07-22-2009, 03:17 PM | #1 | |
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Article: "More reasons to worry about ebooks than I thought"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/book...1/ebooks-worry
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A bit over-focused on the Kindle and wireless access, but I suppose between the K's popularity and various netbooks, the concern isn't misplaced, just a bit exaggerated. (He also assumes that non-DRM'd books will of course be available for free instantly, and nobody will pay for them. Gah.) Definitely brings up some issues worth considering. |
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07-22-2009, 03:44 PM | #2 |
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I actually read the whole thing for a change. You know what? I don't think that person has ever used an e-reading device, not even the Kindle he is warning us about. I dunno about you guys, but personally, I find it hard to use my Sony as a way to edit history texts. It doesn't have a keyboard.
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07-22-2009, 04:19 PM | #3 |
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Whispernet was a feature, now a drawback.
I think it's funny that in the wake of the Orwell recall scandal, all of a sudden the Kindle's Whispernet and wireless connectivity aren't features--they're drawbacks.
How much do you want to bet that a lack of wireless without auto-updating are going to be touted as 'features' by other e-reader devices competing with the Kindle? |
07-22-2009, 04:38 PM | #4 | |
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Just because Amazon controls the books that go through its store, doesn't mean there is no other way to get books into it. Publishers and Indie authors can easily promote, advertise and sell their wares completely independently of Amazon, which can be read on other than Amazon devices, guaranteeing that it will never, ever have a "monopoly" over books as long as there is a world wide web. Concerns that Amazon will create a publishing and distribution monopoly are just plain ludicrous overreactions. |
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07-22-2009, 04:59 PM | #5 | |
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07-22-2009, 05:49 PM | #6 | |
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07-22-2009, 05:59 PM | #7 |
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Ah yes, the sky is falling. Yet again.
Actually, I do have to say that while I disagree with the author's perspective it is important to recognize that e-books readers are still a small percentage of the reading public, and the general public has a lot to learn about both the pros and cons. |
07-22-2009, 06:16 PM | #8 | |
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I'd like more articles that point out that ebooks are complicated--that there are a lot of filetypes, a lot of software issues, a lot of hardware issues, some copyright tangles, and a host of other concerns involved. There isn't going to be any quick-and-simple "Company X Has Fixed The Ebook Problem!!!" solution. Ebooks are going to change the face of publishing perhaps as much as 4-color printing did. Perhaps more. (Perhaps not, but it'll happen faster, and in more places at once.) I'd love to see a lot more awareness that ebooks are not some weird, fringe hobby thing that only matter to techno-fanatics. They're not going away, and they're not getting simpler as time goes by and we get more gadgets that can read them. |
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07-22-2009, 06:37 PM | #9 |
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It's interesting that almost everything in that quoted excerpt is from the point of view of authors or publishers, not the reader. It's speaking in terms of monetary matters.
"Ebooks are changing literary culture in numerous ways, none of them reassuring." But if you look at it from another point of view, it IS reassuring. Books will always survive in electronic form, no matter how much paper degrades over time. With e-readers, regardless of one's proximity to a library or bookstore, almost any book can be found on the internet and read on a device in a book-like manner. In the grand scheme of history, the advent of the ebook is a great thing. |
07-23-2009, 12:02 AM | #10 |
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I see this kind of thinking in publishing all the time. "Print sales are down! It must be the e-book's fault."
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07-23-2009, 02:11 AM | #11 | |||
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1) How many paper books were sold 10 years ago? 2) How many paper books were sold last year? 3) How many electronic books were sold last year? (all in absolute numbers) Theoretically, 2 + 3 should be the same as 1 (maybe with a certain multiplier to account for the population growth and such). |
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07-23-2009, 02:42 AM | #12 | |
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07-23-2009, 03:02 AM | #13 | |
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My personal opinion is that the total amount of sales is much higher. Yes, the pbook sales might be a bit lower, but this is more than compensated by the ebook sales. If I take myself as example: I used to buy about 1 book a month (on average), generally pockets. Now, I buy about 3 books a month (on average), all ebooks. So, they lose those 12 pockets a year, but gain 36 ebooks a year. But right now, I'm only buying in US based shops (much cheaper as I don't have to pay that 19% VAT I'd have to pay over ebooks if I bought them here as opposed to the 6% VAT on pbooks). So, in my case, yes, they (as in the Dutch stores) lose sales, but not because I buy ebooks, but because a) they don't have the selection I want and b) because they are way more expensive than their US counterparts. |
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07-23-2009, 02:07 PM | #14 |
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E-book sales are less than 4% of the book sales market, even for publishers with relatively large e-book sales (like Harlequin, which was one of the first publishers to get into e-books).
Even though print sales have dropped significantly for all categories but Romance in the last 10 years, e-book sales are a tiny tiny portion of the total sales. |
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