出版商转战电子图书市场

While the book publishing world has so far weathered the shift to digital better than other media, the decision by Penguin and Random House to merge signals an underlying anxiety about future profitability.

迄今为止，图书出版界较其他媒体更好地经受住了向数字转型的考验。然而，企鹅出版社(Penguin)与兰登书屋(Random House)的合并表明，出版商在心底对未来的盈利能力依然忧心忡忡。

For though technological innovation has made it easier than ever for readers to buy books, there is a catch: a single retailer – Amazon– dominates the digital distribution channels. Its power is set to become stronger as ebooks eat into print book sales.

这是因为，虽然在科技创新的推动下，读者买书较以往任何时候都更加容易，但一个潜在的挑战是：亚马逊(Amazon)一家独大，主导了数字分销渠道。随着电子图书逐渐蚕食印刷版图书销量，亚马逊的力量会变得越来越强大。

The question for book publishers is whether, through mergers and acquisitions, they can retain enough market power to avoid being squeezed by Amazon and its tough negotiating tactics.

图书出版商面临的问题是，它们是否能够通过并购保留足够的市场力量，避免被亚马逊及其强硬的谈判策略压榨。

The rising popularity of ebooks poses a particular challenge for publishers. Amazon has about 25 per cent of the physical book market in the US, but it commands a 60 per cent share of the US ebook market.

电子图书越来越受欢迎，这对出版商构成严峻挑战。亚马逊占据美国实体图书市场的25%，但拥有美国电子图书市场60%的份额。

In the UK, about 90 per cent of ebooks are sold through Amazon, giving it great influence over how they are priced and promoted.

在英国，90%左右的电子图书通过亚马逊销售，因此亚马逊在定价和促销方面拥有巨大的影响力。

Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of The Idea Logical Company, a New York-based consultancy to many of the world’s biggest publishers, says Penguin, which is owned by Pearson, the parent company of the Financial Times, and Random House, owned by Bertelsmann, the German media group, will be better able to negotiate with Amazon by joining forces.

总部位于纽约、为全球多家大型出版商提供咨询的The Idea Logical Company的首席执行官迈克·沙茨金(Mike Shatzkin)指出，企鹅出版社与兰登书屋合并以后，将能增强对亚马逊的议价能力。企鹅出版社是英国《金融时报》的姊妹公司，两者均隶属培生集团(Pearson)。兰登书屋所有者是德国媒体集团贝塔斯曼(Bertelsmann)。

“Being bigger gives them strong power, he says. “It’s all about negotiating power with the retailers.

沙茨金说：“规模变大，力量就增强。这里最关键的就是与零售商讨价还价的能力。

If the merger of Penguin and Random House gets regulatory approval, the venture will publish about a quarter of the world’s English language books, with a roster of best-selling writers from Jamie Oliver, the chef, to EL James, whose erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey – popular on discreet ereading devices – this year became the UK’s biggest-selling book to date.

如果企鹅出版社与兰登书屋的合并获得监管机构批准，合并后公司出版的图书将占全球英语类图书的约四分之一，作者队伍中不乏畅销书作家，如英国知名大厨杰米·奥利弗(Jamie Oliver)以及EL·詹姆斯(EL James)等。EL·詹姆斯的性爱小说《五十层灰》(Fifty Shades of Grey)在私密性较好的电子阅读设备上非常流行，该书是今年迄今英国最畅销的小说。

Rumours are rife about which of the remaining “big six publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon and Schuster – may be next to combine, or whether smaller publishers will be snapped up by the big players.

人人纷纷猜测，“六大出版商中余下的四家——阿歇特(Hachette)、哈珀柯林斯(HarperCollins)、麦克米伦(Macmillan)和西蒙与舒斯特(Simon and Schuster)——接下来会有谁展开合并，或者，大型出版商是否会吞并中小出版商。

But not all publishers believe getting bigger is the solution. Some believe Amazon will lose its grip on book distribution as rival retailers and tech groups enter the market, including Apple, Google, Barnes and Noble, and supermarkets such as Tescoand Sainsbury’s.

不过，并非所有的出版商都相信扩大规模就能解决问题。有人认为，随着零售竞争对手和科技企业（包括苹果(Apple)、谷歌(Google)、巴诺书店(Barnes and Noble)等）以及超市（如乐购(Tesco)、森宝利(Sainsbury's)等）进入图书市场，亚马逊将失去对图书分销的控制。

“I don’t think big necessarily means better, says Christopher Hamilton-Emery, a director of Salt Publishing, an independent British house. The rise of digital publishing, he argues, is likely to lead to an “explosion of smaller, more focused publishers that can harness technology to establish relationships directly with consumers.

英国独立出版商Salt Publishing的董事克里斯托弗·汉密尔顿-埃默里(Christopher Hamilton-Emery)表示：“我不认为大就一定意味着更好。他认为，数字出版的崛起很可能导致规模更孝更专注某一领域的出版商大量涌现，这些出版商能够利用科技与消费者直接建立关系。

While ebook sales are still dwarfed by print sales, they are growing fast. According to the latest data from the Association of American Publishers, ebook sales have grown 50 per cent this year and account for 28 per cent of all adult fiction and non-fiction sales in the US.

虽然与印刷版图书销量相比，电子图书销量仍相形见绌，但电子图书的销量增长很是迅猛。美国出版商协会(Association of American Publishers)最新数据显示，今年美国电子图书销量增长了50%，占成人类小说和非小说图书总销量的28%。

According to PwC, the consultancy, ebooks will make up half of the US book market by 2016.

咨询公司普华永道(PwC)表示，到2016年，电子图书将占美国图书市场的半壁江山。

Last week, US bookseller Barnes and Noble started selling its Nook ereaders in the UK, priced from ￡79. And at the Frankfurt book fair in October, Txtr, a German ebook distributor, unveiled an ereader that costs just €9.90. Both devices accept ePub files, an open standard for ebooks.

上周，美国图书销售商巴诺书店开始在英国销售其Nook电子书阅读器，最低售价为79英镑。今年10月，在法兰克福书展上，德国电子图书分销商Txtr推出了一款售价仅为9.90欧元的电子书阅读器。这两款设备都支持ePub（电子书的一种公开标准）文件。

Amazon’s ereader, the Kindle, cannot read ePub files and only accepts Amazon’s own ebook formats, bought from the Kindle store. Publishers observe that this locks readers into Amazon’s “walled garden.

亚马逊的电子书阅读器Kindle不支持ePub文件，只支持亚马逊自有的电子书格式——这种格式的电子书要从Kindle商店购买。出版商表示，这种做法把读者锁在了亚马逊“带有围墙的花园里。

But Amazon faces challenges to its dominance. Rival retailers, driven by the same need to insulate themselves from declines in print book sales, are making the ebook market more competitive. In June, Sainsbury’s acquired a majority stake in ebook retailer Anobii. In September, Tesco bought Mobcast, which has 130,000 ebooks available for download to tablets and mobile phones from its cloud-based platform.

不过，亚马逊的主导地位面临种种挑战。与之竞争的零售商为避免受到印刷版图书销量萎缩的冲击，纷纷进入电子书市场，使得这个市场的竞争变得更为激烈。6月份，森宝利收购了电子书零售商Anobii的多数股份。9月份，乐购收购了Mobcast。Mobcast的云平台上拥有13万册电子图书供平板电脑和手机下载。

“The game is more about owning the cloud, rather than owning the device, says Fionnula Duggan, former head of digital at Random House in the UK and now an executive at CourseSmart, the US digital textbook group.

菲奥努拉·达根(Fionnula Duggan)表示：“这场游戏的关键是拥有云，而不是拥有设备。达根曾任兰登书屋英国数字业务主管，现任美国数字教材集团CourseSmart高管。

Having seen the damage suffered by the music industry due to online piracy and technological disruption, most book publishers have “responded very quickly and very well in the first phase of the digital transition, she says.

她说，在目睹了在线盗版和技术破坏对音乐行业造成的损害后，多数图书出版商都“在数字化转型的最初阶段就极为迅速地作出反应，效果很不错。

Indeed, most book publishers have “digitised their back lists, cut production and printing costs, and started experimenting with interactive ebooks.

确实，多数图书出版商都已“数字化了它们的存书，削减了生产和印刷成本，并开始尝试互动电子图书。

“What they are trying to do is get through this period of disruption and turbulence to the other side, with businesses that are more profitable than before, Ms Duggan says.

达根表示：“出版商正在努力度过这段混乱动荡的时期、争取到达彼岸，届时生意会比以往更加有利可图。