Fourteen years ago I wrote a short story about an e-book reader that changed the way people read. Today Amazon finally released Kindle, and the name makes me wonder if they read my story. The Kindle is more than an e-book reader, it's really a wireless appliance for reading text. You can buy e-book versions of popular titles, subscribe to newspapers, magazines and blogs, and the only reason I can see that they don't grant full web access is that it's not in the current business model. All of the purchasing and downloads occur over the cellular network, but without and fees or subscription plans. All the costs are in the selling price. Amazon does include access to Wikipedia as well.
The Kindle, if the electronic ink reading experience holds up, comes very close to what is needed to replace school textbooks. At 10 ounces, it represents a huge savings in children's vertebrae, not to mention trees. While it doesn't support color, color is one of the worthless enhancements to textbooks that add cost rather than educational value. I'm routing for the Kindle to succeed and for future models to be adopted by the public schools. The price is no barrier, given the current cost of textbooks, and will only fall with time. I would buy a kindle today if I wasn't leaving for Israel tomorrow, where the service isn't (yet) available. I'm not going to do anything really crazy like buying Amazon stock, but I think they might have gotten the thing right.
Amazon is now inviting publishers to sign up for their Digital Text Platform in order to publish, well, text. As I've often whined on this blog, I lost $500 a month when Amazon stopped selling my Lightning Source provided e-books, so you'd think I'd be jumping in with both feet. Currently, there are a few obstacles. First, the royalty deal is 35% of the net to the publisher, or about $5 on a $15 book. That's quite a come-down from the 75% of the net I used to earn. Secondly, the market doesn't exist yet, just a few Beta Kindle users out there. Thirdly, they strongly recommend submitting the texts in HTML, which means a reasonable amount of optimizing work.
I would have thought they'd have made the publisher terms a little more attractive, at least initially, in order to benefit from small publishers and authors pushing Kindle adoption, the way Associates helped Amazon grow in the early years. It could be they feel they have all the critical mass they need with the NYT Bestseller list, or they think the sticker price is too high for a single title to drive a customer purchase. In the meantime, the customer reviews by people who have never held one of the things much less bought one is running strongly against. I suspect they'll turn around soon when Amazon gets past the debate about what it "could have been" and actual buyers report on what it is.
8 comments:
There may be a loophole...Kindle users can receive an email on the device for a $0.10 conversion fee.
I already publish books through my own web-based shopping cart, so I'm hoping it will be possible to sell content on my site and deliver it directly to the buyer's device. This would also give people the option of reading books they've already bought from me.
Topfunky,
Very interesting, $.10 isn't bad if you can pick and choose which messages to download.
I took a quick look at your site, if I wasn't packing for my trip I'd have spent the evening. Hopefully I'll remember to follow up when I get settled in.
Morris
That's good news.
Other than paying for food, rent, electricity and phone bills, most of my money goes to buying books. Bookstores in Australia don't offer much discount, especially with business books. It's definitly cheaper to buy from Amazon, but once I add up the postage cost to Australia, it's the same as buying from any book store, and the waiting period can be 2 weeks up to 6 weeks, so it's really not worth the effort.
I'm glad they are finally offering the electronic version. But I don't think the major publishers will consider it as an option for years to come.
*****************
Information Marketing
*****************
Lei,
Unfortunately, the service isn't available outside the US since it requires the cellular network there. Also, the big publishers are already on board, and Amazon is even delivering most of the NYT bestseller list.
Morris
I received my Kindle and it turns out that one's Kindle-specific email address can't be used for commercial purposes.
However, one can upload documents via the USB connection. I'm hoping to make my books available in this way, so people who purchase from my site can get a Kindle-formatted version to read.
Topfunky,
I was just about to buy one and put it on this tax year. Planned to blog about it again on Monday.
Is there any access to webmail through the text browser?
Morris
Good morning Morris,
I haven't posted here before although I have been a fan for a long time and I paid homage to your article on sales ranking in my online bookselling book back in 2002. I just noticed your question about webmail, which dovetails with some writing I have been doing about the Kindle. (Yes is the short answer). While writing 2 books about the Kindle, I am posting chapters as Kindle articles, which has provided a great (and fun) way of market-testing them without laying out precious capital. They are linked from my new and in-progress indieKindle blog, which is timidly noted in my signature below. Happy New Year!
Windwalker
indiekindle.blogspot.com
Steve,
Let me know if you want a proofreader when it's all done. Not that I'm a good proofreader, but it sounds pretty interesting. Haven't released any Kindle books myself yet, but will when I make the time.
Morris
Post a Comment