Ebooks Archives | Page 5 of 12 | As in guillotine...

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Pottermore—When Disintermediation Goes Awry

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 28, 2012
Post category:Media
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While it's interesting to see the affiliate script flipped on Amazon, with their redirecting traffic to purchase the ebooks (surely with a nice cut of the revenue), the user experience leaves a lot to be desired, especially if you're used to purchasing your ebooks via the Kindle itself and/or the apps. The whole setup seems to be targeting hardcore fans—most of whom have probably already downloaded the ebooks for free via a torrent site—while asking the more casual reader to jump through hoops Amazon and B&N, in particular, have worked hard to eliminate.

Ebooks and Libraries: Is it Worth the Effort?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 6, 2012
Post category:Media
Post comments:5 Comments

Since publishers are so concerned with the “perpetuity of lending and simultaneity of availability” of their ebooks, I have to wonder if libraries shouldn’t just help them out and hit the STOP button themselves? Stop buying ebooks across the board, at any price, under any terms.

If Not Readers…?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 2, 2012
Post category:Media
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Amazon has always understood that readers are the most relevant market and that's why they're in the position of power they're currently enjoying. Do they wield their big stick aggressively? Definitely. And so did B&N and Borders before them, and presumably whomever the boogeyman was prior to them were guilty of the same thing.

KDP Select: Is It Worth It?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 8, 2011
Post category:Media
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If you're an author who has already been shook and sold your soul and firstborn to Jeff Bezos, I can see this seeming like a good short-term deal, but the potential repercussions are huge.

Publishing’s Brooklyn Problem

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 5, 2011
Post category:Media
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Much like Google didn't disintermediate big ad agencies via AdWords, nor TV networks or Hollywood studios via YouTube, but instead provided new channels for those who had no need for the Super Bowl, Amazon has done the same for authors who are better served with a scalpel than a mallet.

Are Inexpensive Self-published Ebooks the New Blogs?

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 1, 2011
Post category:Media
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It reminds me of 2003, the year I started blogging, and how some people were able to attract large audiences for their writing, and the mainstream media scoffed that they would ever be taken seriously. Fast-forward, many of those early bloggers are now considered "real" journalists, some because they went to work for traditional media brands, others because they attracted a significant enough audience on their own that they couldn't be ignored.

Spinning Dominoes: Don’t Believe the Hype… But DO Learn From It

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:November 30, 2011
Post category:Media
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Not quite one year to the day it was announced, Seth Godin is shutting The Domino Project down, offering the awkward explanation that "it was a project, not a lifelong commitment to being a publisher of books," instead of, perhaps, admitting that publishing is harder than it looks if you want to swim at the deep end of the trade pool in the middle of a dramatic transition, as he obliquely acknowledges in many of his noteworthy takeaways.