliminate the problem of "unsold books",
which are often shredded. In the Netherlands alone, The Solomon
more than one million books are shredded every Scandals by
year, and transformed into toilet paper. ( A smart David Rothman
step, but still a waste of energy and resources.) (book review...

Electronic publishing saves paper. How many trees New Ebook -50
are used to produce one week’s worth of paper in a Benefits of
Sunday New York Times newspaper? … One weekly Ebooks-
issue of the New York Times consumes 75,000 trees. Published
… One year of Sunday papers produced by the New
March ...
York Times is responsible for the destruction and
consumption of more than 3,900,000 trees.
► February (5)

► January (6)
Myth # 4.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) is used by

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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 4 of 7

many major ebook sellers, so DRM must be ► 2008 (56)

good for ebook buyers.
► 2007 (9)
Said Cervantes: "You are a million miles from the
truth."
DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to a method Contact Epublishers
of protecting digital content that a Weekly
publisher can apply to videos, music files, images
Contact Epublishers Weekly
and ebooks. Adding DRM has three drawbacks.
Always, DRM makes your digital products cost more.
Sometimes, the DRM does
funny things to your computer. And often, DRM
limits what you can do with your own
purchase. For example, many DRM-afflicted ebooks
do not allow you to print the files.

Ebooks were never meant to be hidden like the lost

city of Atlantis, buried like the treasures of Monte
Cristo, or guarded like the gold in Fort Knox.

Myth # 5.
There is no end in sight to the ebook format
wars. Smart Copyright

Some of the images,

There is ePub.
essays and articles in
It seems as if literature and alcohol always go hand
the Epubishers
in hand. The ancient Chinese poets, gazing at the
Weekly blog are
bright moon, composed their verse with a writing
copyrighted via the
tool in one hand, and a cup of drink in the other.
U.S. Copyright office:
Gutenberg — Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum
-- The image in the
Gutenberg, who lived between 1398 and 1468 —
made the first printing press around 1450, using upper right hand
materials from a press that crushed grapes for corner of this blog,
making wine. And now we have the leading ebook the Bulb Man of
format, ePub — which sounds like a website for Epublishers Weekly.
buying beer.
-- Any essay or article
EPub, in fact, is a superb solution for ending the that contains the
ebook format wars. The standard was copyright (c)
created, and is currently managed by the symbol, followed by
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the name of the
located at http://www.idpf.org. The ePub format has
owner of the
many benefits and
useful features. copyright.
Much of the writing on
Myth # 6. this blog is
Ebooks have short lifespans, because it's so copyrighted with a
easy to delete an ebook. Creative Commons
license. You may not
On the contrary: ebooks preserve books. You make sell, and you may not
copies of your ebooks; and you can store them "in change the works.

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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 5 of 7

the clouds" for safekeeping. It is paper books that You may share it, and
are more likely to be destroyed by water, fire, theft, use it on your blog or
carelessness, and old age. website, if you
provide the permalink
In 48 B.C., the Library of Alexandria (with its to the blog post, and
500,000 to one million volumes), was burned to include the
ashes when Alexandria was attacked by Julius words "from the blog
Caesar. To delay Caesar’s invasion, Achillas – the Epublishers Weekly."
Alexandrian leader – employed an ill-considered
strategy: he burned his own ships. The fire spread to Creative
the docks, then destroyed the great Library of Commons

Alexandria. This work is licensed

¤ under a Creative
The original manuscript of Carlyle’s The French Commons Attribution-
Revolution was lost when a friend’s Noncommercial-No
servant accidentally tossed it into the fire. Derivative Works 3.0
¤ License
Richard Burton’s wife, after his death and against his
wishes, destroyed his magnum opus, a risque Labels
translation of The Perfumed Garden, a book he had
been working on for ten years. Animal Rights (8)
¤ Book Reviews (42)
In May 1933, Nazi supporters burned more than
25,000 “un-German” books. Books (62)
Censorship (2)
Ebooks are ageless: they do not burn, mildew,
crumble, rot, or fall apart. Ebooks Copyright (6)
ensure that literature will endure.
Creativity (53)

Myth # 7. Culture (59)

If I publish my book in ebook format, it will be
Current Events (102)
stolen by ebook pirates.
Death (4)
If you publish your book in paperback, it can be
Dehumanized
stolen by e-pirates, just as easily. The cutting-edge
ebook blog, TeleRead, recently reported a quote Technology (21)
from an article in Times Online: Ebook Storage (1)
“Publishers and agents representing the Ebooks (47)
authors J. K. Rowling and Ken Follett were
battling last night to get free copies of their Education (19)
novels removed from [Scribd] a Californian EPW (1)
website that claims to be the most popular
literary site in the world.” Films (5)
Fishy Ideas (3)
The Times Online article states that Follett's free ebook (11)
publisher, Macmillan, was unaware that the book had
Freedom (10)
been posted there -- for 5 months.
Epiracy is a problem equally challenging for Google (2)
publishers of ebooks and of paper books.
Green Living (28)

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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 6 of 7

Myth # 8. Health (16)

Books published as ebooks are books that are
not good enough to be published in paperback. How-To (37)
Humanizing
That notion is so old it has whiskers. In the very Technology (55)
beginnings of electronic publishing, authors were
publishing books in "e" formats when they could not Humor (18)
find a major publisher. Now, everything is different.
Improbable Events (
Many major publishers are publishing in paper and in
25)
the ebook format. Some University presses are
shifting completely to ebooks. And many authors and Information Revolution
independent publishers are bypassing New York, and (70)
choosing to publish independently. Not because their
books are poorly written — but because they see iPad (10)
little advantage and less sense in giving most of their iPhone (1)
profits away to publishers and online booksellers.
Ithaca (2)
Myth # 9. Life Management (28)
Ebooks, and electronic publishing, are killing
the print publishing industry. Literature and Ideas (
17)
Scapegoating is rarely useful. To say that ebooks are
the cause of print's demise is like saying that the oil Love and Happiness (
industry is in danger due to renewable energy. Print 27)
publishing is struggling for many reasons. The print Mac Software (9)
publishers who survive will need to embrace
electronic publishing, transform their business Macs (4)
models, and renew the original vision of publishing,
Money (10)
where books are published not for profit only, but to
enrich and renew our culture. Music (3)

PDF (2)
Myth # 10.
Ebooks are not ready for prime time: the digital Peace and Justice (14)
reading revolution is years away.
People (19)
When Benjamin Franklin first visited the Queen of Photos (2)
France, the bright Queen asked him:
"Mr. Franklin, you are famous for discovering Politics (20)
that 'Lighting is electricity.' But what use is your Print-on-Demand
discovery?" (P.O.D.) (11)
Mr. Franklin coolly replied:
"My dear Queen. What use is a newborn baby?" Reading (7)
Resources (9)
Ebooks and electronic publishing are young. But
ebook sales this year will surpass 100 million dollars. Software Review (6)
(And this does not account for rapidly-increasing
Stupid Things (10)
influx of "free culture" works: more than two million
ebooks and electronic publications that are available Technology (31)
at no cost.) That 100 million dollars is still a small
Video (15)
part of total print publishing sales. Yet ebooks are by
far the fastest growing segment of this otherwise- Web stuff (7)

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Epublishers Weekly: 10 Popular Myths About Ebooks (essay by Michael Pastore) Page 7 of 7

troubled industry. Wise Words (30)

The digital reading revolution is here right now.

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Michael Pastore is a novelist and a non-fiction writer

who lives in Ithaca, New York. His latest book is
50 Benefits of Ebooks:
A Thinking Person's Introduction to the
Digital Reading Revolution.
The book is available as a 320-page paperback for $
20, or as an ebook (in PDF or ePub) for one dollar.
For more information about the new book and ebook,
visit www.EpublishersWeekly.net.

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Copyright (c) 2009 by Michael Pastore. This essay,

and no part of this essay, may be included in a print
or electronic publication that will be sold or re-sold.
In not-for-profit publications, you may quote up to
500 words from this essay, without permission. To
include more than 500 words, or the entire essay, in
a print or electronic publication, or a blog or website,
please contact us at by email: epubster AT
gmail.com.

_/_/_/_/

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