Deck 2: Newspapers

Question 1

Why was passage of the International Copyright Law of 1891 so important to American authors?

Answer 1

International copyright Law 1891 is the U.S. congressional act that protects authors of other nations working in United States. Introduction of International copyright Law 1981 gives equal opportunities to American and foreign authors for publishing there work.
The law was of importance to American authors because prior to this law, American authors' work were published in less numbers. The main reason was that the publishers had to pay royalties to American authors unlike foreign authors. As a result, they preferred to publish books of foreign authors as it was less costly.
In addition, the law also protects piracy of American authors work. Hence, it was important.

Question 2

List five ways the economics of book publishing changed from Benjamin Franklin's day to today.

Answer 2

Mentioned below are the 5 ways in which book publishing changed over the time.
• Introduction of International copyright law in 1891 changed the outlook of publishers towards the work of American authors. This resulted in increased publication of books written by American authors.
• Pocket books were introduced in 1939 unlike the time of BF. In addition, clubs and libraries were opened which further increased the demand for books. As a result, number of books being published also increased.
• In 1960's publishing houses began to merge and hence their capacity increased. Additionally, number of retail book stores also increased to a great extent.
• Increase in demand for books resulted in the production of audiobooks. This changes the marketing activities used by companies. Further, 2000 onwards, an era of e-books began. Publishers started to publish electronic books or electronic versions of popular paper books.
• In 2007, Company A introduced product K which is used to read electronic books. Further in 2010, product IP was introduced which further enhanced the market for e-books.
Hence, with time the acceptance for e-books has increased tremendously. People now prefer to buy/ download electronic books instead of paper books. Thus the market for paper books has been adversely affected.

Question 3

Will e-books totally replace print books? Why or why not?

Answer 3

E-books may totally replace print books because of following reasons.
• It is very easy and convenient to carry and read E-books while traveling as compared to printed books. E-book readers give choices to a reader to select a book to read while traveling. Hence e-books are preferred over printed books.
• It is more convenient to store electronic books as compared to printed books. The reason being, e-books are safely stored on a device like iPad, Kindle etc. However, storing printed books require lot of physical space.
• Electronic books are less costly as compared to printed books. Moreover, there is a less risk of losing an electronic book.
• E-books are more interactive as compared to printed books as they include audios, videos, animations etc. This makes them more attractive as compared to printed books.
• Built-in reading lights in electronic reading devices make it more convenient for readers to use e-book during night. This increases the demand of e-books as compared to printed books.
Above mentioned features states that e-books are accepted by wide audience and hence can replace printed books in near future.

Question 4

Why are textbooks so important to the publishing industry?

Question 5

What is the biggest challenge facing the book publishing industry today?