Reading Nicholson Baker’s long piece in the August 3rd New Yorker while on the beach last week, got me thinking about the role of Amazon in the future of print book publishing. Mr. Baker, a novelist, is coming to terms with his new Kindle – its benefits and as well as its drawbacks. While I don’t get a few of his observations (especially his preference to read on the much smaller and much harder-on-the-eyes LCD screen of the iPhone), one comment made about the Kindle struck me as particularly eye opening. Read the rest of this entry »
Demand Pricing for Ebooks
A stir was created recently when Sourcebooks announced the delay of the ebook version of a brand new title for fear of cannibalizing print sales. CEO Dominique Raccah said, “Hardcover books have an audience, and we shouldn’t cannibalize it,” adding, “It doesn’t make sense for a new book to be valued at $9.99.” Read the rest of this entry »
Nuthin’ but Net
One of the truly inspiring thing about ebooks is that they offer endless opportunity to iterate and morph selling and access models. Technology drives change and innovation, which in turn allows for all kinds of new and interesting features. All kinds of selling and access models are floating around out there, some that allow extension of purchase rights beyond a single user. There are models that offer no specific items to download and hold on any device, models that offer real-time content updates, models that offer print plus ebooks, ebooks plus TTS audio, subscriptions to ebooks, and on and on and on.
Ceci n’est pas un ebook
It was perhaps the most significant news to break since the launch of the Kindle. Google rolled out its inevitable and longstanding plans to enter the digital content selling arena at BEA, which it has dubbed, Google Editions. Google Editions is cleverly named because it explains what it isn’t (ebooks), where you get it (Google), and, by putting the word Google together with an assumed possessive plural of “Editions,” there is an implied unique quality to these editions that is not found anywhere else. These are not ebooks, these are Google Editions. Read the rest of this entry »
TTS is Not a Four Letter Word
To be perfectly clear, this blog is not sanctioned by, endorsed by, or even remotely associated with, Oxford University Press, my fantastic employer. What I say here is my opinion and my opinion alone. This is especially true for this article as I am in no way representing the view of OUP.
For reasons that aren’t entirely obvious to me, the Text-to-Speech (TTS) debate continues to rage months after Amazon was forced to disable TTS functionality on the Kindle. Unfortunately, as with most things, the debate has devolved into discrete business or political vantage points. The Authors Guild sees TTS as a dilution of rights; the publishers see it undermining audio books; the visually impaired see any limitation of TTS as treading on their legal rights; the digerati bristle at any limitation on any technology (especially if it allows open access to content).
Coming to a Campus Near You…
To be perfectly clear, this blog is not sanctioned by, endorsed by, or even remotely associated with Oxford University Press, my fantastic employer. What I say here is my opinion and my opinion alone.
The preview of the Kindle DX on May 6th was a smart tactical maneuver in the preparation for the next front of the ebook reader wars. Even though Amazon invited the NY Times to the stage to help pump up the volume, newspapers are not the primary raison d’être of the new Kindle.
Aaron Pressman
on Aug 3rd, 2009
@ 6:23 am:
I think you may be off-base here on your assessment of what Amazon is up to by not including results for dead tree versions of books when you search the KINDLE STORE either from a Kindle or the Kindle section of Amazon’s web site. Originally, Amazon did display print versions available on the Kindle pages for books. From the point of view of customers, there’s both a good and a bad reason explaining why Amazon changed the layout and neither is really about losing sales. Amazon is not in business to forgo any sales. They constantly change and tweak everything on their web site to maximize sales.
First, the positive. Almost always when I’m on my Kindle and I want a new book, I want a Kindle ebook to start reading. I don’t want search results showing me non-Kindle books because I’m looking for something to read on my Kindle. It’s actually annoying to click through to a search result that isn’t available on the Kindle. When I’m on Amazon’s web site and I go to the trouble of limiting my searching to “Kindle books,” I REALLY only want a Kindle book. In a minority of cases, when I’m looking for a specific book, it’s trivial to broaden the search by clicking on the “any department” line.
I think there is also a nefarious rationale for why they changed the policy. Amazon has been creeping up the prices of ebooks and frequently displaying a made-up “digital” list price. With some older books, they’ve actually priced the ebook edition above the price of available paperbacks. By “hiding” the prices of those competing, dead tree editions, Amazon is hiding information about relative pricing and doing a disservice to its customers. This is tilting a sale towards digital and away from print but only in cases where there’s a Kindle edition available. It’s not forgoing a sale completely, as you suggest.
You final point about the coming wave of competitors is right on. I think the growing and, hopefully, heated competition will improve things for us customers.
[Reply]
Evan
on Aug 3rd, 2009
@ 6:38 am:
They are books, not dead tree editions.
As to ebook pricing, I think you fail to understand the impact of low ebook pricing. Its the death of ebooks and the sooner publishers establish control over pricing and payment terms, the sooner they can rescue this fledgling industry.
Finally, I don’t think Amazon is hiding anything nor do I think they are inching up prices. They are testing pricing and seeing what works. Don’t confuse price testing with price manipulation.
[Reply]
Scott
on Aug 3rd, 2009
@ 12:20 pm:
Great post. I too have noticed the absence of other versions on the Kindle side of the Amazon store. I wonder if it is an attempt to show publishers/authors that if a book is not in Kindle edition then it won’t be seen (and therefore won’t be purchased) by a growing set of consumers. While some consumers (those who know exactly what book they want) will then search and buy on the print side of Amazon or search for the book elsewhere, others may simply find an alternative book in the Kindle format.
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The Daily Square – From Her Fingers Edition | Booksquare
on Aug 3rd, 2009
@ 4:30 pm:
[...] Quo Vadis, Amazon?Evan Schnittman on Amazon’s apparent strategy to steer customers to the Kindle store and keep them there. Yes, indeed, why is a company so devoted to choice in other areas trying to force customers into a single choice? [...]
Anthony S. Policastro
on Aug 10th, 2009
@ 12:34 pm:
I would have to agree with Evan’s assessment of Amazon. Now wouldn’t it be nice when you searched for a book on your Kindle and it said not available in Kindle format you could order the print edition right from you Kindle and have it delivered anywhere you want?
Because of the small and slower access to the Kindle catalog on a Kindle, I would keep the catalog with Kindle books only. But, if the book was not in the Kindle format I would have just those books presented as print books and be able to purchase it from the Kindle.
[Reply]
Tracy
on Jan 7th, 2010
@ 9:30 pm:
I suspect that long term Amazon is training a new customer base to want digital and buy digital. Selling ebooks is a way easier business than stocking and shipping paper books all over the place. Digital sales also have the potential for a better profit margin. This is likely Amazon’s dream and goal.
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