MoneyWatch Tech

Apple Tries Squeezing Publishers for Exclusive E-Book Content. Good Luck

By Damon Brown

Updated on: December 10, 2010 / 6:11 PM EST / MoneyWatch

According to an email circulated to publishers, Apple (APPL) now requires books to have exclusive content to be labeled "new". It's an unprecedented push for a book distributor, and a bold, but foolish, move for Apple. The iBookstore just doesn't have enough draw for Apple to demand anything of publishers right now.

Book promoter Steve Weber relayed the email earlier today. Here's a portion:

We would like to remind you of the Publication Type field that was introduced in iTunes Producer 2.2. To avoid availability interruptions on the iBookstore, make sure that all titles are assigned a publication type: New Release, Digital Only, or Other.

A New Release publication is defined in your contract and is bound to specific discounts. A Digital Only publication has no print equivalent or is significantly enhanced from the print edition (for example, a multimedia title). An Other publication does not meet the criteria for New Release or Digital Only (for example, an older backlist title that has a print equivalent).

Based on phrasing, printed books can only be considered "new" or "digital only" in the iBookstore if they are beyond a direct translation of the printed version. Otherwise, they fall into the ambiguous "other" category. By not being "new", publishers lose the opportunity to promote the book as such on the iBookstore.

There are some serious problems with this approach:

You can't just add content to books: Books usually don't have additional content publishers or authors actually want released. The average album requires sifting through hundreds, if not thousands of recorded audio cuts, which is why there are B-sides, bonus albums, and iTunes exclusive tracks. Magazines may have an additional article that, because of print space or deadline constraints, didn't make the final print edition.

Books are not like these other media -- publishers can't magically make original content for Apple. One of my own titles, Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture, took five years of research, writing, and editing. No other distributor requires exclusive material, which would mean going back to the drawing board for Apple's asinine requirement.

iBookstore still has major issues: When it comes to the iBookstore, Apple has much bigger problems to work out:

Back in September I outlined four things the iBookstore needed to thrive:

In-browser book previews
iBooks on PC/Mac
Supporting promised multimedia options to iBookstore
Creating a better search and cataloging system

None of these have been implemented. Apple would be better off focusing on improving the user experience than going for a content grab.

iBookstore isn't worth it... yet: Finally, there's way too much competition here for a power play with publishers to work. Recall the power moves other e-book platforms have made this fall:

In other words, Apple isn't in a position of power here. Unlike the iPod or iPhone, the iBookstore platform doesn't offer an experience extraordinarily different than the competitors. In fact, the iBookstore experience is weaker than most of them.

It's a chicken-and-egg dilemma, as exclusive content may get more readers to the iBookstore platform, but publishers will be reluctant to give exclusive content to a platform with a weak readership. Apple should back away from its "new" policy and concentrate on fixing the store.

Photo courtesy of the quinn.anya // CC 2.0
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