iPods and iPhones: Death for the Book Trade, by Gareth Powell

The death of book publishing in the middle levels may not happen tomorrow.  The relatives have been informed. It is awaiting the last rites. Probably within ten years.

This is written in the first person for there is no other way to write it. John Owen is one of the savviest publishers I know. He owned Weldon Owen -- he bought out the Australian Kevin Weldon -- and from his headquarters in San Francisco and Sydney built up, in partnership with his wife, Dawn, a major publishing empire. Which he recently sold.

He is visiting Sydney and last night took me to dinner.

The conversation was all about the death of publishing in the middle levels. It survives in other areas but the glory days are well past.

The easiest way to see why and how it is happening is iPod the Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue.

At the bookseller Dymocks in Sydney it is US$27 although in the United States it is US$20. It is 278 pages long, has a laminated cover, is professionally laid out.  Not great value for money but OK.

It was also available as a download on the official Apple site as:

iPhone: The Missing Manual, 2nd. Ed.

Thoroughly updated and teeming with high-quality color graphics, humor, tips, tricks, and surprises, iPhone: The Missing Manual quickly teaches you how to set up, accessorize, and troubleshoot your iPhone 3G.

Price was US$3.50 on special.

It seems to have been pulled from the site now because David Pogue, who is not stupid and runs the technical section of the New York Times, will have worked out he was killing his own sales.

Still it will do as an example. Although the book was printed in Canada and looks to me like printing on demand by the time it gets to the bookseller the price is, frankly, damn silly.

And the price it was being offered on the Internet was, perhaps, a little too low - $5 would have been more like it.

Tomorrow I am going to Bangkok and my iPod Touch is loaded with books for me to read on the flight. I am meeting my offsiders and there will be a book swapping fest.

Note that I publish books and have done for a very long time.

There will always, I think, be a market for superbly produced books which are a pleasure to read. But for the bottom and middle end of the market the iPod Touch and the iPhone are standing ready. They are, indeed, the Smiler with the Knyf.