Emergence of E-publishing

Description

Combined with the emergence of various e-commerce and the development in pubishing industry, a new form of publishing emerged. Books that are produced and stored electronically rather than in print are the result of electronic publishing, or, e-publishing. From a financial point of view, e-publishing eliminates printing, binding, storage and transportation costs. Nevertheless, it is probably just as costly to employ skilled editorial and technical staff to prepare data for electronic publication as it is for paper based publication.

Enablers

• Open source
• Advocation of nonproprietary e-book format
• Free of communication and knowledge sharing world wide
• Less cost but more efficient in term of the supply chain, compared to traditional publishing
• Development of compiler software enables self-compiled books by individual

Inhibitors

• Real books still in dominance and publishing based on paper is still the mainstream
• Lack of standards in e-book formats impede the development of e-publishing process

Paradigms

There are three e-publishing choices: commercial, subsidy (vanity) and self-publishing.

• Commercially published e-books are sold primarily through the publisher's Web site and online bookstores. Authors pay no publication fee, and receive royalties.
• Subsidy e-publishers produce and distribute books for a fee, and authors receive royalties. Unlike commercial books, manuscripts for subsidy books are usually accepted regardless of their quality, and publishers do not provide editorial services or proof-reading, and the responsibility for promoting a book rests primarily with the authors.
• In self-publishing, the authors are responsible for the entire process of publishing their books, from development to marketing.

Experts

E-book group http://ebooks.strath.ac.uk/index.html

Timing

Recent years

Web Resources

• http://www.regulationsite.com/s/self_publishers/
• http://epublishing.com/
• http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/
• http://www.ebookgold.com/

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