Interview With Greg Voynow
Posted on May 22, 2001
Gregory Voynow is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of iPublish.com at Time Warner Books. Voynow has been responsible for developing Time Warner Trade Publishing's Internet strategy since 1998. Prior to joining Time Warner, he was Vice President of Content Acquisitions for Audible.com, an Internet start-up delivering premium spoken-word programming to consumers for mobile playback. Previously, he was Director of New Business for Scholastic Productions. He obtained his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the Unversity of Pennsylvania. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Greg spoke with us about the launch of iPublish.com, the new electric book publishing division of AOL Time Warner, the future of ebooks and the greatest challenges he's faced while creating a new publishing model.
iPublish.com is a unique undertaking: a mainstream publisher who is actually willing to take a deeper look into the slush pile. How did this idea evolve?
It evolved when we began to notice that there was a lot of publishing-related activity online, and we saw that the Web was a great way to reach writers. Writers were online doing a lot of different things. We had seen the development of some of the vanity publishing models, and we thought that we could do it better. We had an idea, which was that we could create a community online which would help us discover talent on the Internet, and not be a model where we just charged authors for services, regardless of their talent. We could connect directly with writers, and we could find quality writers. We saw these grass roots activities, and we saw some promise there. We saw that this was a way to "grow" authors in a way that you generally can't do anymore. We wanted to develop a "farm team," with a way to reach targeted audiences on the Internet. As a business, it would parallel the traditional publishing world, in terms of minimum print runs and the sales channels, which we've already got. This model will supplement what we already do in print, and will also feed into it by discovering new talent for our print business.
Take us through the selection process for a new author who comes
to your site. What does he do?
If you're a prospective author, you come to the site,
| "I think we absolutely will still have print in 10 years.... once there are better reading devices .... which are priced right, that will enhance the ebook reading experience. I think that ebooks will definitely have a position in the reading world: they won't just be used for technical books or textbooks, but will also be used to read consumer trade books." |
I thought the idea of the peer review was interesting. Is that what you're referring to -- to see which works can generate a buzz?
Yes, the peer review is the first aspect of that. We can read what other writers are saying about works, and see not only if the author has any talent, but also see how a potential audience is going to react to this work. These are people who can be evangelists for these authors when we begin to grow them. It's part of a way to give people a taste of the work and get some feedback, before we commit to actually publishing it. That's unique. Most people won't get published, but the way we're looking at this is: for free you get a lot of valuable feedback, your work is only tied up for 90 days, and you are part of a community. You can always re-submit. So you certainly aren't losing out, if you don't get published. You certainly will get something out of it -- we don't charge authors for any of these things we provide. Many of our message boards reflect the fact that people really appreciate the rating system. Of course, there are always a few bad apples, but for the most part people are being very serious about it. Writers are telling us that they really appreciate the feedback they're getting, that it is really helping them to hone their craft.
Let's say an author makes it through the process, and his book is published as an ebook and possibly a POD book. Where will his book be available for sale?
Through a network of channels that we've already established: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, Contentville.com, Previewport.com, and an entire list of retailers that we have agreements with. They will also be available through Gemstar, Palm Digital Media and various other venues. iPublish has a network through Lightning Source, and the books will be sold basically wherever ebooks are sold. That's ebooks. For print-on-demand, we are looking to replicate those channels. We haven't launched the print-on-demand yet, but it will be handled in a similar fashion. We are also looking at ebooks as a way to get people to try the print versions of our books. On our website, some of our new authors are giving their ebooks away in order to market the print version. Someone might read 40-50 pages of a book on his screen, and then decide that he'd rather finish it in print. So the reader just calls the 800 number and orders the book as a print-on-demand title.
How is iPublish different from epublishers such as iUniverse or Xlibris?
iUniverse and Xlibris, as I understand, have a publisher services model. They don't screen for quality. Instead, they say, "For x dollars, we will publish you." They are not editorially-driven companies. They provide services to authors. We are an editorially-driven company that doesn't charge anything. We view our website as a place where we discover talent, people who really have promise as writers. And we only publish those people. We hope to brand iPublish as a place for quality, original work. I don't think that any other online publisher has a reputation yet for quality. And to be fair, that's not necessarily what they are trying to do. They are trying to level the playing field for the millions of writers who are not getting published, regardless of whether or not they can write. Our editorial director, Claire Zion, has been the editor for many New York Times bestsellers. Our editorial staff has been pulled from Warner Books and Little, Brown. They are real editors, who know what they're doing.
The advance of technology is having a tremendous impact on the media and book publishing worlds. I'm going to ask you to look 10 years in the future. How prevalent are ebooks and ebook readers? Will we have print newspapers at all?
I think we absolutely will still have print in 10 years. Print is here indefinitely. I thing that once there are better reading devices (which there definitely will be within 10 years), which are priced right, that will enhance the ebook reading experience. I think that ebooks will definitely have a position in the reading world: they won't just be used for technical books or textbooks, but will also be used to read consumer trade books. I think that the technology will allow for convenient distribution, and some different business models that will have some residence in the consumer marketplace. In other words, you won't just buy one book here, and another one somewhere else. There will be a model where the consumer has her reading device, and she may subscribe to a certain service where she can download a certain number of short stories for a discounted price. Or, she may choose to go to one central location and download several books in several genres for reading at her leisure. It will be cost-effective and convenient for that consumer. Ebooks can also be a window of a distribution chain which will end up in print. Once those devices are out there, ebooks will be a viable business on its own.
Ebook devices are pretty expensive now, costing from $200 - $600. In your opinion, what is the price point for there to be mass sales of handheld ebook devices?
They are expensive. In fact, the Gemstar color device is $700.00. The price break is $100 or less. That's the point where there will be mass sales. And we may end up with the razor/razorblade model, where the price of the device is supplemented by the content revenue stream, but I'd love to see the ebook reader retail for $79.95.
As it stands today, there are several competing
formats for ebooks: Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.1,
Microsoft Reader, and the Palm Reader, just to name
three. Is there any move afoot to create uniform standards,
or will epublishers continue to have to issue books in several
formats? Does this lack of a uniform standard drive up the
cost of doing business, and therefore raise the price to the consumer?
"We are concerned about [security]; we do not think that there is a
foolproof security system that exists. We haven't had any
problems yet, though....
I don't think it's like music, really, like with Napster.
Books just aren't as sexy as music. For some reason, people just
aren't as motivated to hack into ebooks. It's less of a risk, really."
It absolutely raises the price of doing business. We don't know what format is going to emerge as dominant, so we have to duplicate our efforts. But I do believe that there will be consolidation in the future. There has to be. This is a rather well-worn analogy, but the Beta vs. VHS analogy certainly comes to mind. I don't think that propriety software is ultimately going to win out. I think there is going to be open software that is inter-operable. Microsoft and Adobe are both well-positioned to drive that, because they already have a large customer base and their brand name, but I know that Palm is also looking at this closely. Their software is not just for the Palm OS, but can also be read on Windows operating systems. There is some kind of mini-consolidation going on right now. It needs to be sewn together at a higher level, and it will be -- eventually. Otherwise, it will really retard consumer adoption.
There is the Open Ebook Standard (OEB), and the Association of American Publishers is trying to put something together. But ironically, there is more than one group trying to put together the standards. So at some point, everyone is going to have to get together, in order for this to be viable.
Where are we, generally speaking, in terms of encryption or other ways to protect digital books?
I don't think anything is really foolproof at this time. Hardware types of encryption, like the Gemstar device, are probably safer than anything that is on an open platform for computers. And as a publisher, obviously, we are very concerned about this issue. We look at security as something which needs to be addressed, but the opportunity is so big that even if a couple of books get pirated it really would be cutting off your nose to spite your face if you delay in diving into this market. So, although it is an issue, so far we haven't had any problems. We've been distributing ebooks for about eight months, and we haven't heard of any cases of any piracy. We've been distributing 50 - 60 titles per month. I don't think it's like music, really, like with Napster. Books just aren't as sexy as music. For some reason, people just aren't as motivated to hack into ebooks. It's less of a risk, really. Stephen King was the first author to get such tremendous publicity about publishing an ebook, and he had some problems with this issue. But King is hardly an average author.
What's the time frame for an author who submits her work?
It's a new venture. We are still working some of the details out. Right now, the editors are pulling and reading a lot of manuscripts. We are committed to beginning the publishing process, and right now are figuring out the exact timetable. We will make a decision in the next 30 days or so as to who we are going to begin to work with. Then we will work with the author, get the manuscript converted, get it distributed...it's a time intensive process, but we're committed to doing it right. So it will be another few months to do that. But it will certainly be faster than the normal print cycle.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in putting together this venture?
The biggest challenge is not what you might think it would be. We have so many partners on this deal, that tying them together and making it all work in synch has been a challenge. We work with Reciprocal to do the ecommerce for the site; we work with Lightning Source for the distribution of the ebooks; we are hosted on the AOL network backbone. Everything we are doing is new. There are no reliable systems in place; we had to create a system that works. We've been dealing with the operational challenges and inventing things that haven't been done before. Basically, we've been hitting hurdles and clearing them -- one by one. We have a clear vision of trying to find new talent. The execution on a day-to-day basis has been a bit slower and more painful than we thought it would be.
How have established authors, such as Nelson DeMille, reacted to iPublish and the idea of having their books available electronically?
They are very excited. No one is expecting to make a million dollars off it in the next year. Everyone is looking at this as an exciting new medium. They realize that it has great promotional benefits -- that's a plus. They are all curious about it, and are very willing to experiment with us.
What kind of books do you like to read in your spare time?
Well, I don't have a lot of spare time! When I read, I try to read something that's not related to my work. I read something to escape. I just finished reading a book called Eastward to Tartary by Robert Kaplan. It's a book about the author's travels through the Balkans and the Middle East. It's great. He is a wonderful travel writer. And I just bought a book by Amy Wilentz called Martyrs' Crossing. It's fiction. It looks quite interesting, so far.
What advice can you give an author who is hoping to be chosen as one of the new iPublish authors? Are there any genres which have a better chance of being selected?
There really is no secret to this. We want people who want to try things that are not necessarily the same things that you would do in print. Do something that you think would not be able to be published in print: not because you can't write, but because it's an out of genre work or it's too long, or too short. We want works which stretch the envelope a little bit. We also want people who are good community members. We want people who will read other people's works and respond. We want people to look at it as if they are trying to help us build this business; not only to contribute a work, but also to contribute to the community that we are building.
We are dedicated to making this work. We don't have everything perfect yet, but we hope writers will bear with us. Certainly that's been the general attitude of our members, so far. We are truly dedicated to finding new talent and are excited about this new venue that we've created.
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