I fear one of the significant reasons behind so many titles having abridged versions when released in audiobook form is a protection against open distribution, but is there an alternative that not only circumvents the need to understand online downloads and file formats, but protects redistribution in exactly the same way as the printed version?

Companies such as Audible, through their alliances with iTunes, are able to control audiobook distribution via DRM (Digital Rights Management), a legacy of the protection work done by the music industry to combat online piracy and encourage responsible online purchase of music. Ebook distribution has similar schemes in place to lock-down the title to the original purchaser - something even the printed copy is unable to achieve.

Given the sometimes apparent obsession by all arms of the publishing industry to protect distribution - because it is far more about distribution than it is about rights, despite their cries to the contrary - audiobooks are primarily distributed on CD, which can be very easily copied onto electronic formats, such as mp3, and distributed. Or even simply duplicated to other CDs. CD audio protection is available, but in nearly all cases can be circumvented with a little research and effort.

What we need for audio is a method of distribution identical to that of the printed book version, at which time the audio distribution becomes a direct purchase option for the material.

Cheap mp3 players

Mp3 players are flooding out of manufacturing countries such as China. Low in capabilities compared to the models costing multiple hundreds, they are, nevertheless, quite capable of delivering CD quality sound from the stored audio files.  They are also frighteningly cheap to produce, as is suggested by the number of giveaways and dirt-cheap units available in supermarkets.

Produce an audiobook, burn it into the memory of a cheap mp3 player, remove the ability to that player to do anything other than play the pre-installed audio, and you have a printed book-like distribution device with the only option to replicate and redistribute being connecting the audio output to an audio recording device (no different to the equivalent passing of a printed book through a scanner or photocopier).

I am convinced this is a model that will both appease the publishers while providing a viable, stand-alone means of acquiring audiobooks for the consumer.

I was just catching up with a short article over at guelphmercury.com about how self-publishing, through enabling virtually anyone to publish their own writing - brings us “stories otherwise untold“. But if other creative media are evidence, it can also lead to much sub-standard work.

Industries begin to disintegrate in their perceived value once just about anyone can get their hands on the tools of the trade. I have personally seen this within the design industry as what were once useful tools for the creative and graphic artist are now so commonplace that anyone can claim to be a professional based on software knowledge despite an often clear lack of core design or creative knowledge. Even back in the mid 90s I remember reacting in horror to working with a top level packaging designer who would selected a visual effect based not on the requirements of the creative brief, but the latest Photoshop plugin. Over the years this increased and has diluted the perceived skill in creative design.

We are seeing a similar effect in the audio and visual media spaces with independent producers lowering the audience expectation bar every day. Once the professionals start lowering their own sights, the industry is doomed.

Will publishing follow the same path?

I am not sure it will.
I have no doubt it is in for a revolution - nothing sudden, but it is coming nevertheless. The online world allows anyone to now market their self-published book to a global audience. No longer are budding authors spending months driving around bookstores to broaden their outlets, they are doing it online with virtual book signings, virtual interviews, and good old social networking.

None of this, however, will overcome a poorly written book. I do not feel that readers will have their quality sights lowered to the extent that inferior works will cause anything more than a brief blip on the radar.

The reason is simple: readers have to buy books. In whatever form, a financial transaction takes place and disappointment therefore becomes far more personally focused than, say, having wasted half an hour watching a terrible television program. Once bitten in their purse, a reader might find author loyalty failing to encourage another risky transaction at the next release.

They say it’s just around the corner - the “iPod moment”. Books are about to go digital at last, according to many publishing pundits, and the publishers are pre-emptily crying poverty.

On the heels of the recent WGA writer’s strike, book publishers are already showing authors their empty pocket linings stating that the swing to digital publishing and distribution is a long term, low-profit investment for them.

It will be years before we are even close to making money from this and I think we should see a little bit of latitude from authors.

Large publishing houses are stating that although there are lower physical production costs for an electronic distribution, titles still require editorial, sales, marketing, promotion and publicity. Add to this list the new costs of converting files into multiple formats [eh?],  digital warehousing, anti-piracy protection,  and content and metadata tracking.  Random House have suggested this additional investment will mean they will not turn a profit until beyond 2013.

The argument about royalties centres around a proposed 15% royalty on net receipts from digital sales. It is higher than the standard 10% for hardback sales, but significantly lower than the current 25% rate for ebook sales in the US.

Ebook makeup is still extremely low, however with less than 1% of the entire US book market. At such a rate, it is not surprising that the costs per unit sold seem pretty high right now.

The question for me is whether the publishers are not forward thinking enough to appreciate that aggregate costs will drop significantly as the market grows, or whether they are merely looking to engineer inflated profits when that time comes.

It is a difficult space to predict, but I feel that publishers need to break away from seeing the digital market as simply a non-paper version of the printed market. As the music industry has been forced to learn over the past year or two, the it is the millions of digital consumers who will ultimately dictate how the digital space is exploited.

We currently see top name artists pushing their content out for free (Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead), and new artists doing the same to build reputation and audience. I suspect we will see the same for the publishing world. Who might be the first big-name author to distribute a brand new book in electronic form, completely free of charge?