Comments on: The Week That Was: Kindle, Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, and Fictionwise

By: Self-Publishing Review — Blog — The Ebook Revolution is Coming

Self-Publishing Review — Blog — The Ebook Revolution is Coming — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:48:07 +0000

[...] Barnes and Noble has bought Fictionwise for $15.7 million. Booksquare has an authoritative post about the implications of all this activity in the ebook market. As it [...]

By: Fenced in | Technology Reviews & Articles

Fenced in | Technology Reviews & Articles — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:28:11 +0000

[...] Kindle App [...]

By: Games san frontieres » the billblog

Games san frontieres » the billblog — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:27:07 +0000

[...] Links Spotify restrictions: Kindle App: iTunes Terms of Sale: Bill’s piece in The Register: ACTA treaty on Wikileaks: Lord of the Rings [...]

By: Fenced in | Ramblings

Fenced in | Ramblings — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:23:01 +0000

[...] Kindle App [...]

By: Fenced in | Download Softwares

Fenced in | Download Softwares — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:00:37 +0000

[...] Kindle App [...]

By: Fenced in | Herald de Paris

Fenced in | Herald de Paris — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:32:41 +0000

[...] Kindle App [...]

By: Anysia (Booklorn on Twitter)

Anysia (Booklorn on Twitter) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:20:56 +0000

At first I thought Amazon was clever for releasing an iPhone app for the Kindle format because I thought their goal was to sell more books. Then I realized their goal is to sell Kindles, not books. Not so clever after all since books are the attraction, not some fancy piece of hardware, especially when the target audience already has a fancy piece of hardware (iPhone) that does the same job (yes, it does — I’ve read books on PDAs for years I don’t need eInk @ $369 US).

The iPhone Kindle app is restricted to US customers making it painfully clear that they are, as you suggest, using the iPhone Kindle app as a gateway drug to entice more Americans to buy Kindles. Amazon is missing the mark by excluding readers outside of the US. Whether this is a marketing thing or a rights issue, I don’t know (and, as a consumer, I don’t care: gimme books).

As an aside, I have seen the geographic rights issue used as excuse to restrict distribution of ebooks to the US. This is an issue that the publishing industry is going to have to figure out when it comes to ebooks. It’s not called the worldwide web for nothing. If you’re doing business on the web with a digital product (like ebooks), it becomes increasingly counterproductive and off putting to try to restrict sales geographically.

By: Pageless

Pageless — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:25:49 +0000

Kassia,
I really think you’re onto something with “treat differently.” I say, stop calling all ebook-sellers conglomerates, there are plenty of ebooks stores that are as independent as your favorite coffee shop. BooksonBoard.com is one of my faves. I also like Gutenberg project.

By: Will 2009 be the Year of the E-book? - Epaper Central

Will 2009 be the Year of the E-book? - Epaper Central — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:23:38 +0000

[...] between Plastic Logic and the Kindle 3, just in time for the Christmas season. And that can only be a good thing. Will e-paper and e-books be the saviors of the publishing industry? One can only [...]

By: Sean Cranbury

Sean Cranbury — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:34:36 +0000

Kassia: you’re really hitting a stride these days. Funny what you mention at the beginning of the article, that you can’t blink these days without some exciting new development in the digibook craze. It’s almost worse than hoola hoops.

Question: what – besides time – is really preventing the ebook from retailing at less than a dollar and essentially trading on torrent sites for free? Like the mp3 does?

I’d like to submit this perspective: The digital file is strictly utilitarian and transferrable. It is a lower quality version of the print – lacking in the short term wacky fonts and the presentation of many paper texts – and is intended to serve the consumer as a quick and portable book. Read it on the subway, in the waiting room, wherever. Tuck it back into purse or pocket when the time comes.

But people require ‘thingness’ for money. They require 3 or 4 dimensions to be present for their hard earned cash.

This is where the publisher gets to really strut their stuff by providing the book as gorgeous physical object that demands to be owned. Whether it contains ‘extras’ that cannot be found in the digital realm or not.

The digital book is the bait for the physical specimen.

This is probably obvious.

Anyway, if I were a publisher just starting out I would give my books away electronically on as many different platforms as possible. I would make quick friends with independent software engineers – sometimes called hackers – who can facilitate these things. All digital material would be available from my home site and would be posted on all torrent and download sites. The files would obviously contain data leading to the homepage and other retailers carrying the physical book and etc…

Am I crazy to think that digital books will eventually become at or near costlessness for the consumer?