Feb 11

And then the eBook Readers said:

So, I talked yesterday about a missing voice in the eBook pricing debate. Well, Jorgen dropped off  a link to an article in The New York Times by Motoko Rich and Brad Stone where that voice is heard loud and clear. Read the article “E-Book Price Increase May Stir Readers’ Passions” here. This is a good article that almost makes up for that lopsided story we commented on.

…eBook Readers Insurgency… I paraphrase, but nice work, yah?

p.s. If you haven’t sent Impact author Douglas Preston an angry email yet, this might give you a reason. Preston who alienated a lot of his readers when his publisher held back the eBook version of Impact to force hard cover sales, has attacked his readership by saying he’s astonished by the “sense of entitlement of the American consumer.” He’d never accuse them of having good judgment, or a discerning eye when it comes to making a purchase. I actually cringed when I read his statement: “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.” A suggestion for Mr. Preston: “Your readers are not your enemies…” Readers want to pay Preston a fair price for his eBooks and he calls them Wal-Mart shoppers…Lord! (He also kind of takes a swipe at Wal-Mart shoppers there too, but that’s another battle.)

Feb 10

More on eBook Pricing. Now Google gets into the debate…

Here’s a story from the geniuses at The New York Times entitled: “Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight” in which it is proposed that the big publishers are ready to talk tough with Internet Giant Google after recent ‘wins’ in debates over pricing with Apple Tablet and now Amazon.com. Google plans to monopolize eBook sales by launching its own eBook sales center Google Editions. The publishers are determined to set the price.

We’ve been looking at this story for a while now. I continue to be less than impressed by this debate and its debaters because it remains moot until the consumer is allowed to speak. The consumer of course speaks from his/her wallet during the actual act of purchasing eBooks. Do the publishers want to charge more? Well, that’s an old debate. They started out charging more for their eBooks at Amazon.com but Kindle owners quickly snapped Amazon’s leash to bring the price of titles down to $9.99. (Still too much in my opinion, yah?) And they’ll do it again.

Will consumers now pay more because the publishers feel that $9.99 ‘devalues’ books? (I think it’s more a case of ‘re-valuing’ eBooks… uh, guys, if you haven’t noticed, eBooks are not ‘books.’ They’re actually quite different.)

Instituting higher prices simply to prop up publishers’ profits is a poor justification for raising eBook prices, so the consumers will start to share the files they’ve already got… oh, and believe me, the Pirates are listening with their own answer to the debate.

In truth, the Internet eBook retailers know enough about selling digital content to understand that each loss is a hollow victory for the publishers, and these are more temporary concessions made to get greedy merchants to play along in a changing marketplace. If the consumer will only pay $9.99, that’s what the publisher will have to charge.

p.s. My reference to ‘geniuses’ at The New York Times is meant sarcastically or course. First of all, they have everything to gain by talking up and supporting high-priced digital content, since ‘going digital’ without ‘devaluing content’ is the only way that the Times will survive in the digital age and maintain its pre-digital profitability. And secondly, it was the resistance and lack of vision by media leaders like The New York Times that empowered the Internet, the growth of digital media and the devaluation of their ‘actual’ content.

Feb 09

More Publishers Join Macmillan’s Unsupportable eBook Pricing Model

Thanks Jorgen for dropping off this link to a story at Information Week about eBook prices ‘ratcheting’ up after Amazon’s dustup with Macmillan Publishing. Apparently, News Corp.’s HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group have decided to join hands with Macmillan and make their eBooks unpopular with everyone but eBook Pirates.

Those publishers have decided that Amazon’s $9.99 eBook pricing is unsupportable, and have decided to raise their prices. (I can’t believe Amazon’s luck. See our post that shows Amazon’s winning hand. It’s a win/win scenario for the online eBook retailer.)

Those publishers have agreed to ignore the fact that consumers have already decided that any eBook titles at Amazon over $9.99 are worth boycotting. These publishers are actually positioning themselves so that they’ll have to deal with the consumer backlash that Amazon has previously been struggling with. They’ll also lose more when those consumers tell them to drop their prices and the publishers realize they’re giving more money to Amazon in the new deal.

I continue to marvel at the way these corporate giants completely overlook the will and intellect of the consumer.

How did they become corporate giants in the first place?

Feb 08

A New eBook Reader on the Block with an iPad Look…

Yinlips? Not sure about that name. Certainly unforgettable. Honestly, say it: Yinlips. Now shut your eyes and repeat it. See what I mean? Yinlips. Sure it’s the company name, but would you call their device an eBook reader if you could call it a Yinlips? Read the ubergizmo.com story about the new eBook Reader from Yinlips.

So, to the point, I mention a new eBook Reader with an iPad look in the title. The difference is this one fits the eBook bill because it has an E Ink display in a iPad clone platform. It’s built for eBooks though. Frankly, iPad’s launch spent such a short amount of time on its eBook or iBook functions that it really just seemed like an afterthought to the over-sized video, audio and game device.

There is a lot of criticism of iPad’s design. I think that’s just displaced frustration. It’s what it doesn’t do that has people pissed. The Yinlip eBook Reader might very well present the design in a different light because it delivers on its promise. I think it would be hard to criticize the Yinlips hardware if its main function is to provide an uncluttered and easy-to-view screen for eBook reading.

Feb 07

Amazon versus Macmillan from a different perspective.

Here’s a different take on the Amazon and Macmillan showdown. Nathan Bransford, literary agent, offers a post called The Kindle Missile Crisis. Excellent read.

I think the moral to the story is the consumer will ultimately dictate prices. (After the pirates have filled their pockets on the illicit sale of overpriced digital booty!)

We also can’t forget that if the $9.99 price was offered as a lost leader (where Amazon paid publishers more than they recouped in the sale), after initially selling (and not selling) their eBooks at $14.95 and much higher, then it was in Amazon’s best interest to shake up the market to rearrange things in Amazon’s favor. They needed a new deal to make money in a market that they know will not sustain eBooks over $9.99.

Now that Macmillan’s paying Amazon a larger percentage (Agency rates) for the right to sell their eBooks at a higher price, they’ll also be paying Amazon a larger percentage when the market drives the price of eBook titles down again. I think it’s a cunning win by Amazon. They’ll end up with a bigger percentage of a $9.99 title than they did before the disagreement.

Feb 06

Seven Things Publishers Need to Remember

Jorgen sent us this link to the Kobobooks.com blog where some basic rules of engagement for the future and present of eBook publishing are set out plain and simple. An excellent read.

Feb 05

Greed Kills: The Big Publishers Open Door to eBook Pirates

Thanks Jorgen for a link to an article at uberreview.com called “E-books: Why Greed Will Cost E-Book Publishers In The End” that predicts the outcome of the recent move by the largest publishing houses to strong arm Amazon and Apple into raising eBook  prices.

This profiteering highlights the amateurism and lack of vision that has plagued the publishing industry and finally forced it to adapt to the digital age. The fact that they failed to learn from those mistakes or alter course hardly makes this new tragic choice a surprise, or its outcome less predictable. Their decision to overcharge their loyal readers is nothing short of piracy, so it follows that their products will soon become pirate treasure. 

Digital piracy only exists while it is profitable. People only use pirated materials if they can justify the theft, as in: Well, we’re getting robbed by the publisher in the first place, so…

You’d think the publishing industry would understand these basic concepts, yah?

Feb 04

Sony Readers, Kindles, iPads and Nooks aside…

Just so we don’t lose sight of what this is really all about. Here is an excellent and detailed article posted by publicola.com’s Glenn Fleishman entitled: “How Many eBooks, Ultimately?”

Lots of information about the past and future of book titles. An excellent read.

Imagine having access to the history and future of books. Literally every book ever published will soon be available to read. And authors won’t suffer the indignity of going out of print.

Feb 03

Apple Gets Controlling – My iPad Way or the Highway!

In a move reminiscent of Amazon’s most despotic market machination, Apple has ordered Lexcycle to disable its hit App Stanza’s ability to share files via the USB cable.

Read the story at VentureBeat. Conspiracy theorists whisper that it’s another step in Apple’s attempt to isolate its iPad and iPhone from the competition.  (The USB hookup would allow individuals to use non-iBook titles…so…)

Amazon owns Stanza, so definitely, it’s a turf issue. Sadly, a move like this is confirmation that Apple wants iPad to interface with iBooks alone. (At least until the hackers give it what for, yah?)

Come Apple, you know it’s all about content.

Feb 02

Will iPad’s Color make Kindle’s E Ink Obsolete? Not likely…

Thanks to our friend Jorgen for a link to a Huffington Post article that makes some predictions based on wild assumptions about a marketplace and technology that is barely off the drawing board. I wonder why everyone rushes to make predictions on emerging and relatively rare technology.

As much as first adopters are integral to technological developments, anyone who sells technology will tell you that they are not your average consumer. They’re technophiles willing to pay large amounts of money for all the bells and whistles, and as such, poorly suited to make generalizations from. The eBook Revolution needs time. eBook Readers have to make it into the hands of the larger audience.

And to assume that iPad is going to force color on the eBook market, is to disregard the massive backlash of dissatisfaction with the beta version of that product. If anything, iPad proves you need a lot more than color to dominate a nascent eBook marketplace. Comparison charts are nice, but one has to be cautious about making predictions on them, yah? Good God! Some of the products they’re dooming to extinction have yet to hit the market .