Apparently Wiley has released an eReader comparison tool intended to allow buyers to compare the right reader for the right person. This is novel and perhaps needed, but it seems to me to miss an important point: Content.
Sure you can compare the devices based on what features they have, whether they are color or black and white, wireless or not, can read the book to you or allow you to read in the dark. But I think as well what buyers want is to know that eBooks, and other content they’re interested in is available on the device they’re buying. The site could do that too, though that runs largely against the grain — they’d have to list the titles of other publishers. So to this end, we need a site which lists all eBooks and what platforms they’re available on. Then a user can make a fully informed decision. In fact it would be a great site for searching for content “by device”. I can’t say I’ve seen that yet.
But for the publishers, why should you care about which device your book is available on? You want to reach readers. Not devices. Your content needs to be “eReader independent” or “eReader agnostic” or as Bill Trippe, an Analyst at Gilbane Group called it at the recent Buying & Selling eContent (BSeC) conference, “Media Neutral”. Media neutral content keeps it in a master form (usually XML) and then allows it to be published out to the specific format needed for a given device. This is ideal for publishers, who can then make edits in one place, and push a button and instantly have the eBook ready for distribution in multiple eBook formats (e.g., ePub, Kindle, PDF, …) and print as well! Platforms, like North Plains TeleScope Publishing Platform™ (TPP) make this possible.
So while eReader manufacturers and outlets (like Amazon and Barnes & Noble) fight over who has the best, the right or the coolest eReader, publishers can focus on publishing more and growing their market quickly and easily by having each title ready for all electronic formats and eReaders.
Tags: Digital Publishing, eBook, ePub, eReaders, iPad, Kindle, media neutral, media neutral publishing, Publishing, single source publishing, XML
