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ReadWriteWeb posts extensively on three waves impacting the book publishing business: the digitization of back catalogs, e-books, and print on demand.

Part I is an introduction to the issues while Part 2 looks at how they might play out in the future, specifically for book publishing’s major players: readers, authors, printers, publishers, retailers, and e-book device vendors.

RWW notes that the first wave is represented by Google in its digitization program, Google Book Search, which is dealing with three types of books:

• Books in the public domain but no longer in print or easily accessible outside of libraries.
• Books that are out of print but still copyrighted. These were the subject of legal action taken by the Authors’ Guild and the Association of American Publishers to protect publishers’ revenue from back catalogs and authors’ royalty streams. The case was settled in October 2008.
• Books that were scanned by 20,000 publishing partners and sent to Google, which restricts how much of any one you can read online.

eBooks, made more popular by Kindle: Amazon’s 6, represent the second wave, and the third is print on demand.

In Part 2, RWW says readers will benefit from changes in publishing and will get a:

• Broad selection of titles
• Choice of format and device
• Fast delivery
• Low prices

They have some interesting speculations about how changes will impact authors and others in the industry, as well.