The Paperback Revolution and the Ebook Revolution- An analysis of how both affected the Publishing industry in Britain

• Allen Lane poses with his Penguin mass-produced paperbacks

Both the paperback revolution, ushered in by Allen Lane’s pocket-sized Penguin paperback editions in 1935, and the advent of the e-Book, through the Amazon Kindle e-readers as the chief means of circulation of this format, have had clear effects upon the contemporary publishing industries in Britain and indeed maintain an influential role to play with regards to the readership of written works. With regards to how these phenomena have affected the British publishing industry, a variety of factors are to be considered. Firstly, both endeavours brought about a less costly means by which an audience for literature could consume literature, with Lane’s Penguins selling at an affordable rate which enabled the readership of fiction to diversify into including a larger chunk of the lower earning, or working classes, and Amazon’s dedication to their ‘Kindle Unlimited’ subscription option, whereby one may utilize thousands of e-Books for a monthly fee of £7.99. Furthermore, the advent of both the paperback revolution and Kindle have popularized simple, arguably more ‘user-friendly’, forms of presenting works of literature, through the paperback format and the e-format. These factors considered, it is clear that they have affected the publishing industry in Britain in a variety of ways, as will be demonstrated by further analysis. Furthermore, an investigation is warranted in an attempt to establish whether or not, or indeed how, these formats have affected the readership for fiction in Britain, and to understand which of these advents has had a greater effect upon determining the audience for written works.

As aforementioned, both the paperback revolution and the advent of the eBook have allowed for a less costly alternative means of purchasing fictional works. With regards to Lane’s Penguin paperbacks, their introduction of cheap paperback editions of enlightening literature was highly influential in terms of its effects upon the British publishing industry. The popular anecdote goes that Lane devised his plans for cheap, paperback editions of quality literature when, as described by biographer Jeremy Lewis, he ‘was so appalled by the rubbish on offer at the railway bookstall on Exeter station that he decided, there and then, that he would remedy matters by producing a line of paperbacks that cost no more than a packet of cigarettes…and included worthwhile works of literature instead of lightweight ephemera.’ (Lewis, 71) Lane’s desire to mass-produce cheap paperback editions of literature certainly affected the British publishing at the time. Lane had the firm belief that there was a market out there for cheap editions of thought-provoking literature. As Feather notes, ‘Lane’s true originality lay in his confidence that good books could be sold in large numbers, and in his willingness…to use unconventional channels of distribution in order to achieve this.’ (Feather, 175). He chose ten titles for his first print run, including works such as André Maurois’s Ariel and Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms. Lane, much to the scepticism of the British book trade with both publishing figures, such as Johnathan Cape, and booksellers doubting Lane’s chances at success, had to ensure print runs of at least 20,000 copies in order to maintain the sixpence price cap. (Feather, 175) The reluctance of booksellers to gamble upon the chance of Penguin being successful was made almost irrelevant by Woolworth’s placing a large order, which was crucial to Penguin’s initial financial survival and popularity growth. Lewis writes that within the first four months of business, Penguin had sold a million copies, demonstrating the sheer success of the cheap paperback venture. (Lewis, 102). Penguin’s success affected other publishing figures and tempted them into joining this enterprise, such as Harold Raymond of Chatto & Windus publishers, whom Lewis quotes as writing to Lane: ‘though our general feeling still is that the Book Trade as a whole may come to rue the day of the advent of this particular line of publication, we are quite willing to approach some of our authors and invite them to join in our venture.’ (Lewis, 103) Despite Lane’s project being treated with initial scepticism and dubiousness, the sheer success of Penguin’s cheap paperbacks encouraged other publishing figures, such as the aforementioned Raymond, to join in on the paperback revolution, demonstrating that the success of the low price paperbacks affected and influenced the British publishing industry.

Like Lane’s Penguin paperbacks, the advent of the eBook format, with Amazon Kindle being its most significant distributor, has affected the publishing industry in Britain due to the low costs it offers.  The British branch of Amazon offers a monthly subscription fee of £7.99 for its Kindle eBook service, advertising that one may ‘enjoy the freedom to explore over 1 million titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just £7.99 a month’ (https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/hz/signup?_encoding=UTF8&*entries*=0&*Version*=1.) This monthly subscription fee has a significant, arguably damaging, effect upon the British publishing industry. Thompson writes about Amazon’s role as the chief distributor of eBooks, saying:

‘So why were publishers troubled by this? First, it devalues the book and creates the impression in the minds of the consumers that a new book is ‘worth’ $9.99 [£7.99]…the second reason to be concerned is that if Amazon succeeds in establishing a dominant position in the eBook marketplace, they will use their muscle to put pressure on publishers to reduce their eBook prices and/or increase their discounts’ (Thompson, 362-363).

Indeed, Amazon Kindle has affected the publishing industry in terms of both print and eBook publishing due to the low costs it offers, which are almost impossible for other publishers to compete with, especially when it comes to the eBook market. The Guardian reports that Amazon sells nine out of ten eBooks in the UK (Griffiths & Milmo). Further estimates from Forbes suggest that Amazon has control over 80% of eBook sales within Britain (Greenfield). Like Penguin’s revolutionary paperbacks, Amazon’s Kindle eBook monopoly offers the consumer a cheaper, alternative means by which to read. Greenfield, in his article ‘UK Publishers and Amazon: Keep Calm and Carry On’, discusses the British publishing firm Verso Books as an example of how a member of the British publishing industry has been influenced by Amazon’s ability to provide literature in a less than costly manner. Verso Books have adapted themselves to the Amazon monopoly by launching its own ‘direct sales channel’, offering both eBooks and print books, which as Greenfield notes, ‘makes Amazon a much less important sales channel for the publisher.’ (Greenfield) The actions of Verso Books demonstrates an example of how the advent of the eBook, in particular the role of its chief distributor Amazon Kindle, has affected and influenced the British publishing industry due to the fact that it represents a much cheaper alternative manner by which one may consume written works.

Another means by which the paperback revolution and the eBook format have affected the British publishing is by their respective introductions of new forms by which written works could be presented in. Penguin’s original, almost iconic design and format was highly influential in terms of its effect upon the British publishing industry. The simplicity of the form with which Penguin paperbacks were presented, coupled with their low prices, was very important when it came to establishing Penguin’s success as a publishing company. Lewis notes that Lane desired for Penguin ‘“a consistent and easily recognizable cover design” as well as a “good trademark that would be easy to treat pictorially, easy to say, easy to remember.’” Furthermore, is was at the insistence of Lane that Penguin books should be formatted in a manner that they ‘should fit easily into a pocket or a handbag.’ (Lewis, 90) Penguin books were presented in an easily recognisable manner and designed so that they were easily stored and carried by the reader. Their design presented the purchaser with an appealing option compared to books published by other publishing companies due to their pocket-size and also due to their uniform cover design, which allowed for Penguin books to become a product that could be seen as a collectable item, boosting sales even further. The simplistic, recognisable design, coupled with the affordable price, allowed for Penguin’s sales to increase rapidly. The high sale numbers allowed for substantial levels of paper rationing, amongst the highest levels allocated, being granted to Penguin during World War Two. As de Bellaigue notes, ‘Such sales led to substantial allocation of paper during the war years, which enabled Penguin to meet a huge demand in the armed forces. The war years turned out, therefore, to be a period of considerable development for Penguin.’ (de Bellaigue, 71). Penguin was now established as one of the top, if not the top, publishing companies in Britain. As aforementioned, their simplistic and easily identifiable design, coupled with their low prices, allowed for their success to grow, eventually allowing for the high paper allocation they received during the war years. This affected the British publishing industry due to the fact that along with Penguin’s growth came increasingly strenuous competition and desire to essentially keep up with the progress and success coming to Penguin, enlarged further by the Second World War.

• The Ebook and Kindle- has it had the same revolutionary effect on contemporary publishing industries as Lane’s paperbacks did?

 

Comparably, the format and design of Amazon’s eBook reader, Kindle, has had a substantial effect upon the British publishing industry, much like Penguin’s pocket-sized paperbacks. The most significant aspects of the e-reader is the fact that the physical book form is eradicated and also that on one Kindle, one may store hundreds, if not thousands of books, giving the e-reader an obvious advantage to the physical book when it comes to the storage of written works. Like Penguin, Kindle represents a new means by which books and written works can be formatted in a means that is arguably more convenient to the consumer, presenting an issue to publishing companies, especially with regards to their production of print books. As Thompson writes:

‘The significance of Amazon is not to be measured only in terms of its market share as a retailer…It also stems from the fact that Amazon and other online booksellers use a retail model that is fundamentally different from that of the traditional books-and-mortar bookstore. In the Amazon model, the availability of books to the consumer is no longer tied to the physical availability of the book in the bookstore…; availability is virtual, not physical.’ (Thompson, 327)

Amazon’s Kindle model has propelled them into being the biggest distributor of eBooks. This monopolization, which the e-reader format has played a role in establishing, has presented a challenge to the British publishing industry, with Amazon’s power and influence over the publishing industry becoming problematic for British publishers. The Guardian has reported that Amazon makes British publishers pay the 20% VAT charge on eBook sales, writing: ‘The firm is able to wield such power over publishers because it has a near monopoly of the UK digital book publishing market.’ (Griffiths & Milmo) However, Amazon’s influence has also been welcomed by sections of the British publishing industry, demonstrating that Amazon’s Kindle has had both a problematic and advantageous effect. For example, the Guardian have written that the introduction of new versions of the Kindle has been welcomed by both Random House UK and Bloomsbury, with representatives of each being quoted respectively as saying the low prices of the Kindle devices would ‘open up a whole new marketplace of impulse buyers’, and that ‘anything that makes the experience of reading digitally better is welcomed by publishers.’ (Page) It is clear, therefore, that the format of the Kindle e-reader has had a substantial effect upon the British publishing industry, in both problematic and welcomed terms. Its ability to store thousands of books on one device, coupled with the cheap price of texts in digital format, has allowed for Amazon’s monopolization of the digital marketplace, giving them a power and influence that allows them to be problematic to publishers, as shown by the 20% VAT charge they have made British publishers pay. However, their control of the marketplace has also been welcomed, as seen by the reaction of publishers such as Random House UK. Like Penguin’s paperbacks, the new format that Kindle presents has had a clear and influential effect upon the contemporary British publishing industry.

In terms of the relationship that the paperback revolution and Amazon’s Kindle have with the publishing industry, it is clear that both have had a profound effect. However, an investigation into how these phenomena have influenced the readership within Britain is also warranted. Firstly, it is clear that the advent of the mass market paperback engendered by Penguin in the 1930s had an obvious and substantial effect upon the audience for written works in Britain. Penguin’s inexpensive paperbacks, affordable to the ‘everyday man’, of high-quality literature enabled for a democratisation of reading to occur. The paperback revolution opened upon previously closed reading avenues for the lower and working classes to explore. Cheap and enlightening books became available to the masses. Frank Rudman notes that the paperback revolution did not just usher change within the publishing industry, but that its influence spread further; into changing and shaping a new, and more inclusive, reading audience. He states: ‘It was revolutionary in that all sorts, conditions, and ages of people who would never have entered a conventional bookshop in their lives now confidently and calmly buy a paperback from a bookstand and pop it in their pockets.’ (Rudman) Furthermore, the influence of Penguin paperbacks transcended into the political sphere due to its influence over its audience, being cited as one of the main reasons for the post-war election of a Labour government. Clement Attlee, Prime Minister in the post-war Labour government, is quoted as having said: ‘It was Lane and his Penguins which did most to get us into office at the end of the war.’ (Lewis) The validity of Attlee’s assessment is vouched for by Feather, who writes that in Lane’s decisions of the type of works Penguin should publish there was evidence of a social conscience leaning to the left of the political sphere: ‘Allen Lane was creating an imprint which was consciously positioned to the left of the political centre, and on the liberal approach to moral issues. It was to be one of the major cultural influences on mid-twentieth century Britain.’ (Feather, 176). Penguin and their paperbacks, therefore, had an obvious effect upon changing the audience for reading in Britain as it facilitated a democratisation of reading, allowing for the availability of literature to the masses. The influence of this democratization is clear, and indeed substantial, as evidenced by how it transcended into British politics, with the election of the post-war Labour government.

Regarding the effects of the eBook, specifically the Kindle, upon the British readership, it would appear that less influence upon the audience for written works has been demonstrated when compared to the effects of Penguin’s paperback revolution. Research has shown that the percentage increase in eBook sales has begun to experience a decline. According to the Publishers Association, in 2015, eBook sales had a decline of 1.6% to £554 million, which is the first drop experienced in eBook sales in the seven years that the Publishers Association has been monitoring the digital book market (Sweney). Further reports have indicated this decline in sales, with the Bookseller magazine reporting that ‘eBook sales for the UK’s five biggest publishers fell in 2015, collectively declining 2.4%, to 47.9m units.’ (Flood) These statistics demonstrate the difference in influence over the British reading audience that eBooks appear to have when compared to Penguin’s paperbacks. Despite the low price of texts and the Kindle’s ability to store thousands of texts on one device, it would appear that, when compared to the effects of the paperback revolution, the Kindle has had less of an influence upon the audience for reading in Britain. As Ted Striphas notes, in the early 2000s, many in the publishing industry believed that the eBook format was the future of publishing. He writes:

‘It appeared that the dusty old era of printed books was finally poised to give way to a sublime digital future… [However] Despite the efforts of Stephen King, Simon & Schuster, and Arthur Andersen to locate themselves within the vanguard of an e-book revolution, the latter hasn’t quite reached the fevered pitch that book industry insiders had anticipated.’ (Striphas, 542)

As Striphas has noted, the anticipated ‘e-book revolution’ has not experienced the same revolutionary fervour that can be compared to the paperback revolution, which is reaffirmed by both Striphas’ assessment and indeed the aforementioned recent decline in the number of sales of the eBook format. Therefore, it is justifiable to argue that Amazon’s Kindle has not affected nor influenced the British readership in as substantial a manner as the paperback revolution of the 1930s did through the foundations it laid for the possibility of a democratisation of reading.

An analysis is warranted into which of these two endeavours has had the greatest influence. The advent of both the paperback revolution and Amazon’s eBook reader Kindle has had clear effects, as detailed, upon both the publishing industry in Britain and upon the British reading audience. Both endeavours challenged the contemporary British publishing industries, with both having substantial influence. However, a comparison of the respective effects of each of these formats would suggest that Penguin’s paperbacks have had the greater effect upon the readership of written works in Britain. This is evident due to a variety of factors. Firstly, with regards to the effects felt by the publishing industry, Penguin introduced a new format of presenting written works that were cheap and affordable to the masses. The mass-production of paperback books challenged the contemporary publishing industry, which, a large portion of at least, was highly sceptical of this venture. Comparably, Amazon Kindle has affected the British publishing industry through its introduction of the aforementioned £7.99 monthly subscription fee which offers consumers thousands of eBook downloads, which has allowed for Amazon to create a monopoly, especially with regards to eBook publishing. Furthermore, both Penguin and Amazon’s Kindle introduced new, convenient formats of presenting written works. Lane’s desire to make paperbacks that were pocket-sized ensured that they were a popular choice amongst consumers, while Amazon’s Kindle, with its ability to store thousands of texts upon one device and its eradication of the need for an actual physical book has also affected the contemporary publishing industry in Britain, as previously detailed. However, it is possible to argue that Penguin’s paperbacks had a greater effect upon the British audience of readers when compared to the influence of the Kindle. Firstly, as aforementioned, Allen Lane’s Penguin paperbacks, through low-cost editions of enlightening literature, introduced a new sense of inclusivity into the reading audience in Britain, thus initiating a process of a democratisation of reading amongst the British readership, which also transcended into the political sphere in Britain. However, the eBook format and Kindle have not had an equivalent sense of influence over the reading audience in Britain as that demonstrated by Penguin and the paperback revolution of the 1930s. This is demonstrated by the recent decline in the sales of eBooks that have been reported in Britain. All in all, it is clear that both Penguin and Amazon’s Kindle have affected the publishing industry in Britain in comparable manners. However, Penguin’s paperbacks have demonstrated a more substantial influence upon the reading audience in Britain than that of Amazon’s Kindle.

As demonstrated, both the paperback revolution and Penguin and Amazon’s Kindle have greatly affected the publishing industry in Britain. Their respective introductions of cheap and alternative means of presenting written works has led to both having had an obvious sense of power and influence over the rest of the publishing industry. Furthermore, their introductions of the format with which each enterprise presents written works, with Penguin’s mass-produced paperback and Amazon’s Kindle, have also affected the publishing industry in Britain. The low-priced format of written works which Penguin and Amazon produce have had considerable influence over the British publishing industry as they both represent a convenient and cheaper alternative means by which one may consume written works, with Penguin’s paperback in the 1930s an alternative to the hardcover format, and Kindle allowing for storage of thousands of texts upon one device. However, with regards to how each of these enterprises have affected the contemporary readerships, Penguin paperbacks demonstrated a more substantial influence than that shown by Amazon’s Kindle. As detailed, Penguin’s affordable paperbacks facilitated a democratisation of reading by opening up the availability of written works to social classes who previously would have been unable to afford to purchase literature. Conversely, Amazon’s e-reader Kindle has not had as substantial an effect upon the audience for reading in Britain as that which had been demonstrated by the paperback revolution and Penguin. This is illustrated by the decline eBook sales have recently experienced, as previously detailed. It is clear, therefore, that both Allen Lane’s Penguin paperbacks and Amazon’s Kindle have affected the British publishing industry in numerous comparable ways. However, when it comes to analysing their respective effects upon the British audience of readers, it is clear that Penguin and the paperback revolution demonstrated a greater effect and influence upon the readership in Britain than that illustrated by the eBook and Amazon’s Kindle.

 

 

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