To get published, you have to convince an agent, publisher, and...Apple?

When this blog started, it was all industry information. But let's face it. Too many layoff and doom stories can get disheartening. The economic downturn and change toward a more digital world are challenging publishers to their core. Digital publishing may be a life line, and if the iPhone become the dominant e-Reader, Apple could be a blessing for publishing. But that bless could come at a price.

Right now, to get published, you have to convince an agent and a publisher. In the future, if the iPhone grabs market share, you might also have to convince Apple. In this Industry Standard article, Lincoln Spector notes that Apple's approach for e-Books mirrors the approach for music. You buy the Apple hardware, then the Apple application, then Apple-formatted media. In other words, you can buy the iPhone, then download the e-Reader, then buy your digital books from Apple (in exchanging for a 30% cut). For the consumer, it's an easy one-stop approach.

For Apple, it means the power to control what people read. Mr. Spector points out an instance where Apple rejected a Twitter application from the App Store because of profanity in the Twitter stream it broadcast. The issue has since been resolved.

But before we accuse Apple of being Big Brother, let's look at the world as it currently exists. If Apple were to sell a book that contained a healthy smattering of the N-word, what would happen? What if it sold a book that portrayed Christians as backward, stupid bigots? Or gays as sexual predators? The cutting edge of literature is often controversial--consider that there's still periodic angst over Huckleberry Finn.

Personally, I don't see Apple spending a lot of time trying to shape what we read and don't read. If it will make them money, Apple will probably offer it. But if it might cost them money, resulting from negative publicity, they might not. It's just one of a plethora of issues that we'll need to address in the e-publishing era.