Todays links of interest: Amazon bans account – customer loses all Kindle booksDear publishers: this is what we fear when we talk about DRM. Kindle Readers Ignite Protest Over E-Book PricesAgain, you don’t want to be the publisher or author who gets tagged in this game! Google’s Love For Newspapers How Little They Appreciate ItDanny Sullivan rants. Eloquently. We must up our game to match this one!
At The Daily Beast, Peter Osnos considers various aspects of the future of digital books, leading to this conclusion (which might, uh, sound familiar): Depending on who they are, consumers, authors, publishers, and booksellers all are focused on the benefits of the lowest price or the greatest revenue return, a balance of interests that can never satisfy everyone. The notion that because e-books do not have to be “manufactured” they can be cheaper has some validity, but there is already a reasonable pricing menu for books, the difference between hardcovers and paperbacks. Downloaded audiobooks also can be cheaper than those
Todays links of interest: Why Isn’t Amazon the 800-Pound Gorilla of eReaders?Joe Wikert considers an important question: why, despite all the hype, isn’t the Kindle wiping up the e-reader competition? (Good analysis, though he leaves out design as a consideration and doesn’t quite go all the way there when it comes to file management). What Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse can teach novelists about hooking readers.Colleen Lindsay uses Dollhouse as an example taking too long to give readers a reason to keep reading. Trust is not enough. Killer SerialsGwenda Bond on what makes a good (book) series. E-books: some household mathBrian O’Leary
It should come as no surprise that a group of enterprising Amazon customers have joined together to boycott Kindle books priced about $9.99. I’ve been holding my own private boycott for months now, for reasons stated at great length (sorry, Christopher Moore, you were an unwitting catalyst and victim, though another author was a winner). It’s curious that it has taken so long for this protest to form; then again, it seems to a lot of us that Kindle edition prices are creeping up. Boycotters are buying books from your competitors while leaving yours in the virtual shopping cart. Maybe
Todays links of interest: How Goest Thou?Nice article on the outlining process by Laura Anne Gilman. International Association of Culinary Professionals: 2009 IACP CBA WinnersCongratulations to our friends at Taunton and Ten Speed Press for rocking the awards. Wednesday’s Author: Raymond CarverVideo about the late, great Raymond Carver. What? You need more information than that?
Todays links of interest: Dear Twitter followers…Angela James of Samhain Publishing writes an open letter to her Twitter followers. Smart, sage, right on. Filedby Works With Licensed Book Industry Data, Working With Authors and Improving ItFiledby responds to recent Los Angeles Times piece. Oh, and hey!, did we mention you should check it out? Naggar Joining AmazonOr, more specifically, David Naggar is joining Amazon as VP of Kindle Content. Yep, that’s a job title.
Todays links of interest: For Some, Voice Mail Is Losing Its AllureCompletely off topic, but FoBS Yen Cheong is featured! Ebook Blowout: Amazon Kindle Free DownloadsJA Konrath is a Kindle bestseller and analyzes said success. Denise Oswald Joins Soft Skull Press/Counterpoint as Editorial DirectorWhile we await the next move from our friend Richard Nash, Denise Oswald takes the reigns at Soft Skull.
Todays links of interest: Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of inkThe Guardian, long one of our fave examples of online innovation, becomes all Twitter, all the time. Death of print? Doesn’t seem to be a problem for the British press. HarperStudio Announces New E-Book Pricing PolicyHmm, think this tweeting policy deprives long-winded bloggers of major opportunity, but new Literary Twitter Co-op is all over it! Literary Twitter Co-Op AnnouncedOne of my many exciting new projects. Edward Champion is very persuasive.
If there is one thing we can agree on, in the discussion surrounding digital books, it is that the issue is not “if ebooks ever take off” but “how ebooks will assimilate”. To my mind, too much energy is wasted on the idea that digital books are not the same as physical books. Focusing on the tactile, the kinesthetic, the heft of books and comparing that experience to a digital book makes no sense. Of course they’re different, just like cars, boats, and airplanes are different. Trains are different. All are forms of transportation, all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Todays links of interest: Richard Nash, Head OnRichard Nash’s exit interview, in Interview. Authors fight free books site Scribd for ‘pirating’ their workLess than a week after publishers announced a deal with Scribd, the site gets slapped for unauthorized posting of copyrighted work. Ahem, Scribd…get thee better traffic cops! Sun-Times Media Group files for bankruptcySad news indeed, but note some of the core reasons.
