The Global Impact of eBooks on ePublishing

摘要

The advent of eBooks and electronic publishing is changing not only the North American publishing industry but Europe as well. In Europe, many publishers are embracing the ePublishing industry as well as companies which have emerged to develop tools and web sites to develop and sell eBooks, not only in the European Union but in North America. In Asia, the electronic book industry is fueled by two industries: manufacturers who are developing hardware devices to read eBooks and content providers who are publishing specific formats. In developing nations, the potential of eBooks is equivalent to the impact of wireless phone technology on communications. This paper is organized into these sections which support the premise that eBooks will impact publishing, world-wide: 1) Overview; 2) Technology; 3) Publishing Models; 4) Books On Demand; and 5) World Libraries. Throughout this paper, the term eBooks is used to represent eBooks. Portions of this presentation were excerpted from Electronic Books and ePublishing, Springer-Verlag London, 2001, ISBN 1-85233-435-5. Information about the book can be obtained at www.chartula.com, which is maintained by this author of this paper.