There are millions of books on amazon.com, and on average each will sell around 500 copies a year. The average American is reading just one book a year, and that number is falling. The problem (to quote Tim O’Reilly) isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity. Authors are lucky to be in a business where electronic copies aren’t … Continue reading A Quick Note on the Fabled “iPod Moment”
Tag: Kindle
Playing with the Kindle, Playing with the Future
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. --Sidney J. Harris It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of eBooks or eReaders, but there's no question they're growing in popularity... at least amongst technology companies. While the hype … Continue reading Playing with the Kindle, Playing with the Future
eBooks: The False Dilemma
People will continue to read printed books for a long time, just as some people still watch movies on VHS. But the printed book will be "dead" in a few short years in the sense that the bulk of the adoption curve, the pragmatic majority, will have moved on. --Arvind Narayanan, "The death of the … Continue reading eBooks: The False Dilemma
The Bookstore of the Future is… a Tree Museum?
"I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." --Anna Quindlen GalleyCat had a provocative post last week, "Is This the Bookstore of Tomorrow?", spotlighting novelist Moriah Jovan's anti-septic floorplan anchored by two Espresso machines (POD, not coffee) surrounded by workstations for … Continue reading The Bookstore of the Future is… a Tree Museum?
Can the $99 iPhone save newspapers?
I am not a card-carrying member of the Steve Jobs Cult by any means, but the smug "Mac vs. PC" commercials aside, when it comes to innovation and marketing savvy, I bow before Apple's altar. Yesterday's announcement of the "new" iPhone 3G S wasn't greeted very warmly by some of its hardcore fan base ("Apple … Continue reading Can the $99 iPhone save newspapers?
Your Entitlement Slip is Showing
Among the most tiresome memes dominating the publishing world right now -- memes that I've admittedly contributed to at times -- the worst are the self-righteous rants about self-publishing, Amazon, and the long-rumored death of print. There are the writers who think their publishers should be doing more for them while smugly looking down their noses at the writers willing to do it … Continue reading Your Entitlement Slip is Showing
The Problem With Self-Publishing
HarperStudio -- one of a handful of publishers who really seems to understand how to use the internet and social media -- is running a web poll on their home page right now that asks: "Are you less likely to read a book if it is self published?" As I write this, there have been … Continue reading The Problem With Self-Publishing
Goodbye Borders, Hello Kindle?
Things are looking shakier by the day for Borders, with GalleyCat now reporting that a Major Distributor Raises Concerns about their financial situation: GalleyCat has received a copy of a "special alert" sent from a major book distributor specializing in independent publishers to its clients, warning them that Borders, whose financial difficulties are widely recognized, … Continue reading Goodbye Borders, Hello Kindle?
Why Your Book Will Never Be in Borders
The odds are pretty slim, and not just because they're on the verge of going out of business: "I market books for a living, so I can tell you an unpleasant truth: the order for any book, from any account, starts at zero," [Andrew Wheeler, a marketing manager at Wiley] warns. "The publisher's sales rep … Continue reading Why Your Book Will Never Be in Borders