Comments on: New York Magazine on publishing’s crises and Amazon’s Kindle http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:38:33 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Richard Herley http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912876 Richard Herley Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:30:20 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912876 Rob, Feedbooks and manybooks supply oodles of books for the Kindle; my own, for example (plug, plug): http://www.feedbooks.com/author/323 http://manybooks.net/authors/herleyr.html I'm sure Kindle won't come to dominate. There is too much activity elsewhere in the display market. As for the article, surely the penny has dropped with publishers by now -- e is changing their comfortable little world for ever, and not before time. Rob, Feedbooks and manybooks supply oodles of books for the Kindle; my own, for example (plug, plug):

http://www.feedbooks.com/author/323

http://manybooks.net/authors/herleyr.html

I’m sure Kindle won’t come to dominate. There is too much activity elsewhere in the display market.

As for the article, surely the penny has dropped with publishers by now — e is changing their comfortable little world for ever, and not before time.

]]> By: Rob http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912667 Rob Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:38:54 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912667 One thing publishers seem to forget is that despite what many claim, the Kindle does not lock you in to only buying books from Amazon. Baen publishes their own ebooks for sale on their site. There really isn't very much standing in the way of anyone developing their own Kindle friendly storefront, allowing people to purchase through the Kindle's web browser. Granted, you may not get the visibility you would through Amazon's store front, but you can be sure if I want to buy your book and it's not on Amazon, but is for sale on your website in a format I can use on my Kindle, I won't think twice about buying it from you (unless the price is unreasonable, but what's fair for ebook pricing is still up in the air as far as I'm concerned) One thing publishers seem to forget is that despite what many claim, the Kindle does not lock you in to only buying books from Amazon. Baen publishes their own ebooks for sale on their site. There really isn’t very much standing in the way of anyone developing their own Kindle friendly storefront, allowing people to purchase through the Kindle’s web browser.

Granted, you may not get the visibility you would through Amazon’s store front, but you can be sure if I want to buy your book and it’s not on Amazon, but is for sale on your website in a format I can use on my Kindle, I won’t think twice about buying it from you (unless the price is unreasonable, but what’s fair for ebook pricing is still up in the air as far as I’m concerned)

]]> By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912642 Rob Preece Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:43:24 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912642 Agree this is an excellent article. Like many publishers, I want the Amazon Kindle to succeed wonderfully--but not uniquely. Whether it's Amazon, Fictionwise, Sony, or Apple, a single monopoly distributor could put the squeeze on both publishers and end customers. Amazon currently lists my Kindle books at below my list price (below the price I sell them for on my own website). But they continue to pay me 50% of my list price. I can't argue with their strategy--if I were selling a hardware device, I'd want to offer discounts to encourage people to buy the device. At least for BooksForABuck.com books, the discount they offer is smaller than for best-sellers, meaning Amazon actually makes money. As long as there are plenty of active competitors, Amazon selling books cheap sounds like a good thing to me. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com Agree this is an excellent article. Like many publishers, I want the Amazon Kindle to succeed wonderfully–but not uniquely. Whether it’s Amazon, Fictionwise, Sony, or Apple, a single monopoly distributor could put the squeeze on both publishers and end customers.

Amazon currently lists my Kindle books at below my list price (below the price I sell them for on my own website). But they continue to pay me 50% of my list price. I can’t argue with their strategy–if I were selling a hardware device, I’d want to offer discounts to encourage people to buy the device. At least for BooksForABuck.com books, the discount they offer is smaller than for best-sellers, meaning Amazon actually makes money. As long as there are plenty of active competitors, Amazon selling books cheap sounds like a good thing to me.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

]]> By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912631 David Rothman Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:22:09 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912631 Thanks for the alert, Kevin! Fixed. David Thanks for the alert, Kevin! Fixed. David

]]> By: Kevin Davis http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912602 Kevin Davis Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:26:13 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912602 This article is from New York Magazine, not the New York Times - different publications. Great article, though! This article is from New York Magazine, not the New York Times – different publications. Great article, though!

]]> By: ficbot http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/comment-page-1/#comment-912583 ficbot Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:44:08 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/09/22/publishings-crises/#comment-912583 Tis is exactly why the e-book movement is so important, imho. It has the potential to do for books what the indie movement did for music. You don't *have to* go with a major publisher to get out there and get fans and have a career. Look at the Eragon books, bought by a major publisher *after* its home-schooled teenaged author sold them out of a truck at local bookstores for years. Or the Vegan Lunchbox cookbook author---it started as a blog, she sold out her first self-published run, then got picked up by a major publisher. Or the podcasting author (I forget his name) who signed a six-figure book deal after podcasting his first book. You have to think outside the box a little, maybe, but new technology offers tons of opportunities for authors who want to go the indie route! Tis is exactly why the e-book movement is so important, imho. It has the potential to do for books what the indie movement did for music. You don’t *have to* go with a major publisher to get out there and get fans and have a career. Look at the Eragon books, bought by a major publisher *after* its home-schooled teenaged author sold them out of a truck at local bookstores for years. Or the Vegan Lunchbox cookbook author—it started as a blog, she sold out her first self-published run, then got picked up by a major publisher. Or the podcasting author (I forget his name) who signed a six-figure book deal after podcasting his first book. You have to think outside the box a little, maybe, but new technology offers tons of opportunities for authors who want to go the indie route!

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