I wrote yesterday about an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on HarperCollins Publishers' new strategy with respect to the digitization of their books.
The company issued a corporate press release on Monday. In it, Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins Worldwide was quoted as saying: "In keeping with our commitment to be a 21st century publisher, our content needs to be available in a digital format. We have a vision of the future and this is a significant step towards achieving that vision. We are putting our digital house in order so that we are prepared to offer consumers book content in new ways and with a variety of partners . . . The world we live in today is increasingly technology driven. HarperCollins is going to move with the technology."
HarperCollins plans to issue a "Request for Proposal" to seek a vendor to digitize their books on a global basis. Yesterday's WSJ article mentioned that "While HarperCollins will let the Internet companies search its books free, it is hoping that some of them will help share the costs of digitizing the books."
So the negotiations begin.
After my blog on Sunday in which I said, "technology cannot be stopped," Ms. Friedman's words were music to my ears. It's time that publishers and authors get in front of the digital revolution instead of standing on the sidelines screaming about it.
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2 comments:
Amen, sista. Amen.
There's almost a running skirmish in the publishing field right now, with everybody jockeying for position. It'll be fun to see where it all falls out.
Me, I just want my books available EVERYWHERE!!
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