E-books unplugged

It’s the smell of a classic — musky and mysterious — accumulated from years spent on a bookshelf, wedged between other literary icons. Or it may be the hot whiff of ink and freshly brewed ideas from the mind of J.K. Rowling. Books are more than just conduits of information or the work of one’s imagination — they are comfortable, friendly and, perhaps, irreplaceable.

Yet in a world of advancing technology, nearly everything with a traditional appeal also is showing up in digital form. Indeed, six years ago, some publishers and industry researchers predicted that by now, paper might be obsolete and all print books would have a digital counterpart known as an e-book.

Most consumers, however, have resisted clickable screen-reading.

Electronic books, which require either a reading device or specific computer software such as Microsoft Reader or Adobe Reader to access, have been met with a variety of reactions — some readers embrace the benefits unique to e-books, such as the large type and easy search options, while others shun the idea that print books could be replaced by the burgeoning market of tech gadgets.

“A lot of people feel they’ve been abused by their [computer] screen all day long, and they don’t want to look at another for pleasure,” says Pat Schroeder, president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers, which has headquarters in the District and New York City.

“I don’t see you or I throwing paper books out in the drain,” says Morris Rosenthal, an author and publisher of e-books, among other book genres.

Nick Bogaty, executive director of International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), based in New York City, estimates that the e-book industry has reached a $15 million to $20 million market in the United States. Though it is the fastest-growing sector of the publishing business, Ms. Schroeder says that is because e-books started from such a small number — zero — in the late 1990s.

“It never turned into the industry that people expected,” says Mr. Rosenthal, of Northampton, Mass.

Though many factors account for the low e-book sales, the most prominent three are the reasons behind Barnes & Noble’s decision to discontinue the sale of e-books in September 2003.

“Consumers were not as quick to embrace the technology, the pricing set by publishers or the reading devices,” says Carolyn Brown, spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble. “We did have growth in our e-book sales, but the growth was not significant enough to support the business at this time.”

Mr. Bogaty addresses a fourth issue: selection. He says just 50 percent to 60 percent of the books on New York Times best-seller lists are available as e-books. “We’re making progress, but there’s still 40 percent to go,” he says.

Fictionwise.com & Mobipocket.com are the two most popular Web sites for consumers to purchase a large selection of e-books. EReader.com offers e-book titles as well as software to download e-books on various reading devices such as Pocket PCs and Palm Pilots. (EReader Pro for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile Editions sells for $9.95.)

Mr. Bogaty says e-books typically sell for 10 percent to 50 percent less than the print version.

Ms. Schroeder says that a few years ago, publishers were anticipating a surge in e-book sales. “We built it, and they didn’t come,” she says, speaking of consumers.

Part of the reason for consumers’ hesitancy is the difficulty in finding an appropriate reading device. Mr. Bogaty refers to new e-book reading devices, such as the Sony Reader or IRex Technologies E-Reader but says the preferred platform in the United States is a personal digital assistant (PDA). In the future, he speculates, cell phones and PDAs will combine features in one electronic device with a larger screen and better resolution, which would be more conducive for e-book reading.

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