Disqus - Latest Comments for PublishMarket

Re: One brave publishing executive speaks out on ebook pricing, and we comment

PublishMarket — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:57:04 -0000

I totally agree that Kindle dominance is something to be dreaded. For example, in the print-on-demand industry, Amazon made a good deal of money from carrying everyone's books, self-published POD or not. Then they bought Booksurge and suddenly were strong-arming publishers and authors that unless they let Amazon print their books, they wouldn't be carried. That may not sound so awful except that Amazon charged for their services, and not a little fee, and the industry as a whole thought the Booksurge quality wasn't up to snuff. That's why they didn't opt for Booksurge in the first place. There's a class action suit against Amazon for just this policy. It's perfectly reasonable to think them capable of a like action when it comes to Kindle, particularly when they "steal purchased books off in the dark of the night." Of course, the clash of the titans is being waged now between Amazon and Google over the public domain titles.

And you are absolutely right that iPhones do read in color now - I have no fewer than five apps on mine right now that do just that. I'm still banking on the Apple tablet rumor, though...some are even saying it will have a cell chip and may be the hushed reason they denied Google their voice app use.

One thing is for sure...authors are the big winners. As the markets divide, there will be less competition and far more options, particularly when you look at the bottom line royalty. So, no matter which medium you use, communication and entertainment are becoming just that much more elegant and convenient. Publishers will, indeed, need to re-examine their role in the supply chain and give a bigger bang for the buck.

Re: One brave publishing executive speaks out on ebook pricing, and we comment

PublishMarket — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:15:17 -0000

Actually, the publishers did set the prices on their eBooks - but Amazon sold many of the titles at a loss in order to build their catalog. So, if the publisher's portion was to be $12.00, they got $12.00 regardless of where Amazon priced it.

And replying to the earlier post wherein Mike and Christine scoffed at multimedia books, you may not be seeing the bigger picture. First of all, consumers are already getting tired of having dedicated devices that still preclude them from all the titles available. There is not one format that is common to all the readers. Epub format offers very little formatting so all the beautiful typography is lost. At the same time, they are all migrating toward accepting .pdfs and color screens will be the next generation. Reading on the typical laptop may not be for everyone, but there are touch screen models which rotate and Apple is rumored to be debuting a tablet with touch screen and virtual keyboard in the very near future. Why would anyone spend $500+ for an eReader when they could buy a laptop for the same price? Not to mention that Adobe Reader is resident on over 98% of the computers in use today.

And Christine, while your books may be just fine as they are, there are creative writers who embrace the opportunity to communicate with multimedia. I'm not sure where your definition of 10" notebook ends and the 9.7" Kindle starts -- but I can't see that .3" as the cutoff for portability. On the other hand, you can write one of your books on the notebook, but you can't on the Kindle. Hmmmm....

Re: One brave publishing executive speaks out on ebook pricing, and we comment

PublishMarket — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:51:30 -0000

Plastic Logic, maker of the B&N reader, is based in Germany although I understand they have an American facility now. Intereade, maker of the Cool-er which was the huge hit at last spring's Book Expo, is from England. Does this simply mean that a UK distributor needs to climb aboard to capture the European market today?

Re: One brave publishing executive speaks out on ebook pricing, and we comment

PublishMarket — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:41:24 -0000

You need to check out multimedia books from www.publishandmarket.com -- they can be read on ANY computer, employ full color, professional design, sound, music, interactive links, video and more. The best part is that you don't need a dedicated device, these travel with your laptop. More than just a book.