Grisham, Baldacci have differing takes on ebooks
Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by JD in News
Different big-name authors, differing ideas about how ebooks will effect their careers/sales. Of course, they both going to sell them, just in case… As I noted yesterday, thriller scribbler David Baldacci is mad for multimedia ebooks, and will be releasing what he calls “enriched” multimedia versions of his thrillers, starting with [...]
After six-month eBooks trial, GeekDad says YES!
Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by JD in News, reader
via wired.com
It’s nearly six months since I first took the plunge and entered the world of e-Books and e-Book readers in a big way. As an avid reader and book collector (some would say hoarder), has the digital plunge been a game changer, or just another meh experience?
Photo by Brad Moon
I’m of that age where [...]
Who Owns Your Notes in e-Books?
Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by JD in News, kindle
Via JKOnTheRun
The past two years have seen the public’s interest in e-books reach dizzying heights. The Kindle and other readers have pushed the e-book phenomenon in front of mainstream consumers. The imminent appearance of the iPad and the iBookstore have renewed that interest, and folks previously untouched by the e-book craze are now getting drawn [...]
Even More Evidence Of How Free Ebooks Can Increase Sales Of Physical Books
Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by JD in News
We've noted in the past the various stories of individual authors like Paulo Coelho and David Pogue, who showed that free (non-DRM'd) versions of their ebooks helped increase physical book sales. Then, in February, we wrote about some actual research that showed that when unauthorized ebooks get out into the wild, there is a "significant [...]
Are ebooks greener than print?
Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by JD in News
Via thebookseller.com
For a time, concerned about food miles, I only drank wine from Europe. Then a couple of years ago at a party for Green Profile, I got to talking about this with Duncan Clark, who co-founded the environment-focused imprint with Rough Guides founder Mark Ellingham. Clark told me that [...]
eBook Bulletin – Noah’s Compass, Devils in Exile, eBooks Under $5, More
Posted on 27. Feb, 2010 by JD in Discounts, News
View Mobile Friendly Version | View in Browser To ensure you receive your Barnes & Noble emails, please add BarnesandNobleEmail@email.bn.com to your address book.
BOOKS
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eBOOKS
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nook
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DVDs
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MUSIC
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KIDS
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HOME & GIFT
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GIFT CARDS
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100 Writers for Haiti – Indie Authors Do Good
Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by JD in News
via Smashwords by Mark Coker
Smashwords author Greg McQueen has organized a great book project called 100 Writers for Haiti.
The project came together immediately after the earthquake. After a frantic few days of tweets and YouTube videos, McQueen assembled an impressive list of volunteer editors to curate, edit and assemble a 100-story anthology created entirely by [...]
Ebook piracy is good? My response to the howls of protest
Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by JD in News, UK, blog
After publishing a post from The Guardian in the UK about how ebook piracy hardly exists at this point, but is probably inevitable, and may be a necessary evil to force us to rethink publishing, I have been deluged by howls of protest. Fair enough – you can find some of them in the comments [...]
Former Music Exec Tells Book Publishers They’re Acting Just Like The Recordi…
Posted on 11. Feb, 2010 by JD in News
Sometimes I wonder if it’s simply inevitable for industries facing disruptive change to react badly to it. We spend a lot of time here trying to discuss ways that various industries can avoid doing stupid, self-defeating things, and yet, inevitably, they do them anyway. Copycense points us to an article by Susan Piver, an author, who was formerly a recording industry exec, complaining that publishers are acting just like the record labels did ten years ago. However, it might not be in the way you’d expect. She’s not talking about them just responding in anti-consumer ways, but in sitting back and hoping that someone else will find a magic bullet that “saves the industry” and that they can just copy:
The “somebody do something that works so we can copy it” mentality duplicates the kind of hoping-for-the-best attitude espoused by long-time executives in music who simply could not or would not question the viability of the professional cocoons they’d built for themselves. And who can blame them — corporate mega structures are schooled in consolidation as the primary means of growth, not fleet-footed, shape-shifting responsiveness to change. But now we’re in a world where getting bigger is not the answer, getting smaller is.
Piver makes a really good point, as well, that people are still looking at the music industry as if it was “killed” by unauthorized downloads — but nothing is further from the truth:
Downloads did not kill the music business. Shortsightedness and turf-protection on the part of music business executives did. Piracy and changing distribution schema will not kill the publishing industry. Shortsighted infrastructure-protection on the part of publishing houses will.
Instead, Piver points out that, just as in the music industry, there’s a ton of opportunity for those who embrace it, even as those who don’t incorrectly will claim the industry is dying:
Without making friends with this beast, my guess is that in 2-5 years we’ll see a publishing industry that looks like the music business does today: Super-downsized major companies selling a product line aimed at an older demographic or chopped into whatever the ring-tone equivalent will be in publishing, and a jillion new companies creating the next generation of publishers, retailers, and readers. Just like in the music business, some in publishing will be mourning the death of the business while others will be wildly excited because all they see is opportunity.
There’s more good stuff in there as well, but it brings up some really good points. But, part of the problem is that the traditional (false) music industry narrative is still the predominant one. People still think that music industry is dying, even as it’s thriving (it’s just the recording industry segment that’s struggled). And so as everyone tries to “avoid what happened to the music business” they’re going to make huge mistakes if they focus on the false narratives.
Already, today, we’re seeing that the publishing industry is just focusing on making ebooks available, but doing little to recognize how consumer behavior is changing in how they interact with media (which is as big a part of this market change as any new method of distribution). If the publishing industry is going to figure this out, it needs to not look for some silver bullet that brings things back to “the way it used to be,” but to really spend time trying to understand what people are doing today with media — and, actually, the music world is a good place to start, if they focus on the success stories of what’s working, not the complaints from the parts of the industry that have held back. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
Why Amazon Cannot Afford To Lose The eBook Wars To Apple
Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by JD in News, kindle
“One defends when his strength is inadequate, he attacks when it is abundant.”—Sun Tzu, The Art of War The Apple iPad isn’t even available yet, but already it is forcing Amazon to respond in a variety of ways to protect its competing Kindle eBook business. Amazon just snapped up a touchscreen technology startup, presumably to update the already ancient-looking Kindle. Emboldened book publishers are pushing back on Amazon’s $9.99 pricing now that they can sell the same eBooks on the iPad for $14.99, and Amazon is capitulating. And the Kindle team at Amazon, which once had an arrogant approach towards publishers when it was the only game in town, is now bending over backwards to solicit their loyalty, says one editor at a publishing company who has noticed the change in tone. The coming battle between Apple and Amazon will occur on many fronts, but place where Apple can really hurt Amazon is on pricing. Just as Apple initially did with 99-cent songs on iTunes, Amazon imposed a uniform $9.99 price on bestsellers in the Kindle Store. A single price helps to establish markets for new product categories, especially when that price is at a discount to the physical alternative. While the 99-cent strategy worked well for Apple in digital music, in books Apple doing a jujitsu move on Amazon by allowing publishers to have more control over the pricing. Now Macmillan is demanding that Amazon sell its eBooks for $14.99, and News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch is making similar grumblings about HarperCollins.
