Missed Joe’s Kindle webinar for e-bookers? Here are the archives—plus answers he lacked time to give
By Joe Wikert
Book Business Magazine hosted my Kindle webinar, and I had a lot of fun with the presentation. If you missed it, you can still watch it via this archive link which also lets you download my slide deck.
We received quite a few questions from attendees and I wasn’t able to address them all during the session—so I thought I’d try to tackle a few via a blog post. Here are some of the ones I didn’t get to during the webinar:
Do you think Sony has lost?
Wow, what a loaded question! I think the Kindle’s wireless connectivity is a game-changing feature and represents a huge disadvantage for Sony. Amazon’s stellar reputation as a bookseller means more challenges for Sony as well. That said, Sony could easily introduce its own wireless model down the road, and it’s unclear how much Sony might benefit from its recent announcement to support EPUB format. It’s still way too early in this game to say who’s won and who’s lost, but the fact that I bought a Kindle and not a Sony Reader says something about who I think is best positioned for the future.
Do you think people will start to read on the iPhone?
Absolutely. If someone already owns an iPhone or iPod Touch, there’s less of an incentive for them to buy a Kindle. The key will be seeing how much content will be made available for the iPhone reader app. If Amazon can maintain a solid lead in the number of titles available, the Kindle will always be a tempting consideration, even for iPhone owners.
Do you see self-published authors being able to use the Kindle?
Yes, in fact it’s already happening. My favorite example is Stephen Windwalker and his Complete User’s Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle. Btw, Stephen has also set up a 2-Books-in-1 deal with this book and his Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Publishing for the Kindle. This link takes you to the 2-Books-in-1 deal where you can get both for only $9.99.
You mentioned your belief that Amazon has established a psychological pricing ceiling of $9.99 for e-books. Do you see any exceptions to this?
See this post that I wrote earlier today on my Publishing 2020 blog. The short answer is, "yes."
Is it possible to send Kindle-ready files directly to reviewers without having to go through Amazon?
Definitely. The easiest way is to convert your content to Mobi format. It’s unprotected, so you’ll need to be comfortable sending it out without DRM, but it’s an effective way of getting it into the hands of Kindle reviewers directly.
Isn’t the fact that the Kindle relies on having Sprint service a major problem?
I’m assuming the question has to do with areas of the country where Sprint service is unavailable. If so, yes, that’s a problem for anyone living or visiting these locations. I’ve been on the road quite a bit with my Kindle though and have had zero connectivity issues to date.
I’m running out of time today and I see I still have quite a few questions to answer. Let’s consider this "Part One" of the webinar Q&A follow-up and I’ll work on a Part Two over the next few days.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
You wrote: “. . .but the fact that I bought a Kindle and not a Sony Reader says something about who I think is best positioned for the future.”
As a consumer I can see your making that decision; as a publisher, however, I question the wisdom of those words. Will Amazon’s positioning for the future me that Amazon, once it dominates the ebook market because of consumer buying decisions like yours, be able to dictate to publishers like Wiley both cost and content? Are you not bringing your own knife to the throat-cutting party by supporting a seller with its own closed, proprietary system. I would understand your view better if Amazon were selling ebooks for anyone and any reading device, but because the Kindle is a closed system, only Kindle owners can buy and read ebooks from Amazon. It smells to me like a repeat of what happened to the music industry with iTunes — the music industry wanted a higher price and Apple refused and the music industry had little recourse until it got rid of DRM. Is Wiley ready to do the same? Perhaps more long-term strategic thinking is in order.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hi Rich. I’m not really speaking for Wiley as I am for myself and my consumer preferences. I suspect that Wiley, like any smart publisher, will want their content available on all platforms/storefronts, including Sony and Amazon. FWIW, most publishers already deal with plenty of other closed, proprietary systems and I don’t think it’s created the throat-cutting party you refer to. I think there’s plenty of room for both proprietary and open systems.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Joe, I think even consumers need to be wary of supporting Amazon. Its position in online book retailing right now creates competition. But should its dominance grow to the point where it become the iTunes of ebooks, will consumers be better off? Or will consumers find that they have to buy expensive hardware and pay higher prices for ebooks because it is a closed system? I don’t have the answer but I do know that consumers rarely think beyond the here and now and often suffer for doing so.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I guess I must be missing all the reports about so many unhappy iTunes customers. I’m sure some are unhappy but all the ones I know are quite satisfied with their iPod/iTunes service. And if iTunes is such a monopoly, how is it that I’ve bought all my songs on walmart.com? There are music alternatives out there and I suspect the same will be true on the e-book side over time. Heck, much of the content I have on my Kindle today isn’t from Amazon. I use Feedbooks extensively, for example. Don’t forget about Smashwords either.
August 30th, 2008 at 12:09 am
As a matter of fact I’ve bought more music from Amazon than from iTunes. And the music I’ve bought from Amazon is DRM free. Did you also notice that iTunes is selling DRM free music?
Why do you think we have any DRM free music at all? It’s because those nasty, evil companies, such as Amazon and Apple, have the commercial clout to get the music companies to change their minds. Nasty, evil companies have something called “buying power” which fragmented, tiny companies don’t have. When the poor, unwashed consumer decides they he, or she, wants DRM free ebooks it won’t be the small provider that puts the pressure on the publishers. It will be the nasty, evil big companies that have the clout to give the consumer what he wants.
It’s a matter of educating the consumer, not the companies.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Pity, the archive link requires registration…
August 30th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Were talking fringe markets here of people with special needs here. For 90% of everyone subnotes and smartphones will be good enough and make more economic sense then a dedicated reader. I think it’s a dangerous trap to eqaual ebooks with certain classes of devices.
Being certified as a cell phone theres places where you cant use a kindle (hospitals and planes) at least without removing it’s killer feature temporarily, if your going off shore the kindle wont link into any of the network link you might have. And there are the aesthetic considerations.
Looking at itunes you saw that even itunes if itunes became the online music market in the newsroom mind, apple never actually managed to domintate it to the point where the competition folded, theres probably at least as much music sold by other digital services then what apple sells.
Amazon won’t get the MS word effect where you need the amazon client to read 90% of that class of content. With the potential non kindle market 1000times bigger then the kindle market it won’t happen, just as it did not happen for apple.
The kindle is convenient given your not trying to use it outside of populated northern American areas where getting to the bookstore takes 10 minutes anyway, I don’t think this is ever going to be the selling point of the dedicated readers, the history of the net shows that people don’t mind a little inconvenience in getting to the content if this means they get some other benefit.