Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, the passage to the digital realm can be a vulnerable and tremulous thing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the quantum mechanical realm of trade ebooks. The problem du jour: can ONIX, the electronic standard used for the last five years to send bibliographic data (title, author, price, etc.) to support the sale of physical books, also be used with the digital files known as ebooks?
ONIX (the acronym for Online Data Exchange), you will remember, was born in the late 1990s when online retailers were tearing out their hair as each publisher sent bibliographic data in different ways. After a short tiff with the AAP (who was seen as having rushed in and co-opted the standards development process in Europe), serenity was restored, and the international organization, EditEur, that originated and continues to manage ONIX, unveiled ONIX 1.0 in 2000.
Over the past five years, use of ONIX has noticeably reduced friction in the distribution, marketing, and online sale of physical books, so much so that even libraries are considering adopting it. It could do the same for ebooks, but like all things physical to digital, it’s not a slam dunk. Among the obstacles for the smooth transmigration of print to digital in trade books are: There is no stable business model for the commerce in ebooks: should they be treated as just another format, like hardcover and paperback, or as a separate product like an audiobook? There are incompatible digital file formats for ebooks: Adobe, Microsoft, Palm, Mobipocket (Amazon.com), that cannot be read across different devices, and, most of the people involved in the daily commerce of ebooks, whether publishers, distributors, or online booksellers, are far from the process of developing standards. The wrong or competing standards (vhs vs. betamax anyone?) can significantly depress market growth.
Any light at the end of the cocoon? This year the International Digital Publishing Forum took a giant step forward by creating an Open Packaging Format. Think of this as a common digital automobile in which Messrs. Adobe, Microsoft, Palm and Mobipocket can ride across the ‘Net and then each step out to be re-created as ebooks. One day there may even be a universally accepted file format that could be read on any device. This would take enormous friction out of the system. IDPF is working on this as well. And ONIX 3.0, more than able to accommodate myriad ebook metadata, will be unveiled shortly. But the trade book, in its passage from physical to digital, is still emerging from its chrysalis and it will be a little while until butterflies are truly free.
PT thanks Lightspeed’s Jim Lichtenberg for this piece.
