TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Novelist using Kindle Store to test his wares for P edition: E Ink and the wireless connection could help draw in the right readers

By David Rothman

Zillions of book people know the drill. You write a novel, try agents and others, and ideally benefit from feedback along the way. But what if you could get helpful comments from the people who really count for commercial fiction, shoppers? Don’t charge ‘em more than 99 cents. Invite them to test the waters.

Daniel Oran, an ex-Microsoft exec with a thriller published earlier by Kensington and glowingly reviewed by PW, is doing just that for Believe, his second novel. He’s posted it in the Amazon Kindle store. I love the idea. Publishers such as Baen and O’Reilly are already letting people get sneak previews under various terms. But Daniel has something extra going for him, the high-resolution E Ink screen that the Kindle tablet uses.

The E Ink advantage

For many old-time print fans, E Ink will make book-reading more fun than gazing at the glow of a PDA, laptop or desktop. And that’s of interest to Daniel, who wants the best possible paper book, not just publication in E alone. The paperlike quality of display—the contrast between the text and the background isn’t the same, but many people think it’s close enough—should help Oran reach more than the typical techies. So will the Kindle’s wireless connection, allowing quick, direct downloading of books, since many e-book novices hate the hassles of transferring from a PC.

As grumpy as I am about the Kindle’s Draconian DRM and new proprietary format—we don’t need yet another inhabitant of the Tower of eBabel—I’m excited about the machine’s possibilities as a platform for beta-testing books. And Daniel would seem like a natural. At Microsoft, this former student of the late B.F. Skinner, the eminent Harvard psychologist, helped designed the Windows interface, giving us the Start Button and task bar. Imagine all the beta-testing that Windows undergoes. So the idea of trying out an E preview of a cardboard-and-ink product on consumers would seem inevitable for an Oran.

Serendipity

“The Kindle has appeared just as I’ve completed a second novel,” Daniel e-mailed me, “and I’ve decided to do with my novel what Web companies do with their new products: run an online beta test.

“I published my first novel the old-fashioned way: agent, publisher, bookstores, etc. And I was struck by how one-sided the process was: the primary feedback from readers came in the form of sales figures.

“Wanted something more interactive”

“This time, I wanted something more interactive, and the Kindle seems like a breakthrough.

“The Web has long made it possible to share a manuscript with a large audience and solicit feedback. But reading a novel-length text on a standard computer is painful. And it’s a hassle to print out a few hundred pages to read off-line.

“The Kindle solves all of that. So, for the first time, it’s really practical to get feedback from a huge number of readers before a book’s final release.”

Just posted

Daniel’s posting was just up on Amazon when he contacted me late last night, and I didn’t see any consumer reviews on his page there. But if you’re curious, why not go there and gamble a buck? Of course, if you’re an acquisitions editor and believe in Believe sufficiently, maybe you’ll want to gamble more. I haven’t read the book, but as described online, the plot struck me as intriguing for many readers and timely for Christmas 2008.

“…On December 25, a man with amnesia — and surprising talents — appears at a Manhattan hospital. A struggling young doctor befriends the man, and together they search for the truth. It’s a story about friendship and faith. And it’s also a story about ripples: how the actions of one person can affect so many others.”

Still book-store bound

“I still plan to go the traditional route eventually,” Daniel says, “with a regular paper version of my novel in bookstores.

“But, with Kindle, I think there’s a new first step available, involving the writer and the reader in a conversation that couldn’t have taken place in quite this way even a few months ago.”

The inevitable questions

That said, might many publishers shun Believe because it’s already out there in beta?

“Until now, publishers have had to fly blind, often making huge financial gambles on books with uncertain prospects,” Daniel says. “Finally, here’s a low-cost way to market-test a book—and also create a committed core of early adopters.” Exactly. How different Judith Regan’s life, and those of her associates at her HarperCollins imprint, might have been if she’d previewed her notorious O.J. title in a low-key way in E? Perhaps even to a small focus group of Kindle owners sworn to secrecy?

“I think the savvy book publishers are eager to explore new opportunities,” Daniel says. “And the ones who aren’t? They should talk to their friends in the music publishing business — well, at least the ones who still have jobs!”

So, dear readers, what do you think? I have a quirky Washington novel, complete with a talking Afghan hound performing at the Cosmos Club, that I’m eager to try out on the cosmos, lower-case c. If the terms of the Amazon contract are right—I haven’t studied them—should I do Oran act in the Kindle Store?

Detail: Money from the beta version of Believe will go to the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.