The E-book Battle
by Marti Talbott
(c) 2001

When I first became an avid Internet user, E-books looked like they just
might be the greatest thing since the mute button. As a writer, it was
exciting and I quickly found a site that would take my E-book and offer it to
hungry readers. As E-books go it did very well, landing on the
Mightywords.com bestseller list and staying there for close to three weeks.

Nearly a year has passed since then and sadly, the E-book market has steadily
declined. Mightywords found fiction unprofitable and decided not to carry
it, so I moved my novel to e-books-for-sale. But sales have been bleak at
best.

Usually priced cheaper than paperbacks, fiction E-books have failed to
attract readers. Their excuses vary, but most readers admit they would
rather curl up with a good book than a good computer. So why are traditional
publishers half killing themselves to get their hands on E-book rights? The
answer lies in yet another invention arriving in the not too far off future
-- "Books in Minutes!"

Not unlike Print on Demand systems, these machines will appear in the corner
drug store or grocery, allow the reader to make a selection, download the
appropriate E-book, print, cut, and bind while you wait. In less than 10
minutes, it will produce a paperback novel the reader can curl up with,
complete with the store's barcode ready for checkout. And while you wait,
the store hopes you'll buy even more products. But to do this, the industry
must have E-books already set up in a format compatible to the "Books in
Minutes" machine.

That's what all the fuss is about. Traditional Publishers will make millions
while at the same time saving millions on shipping and distribution. The
only question is, who owns the E-book rights to all those books already in
print -- the author or the publisher?

Writer beware. Think twice before you sign away your E-book rights.

By Marti Talbott, Author of:
"A Shattered City - Earthquake in Seattle"
http://www.geocities.com/martitalbott3/novel.html