Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Books Seriously, Hold Off on Buying Those Kindles
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 2:24 PM
In addition to Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore, the company announced a partnership with the Plastic Logic, the makers of a much-discussed upcoming e-reader. There will be 500,000 free e-books available for the Plastic Logic and other e-readers (not including the Kindle) thanks to a partnership between B&N and Google. Perhaps because of those free e-books, the Barnes & Noble e-reader has topped the list of e-reading apps in Apple's store.
And Plastic Logic just announced that they'll be partnering with AT&T to provide internet access on the devices, too. The Plastic Logic reader will launch in 2010. I'm not saying it'll be able to do everything the Kindle can do (and I hope it'll not be tied exclusively to the Barnes & Noble store), but I'm saying that there will soon be other credible options on the e-reader front.
In other Amazon news, Amazon is set to acquire Zappos.com, the online shoe sales company that annoyingly advertises on the bottom of bins at airport security checkpoints. If they build a shoe-based Kindle, I take back everything I said above: You should totally buy one.
Share via
3
As an author, I have a minor coronary when I keep seeing these manufacturers touting their several hundred thousand FREE titles, which is basically a bribe to get people to buy the e-readers by supplying downloadable public domain titles.
I recently made my two (previously paperback only) novels available on the Kindle, at the low price of $1.99... admittedly this is also a sort of bribe to get people to take a cheap chance on an unknown author.
But...how am I, as an author, supposed to compete with the entire back catalog of H.G. Wells, Shakesph, etc. for free?
At least they're not going the music biz route and trying to stop the flow of digital content, but it would be nice if they charged at least SOMETHING, even if it was a pittance. Barnes and Noble seem to be acknowledging the fact that there is some inherent value in the content by pricing books at less, but not firesale prices.
It's hard to get noticed in the flood of free content... sorry to turn this into a personal rant, but this seems like a good venue to posit these questions.
I recently made my two (previously paperback only) novels available on the Kindle, at the low price of $1.99... admittedly this is also a sort of bribe to get people to take a cheap chance on an unknown author.
But...how am I, as an author, supposed to compete with the entire back catalog of H.G. Wells, Shakesph, etc. for free?
At least they're not going the music biz route and trying to stop the flow of digital content, but it would be nice if they charged at least SOMETHING, even if it was a pittance. Barnes and Noble seem to be acknowledging the fact that there is some inherent value in the content by pricing books at less, but not firesale prices.
It's hard to get noticed in the flood of free content... sorry to turn this into a personal rant, but this seems like a good venue to posit these questions.
4
wenwino: you're already competing with loads of other free content not in dead tree form, including that same stuff via the internet.
5
Goddamnit Amazon, don't fuck up Zappos. They're run excellently and offer pretty much the opposite online experience that Amazon does.
6
@4 -It's true there's a lot of free wordly content out there, but it seems to me that long-form fiction is a different creature. People still have an nostalgic affinity for "books", (and believe it or not, outside of the techie bubble of Seattle, physical books are THE mode of choice for fiction readers), and as such, I think people would be willing to pay for the privelege, even if it's just a token fee.
The difference between the free content you mentioned, and what the e-readers offer, is that the Kindle is a mass market distribution system targeted at your average American, and as such it's all about ease and accessibility. Somebody who isn't tech-savvy that buys a Kindle is going to be taking their cues from Amazon, mainly, because Amazon makes it the easiest route.
And right now, Amazon is giving the milk away for free.
The difference between the free content you mentioned, and what the e-readers offer, is that the Kindle is a mass market distribution system targeted at your average American, and as such it's all about ease and accessibility. Somebody who isn't tech-savvy that buys a Kindle is going to be taking their cues from Amazon, mainly, because Amazon makes it the easiest route.
And right now, Amazon is giving the milk away for free.
7
I'm thinking the same thing, Dougsf @5. How long will Zappos's free shipping last with Amazon at the helm?
8
@7 - God I hope not. Whether it's their loss-leader or if it's built into the cost, Zappos shipping policies are top notch. The last two orders I've placed from Amazon vendors sat unshipped for weeks without a peep from Amazon. One I canceled after a month, the other finally told me the item was out of stock, 2 weeks after I placed the order. Ugh.
12
Dougsf, I have found some consolation in this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32089233/ns/…
It seems that Amazon's current shoe store Endless.com offers free shipping both ways, so perhaps it will continue Zappos's policy. On the other hand, they may see the opportunity to milk Zappos's loyal customer base.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32089233/ns/…
It seems that Amazon's current shoe store Endless.com offers free shipping both ways, so perhaps it will continue Zappos's policy. On the other hand, they may see the opportunity to milk Zappos's loyal customer base.
14
Why would these books not be available for Kindle? My Kindle DX reads just about any free online Ebooks I've found.
So far I love my Kindle (beyond my hopes for improvements to the still young electrophoretic display technology, but when you find yourself reading a lot of academic paper PDFs off an LCD monitor it's a vast improvement), and read plenty of both Kindle store and outside content on it. Some of the Kindle Store pricing seems off, but as far as I can tell this is the fault of publishers stuck in the 20th century who still don't understand that they don't get to suck in all the extra profits from moving to a near-zero marginal cost distribution scheme. I vote with my wallet, and my to-read list is long enough that if something I want is far above the $9.99 price point I can choose something else.
And I'm sorry, but @wenwino, while I buy probably 5 still-copyrighted books a month, I find the idea ludicrous that companies should charge for public domain, long out of copyright works so some Promising Independent Author selling his great American novel can compete with Shakespeare (what?!?).
So far I love my Kindle (beyond my hopes for improvements to the still young electrophoretic display technology, but when you find yourself reading a lot of academic paper PDFs off an LCD monitor it's a vast improvement), and read plenty of both Kindle store and outside content on it. Some of the Kindle Store pricing seems off, but as far as I can tell this is the fault of publishers stuck in the 20th century who still don't understand that they don't get to suck in all the extra profits from moving to a near-zero marginal cost distribution scheme. I vote with my wallet, and my to-read list is long enough that if something I want is far above the $9.99 price point I can choose something else.
And I'm sorry, but @wenwino, while I buy probably 5 still-copyrighted books a month, I find the idea ludicrous that companies should charge for public domain, long out of copyright works so some Promising Independent Author selling his great American novel can compete with Shakespeare (what?!?).
Most Commented on Slog
-
Stephen Fry v. the Catholic Church by Dan Savage
-
Neologism Needed by Dan Savage
-
Palin's Cheat Sheet by Dan Savage
-
Straight Up by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: The Toilet Brush Off by Dan Savage
-
Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father by Dan Savage
-
Tea Party Crowd Believes That Only Good Spellers Should Vote by Dan Savage
-
Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father by Dan Savage
-
The Green Police Super Bowl Commercial by Charles Mudede
-
Was This On Slog Yesterday? by Dan Savage
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (14) RSS