Another Publisher Decides To Stop Low Cost Ebooks
By Greg | February 8, 2010
Hachette Book Group has joined Macmillan in fighting against the $9.99 ebook. They said that they would join the agency pricing model which would put ebooks in the $12.99 to $14.99 price range. It also seems like the other big publishers are going to be using the same pricing model in the near future. So, it looks like the days of the $9.99 best sellers are over.
A big reason for this happening now is Apple’s iPad. The $12.99 to $14.99 is the price point that Apple proposed to publishers for selling books on the iPad and it looks like that’s what they’re going with.
David Young, the CEO for Hachette, had this to say about the new pricing model:
“There are many advantages to the agency model, for our authors, retailers, consumers, and publishers. It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors’ works. In the long run this will enable Hachette to continue to invest in and nurture authors’ careers–from major blockbusters to new voices. Without this investment in our authors, the diversity of books available to consumers will contract, as will the diversity of retailers, and our literary culture will suffer.”
So, according to Mr. Young there are many advantages not only for authors, retailers, and publishers but also for all of us consumers. I would like to thank him for thinking of the consumers. I’m sure that the “diversity of books available to consumers” will be well worth the extra $3 to $5 per book that we’ll have to pay if we decide to actually buy the books.
I’ve been checking out the forums and comments on other blogs and the majority of the ebook consumers aren’t very happy with the news that’s coming out from these publishers lately (not too surprising).
I guess they still haven’t heard about what happened in the music industry. Instead of fighting ebooks they should embrace them and change their business models to adapt to the changes in technology. If not, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the major publishers having some major problems in the future and some new ebook publishers rising up from their dust.
Topics: Kindle, kindle publishing | No Comments »
Kindle 3 Predictions
By Greg | February 5, 2010
I’ve been running across some Kindle 3 predictions the past few days or so. This isn’t too surprising especially with the unveiling of the iPad and the latest news of Amazon purchasing Touchco, a company that creates touchscreen technology.
Over at Ireaderreview they made a post about their Kindle 3 predictions. They predict that the Kindle 3 will come out either in February or March – if there are incremental improvements or it will come out in July or August with lots of major improvements. If any of these two end up being correct my guess is that it would be July or August, especially after yesterdays news of Amazon purchasing Touchco.
I’m sure that there will be a new Kindle out this year especially to compete against the iPad. They’ll probably make it available by Christmas. My guess is that since Amazon just purchased Touchco, it’s probably going to take a little while to get everything in order and get a new product out so I’m thinking maybe September or October. Any other predictions out there? What kind of improvements do you think the new Kindle will have? What improvements do you want?
I think it will at least have a touchscreen, maybe color and hopefully it’ll have folders so we can organize our books. We shall see.
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 3 | No Comments »
Amazon Buys Touchscreen Maker
By Greg | February 4, 2010
Amazon has just announced that they’ve purchased touchscreen maker Touchco. Touchco is a start up company based in New York. Amazon will merge the technology from Touchco as well as the staff members into it’s Kindle hardware division.
This, of course, is starting the rumors about a Kindle 3 coming sometime soon to compete with the iPad’s color touchscreen technology. If this does happen, hopefully the reading experience will be just as good as the non color e-ink technology which is very easy on the eyes.
The technology that Touchco uses is called interpolating force-sensitive resistance. This technology uses resistors that are sensitive to different levels of pressure and will be used in displays that would cost much less than the touch screens that are used on the iPone and iPad.
Touchco was formed by a team of about six scientists at New York University. The scientists worked in the universities Media Research Lab to develop low cost, low power touchscreen technology. When visiting their website in just says “Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business.”
If a Kindle 3 is in our near future I’m just hoping that Amazon will make sure to keep the reading experience as the number one priority and not worry too much about trying to be to similar to the iPad. I’ll make sure to keep you updated on all the latest Kindle 3 rumors.
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 3, Kindle Technology, Kindle Touchscreen | 1 Comment »
More Kindle Freebies
By Greg | February 3, 2010
Here’s a few free books for you to download. Please remember these are only free for a limited time so download asap if you’re interested in them.
- The Apothecary’s Daughter
– Save $13.99
- Daisy Chain: A Novel
– Save $14.99
- Velvet Elvis
– Save $14.99
- John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace
– Save $21.99
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle Books, Kindle DX, Kindle Ebooks, free kindle books | No Comments »
KDK – A Developer’s Perspective
By Eran | February 2, 2010
This is a guest post from Eran at Puzux.com. If you like crosswords and sudoku make sure to check out Puzux.com.
As you all have heard, Amazon recently announced it will be opening up the Kindle to application developers. The Kindle Developer’s Kit (KDK) will allow programmers to author applications and games for the device, creating endless new possibilities and potential value for Kindle owners. It also sparks the imagination of developers like us, who strongly believe in the future of electronic reading devices (even after the recent iPad announcement!)
Our company, Puzux, already offers crossword and Sudoku puzzles that can be interactively solved on your Kindle today, through the built-in browser of the Kindle. Our success since we started delivering our puzzles has shown the high demand and true thirst for quality interactive content for the device.
Naturally, we are very excited about the release of the KDK which will hopefully allow us to offer our users even more functionality than today. Here are some of our thoughts regarding the coming KDK from the perspective of an active application provider:
- Wireless access cost – The Kindle differs from other connected devices in that the wireless cost is covered by Amazon, not the users. This means that it is in the company’s interest to encourage application developers to be somewhat prudent in their access of the net, and we will need to find creative and efficient ways to create a truly connected experience.
- Advertising – Many application developers for other platforms are not charging users for the app, but base their business model on ads embedded in the application. Kindle users, however, feel strongly about their device, mainly because of its tight identification with the very personal experience of reading. Will they approve of ads on their Kindles – even within apps? Interestingly, in its preliminary announcement of the beta, Amazon specifically states that advertisements are not allowed.
- Pricing – While it’s usually the application developers that choose their own pricing model, in the Kindle’s case Amazon has defined a pricing model which developers should follow – free, one-time or subscription.
- Apps or books? – Naturally, the new kit will allow developers to write stand-alone applications for the Kindle. But what about books? Will the KDK allow interaction with existing books on your device? If so, the possibilities are huge – from books that update their content dynamically (e.g. a travel book that downloads current events in the visited location), through interactive books for kids, to books with multiple endings and much more.
These are only some of the questions that the new KDK brings with it. For us at Puzux, finding the answers will be quite an exciting journey! What do you think?
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, Kindle Developers, Things To Do With Your Kindle | 1 Comment »
Amazon Pulls Macmillan Books From Kindle – Now They’re Back
By Greg | February 1, 2010
On Friday, Amazon
announced they were pulling all of Macmillan’s books from their Kindle Store. This is because of a dispute about the pricing of e-books. Amazon wants to sell the books for $9.99 but Macmillan, as the publisher, would like the books to sell for a higher price – up to $15. The negotiations had been going on for some time but at the start of the weekend, Amazon decided to take the books off of their site.
John Sargent, the CEO of Macmillan, ran an ad in the Publisher’s Marketplace email stating Macmillan’s position on the situation. Here’s part of what he had to say:
Thursday I met with Amazon in Seattle. I gave them our proposal for new terms of sale for ebooks under the agency model which will become effective in early March. In addition, I told them they could stay with their old terms of sale, but that this would involve extensive and deep windowing of titles. By the time I arrived back in New York late yesterday afternoon they informed me that they were taking all our books off the Kindle site, and off Amazon. The books will continue to be available on Amazon.com through third parties.
Well, things have changed pretty quickly. As of yesterday, Amazon “capitulated” and said they will start selling Macmillan’s books on their website again – but at higher prices. Here’s what Amazon had to say
regarding the matter:
Dear Customers:
Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.
We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.
Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!
Thank you for being a customer.
This quote was on the Amazon bulletin board and was posted by “The Amazon Kindle team”. According to this statement, we will now have to pay $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of best sellers from Macmillan instead of the $9.99 that we’re used to paying. I’m curious to see what you think about the statement “Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book.” Do you think it’s reasonable? Will you pay $14.99 when you were previously paying $9.99?
Amazon also says that they don’t think that “all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan” and I hope they’re right. But when it comes to money, anything can happen. Once other publishers see what happened with Macmillan, what’s to stop them from trying to get the same deal? Are we going to have to start paying $14.99 for all Kindle best sellers now?
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle Books, Kindle Ebooks, kindle publishing | 8 Comments »
Is Apple Tablet a Kindle Killer?
By Greg | January 29, 2010
I’m sure you’ve all read about the latest Kindle killer – the Apple Tablet. I just wanted to see what TKW readers think about the latest ereader to become available. I’m writing about this one, as opposed to some of the others (Nook, Sony) because it has generated the greatest amount of interest and seems to be the best competition out there for the Kindle.
I’ve seen a bunch of articles in the last week or so, especially since Wednesday when Apple unveiled the Tablet, both pro and con regarding the Tablet as being the Kindle killer.
Personally, I don’t think the Tablet or anything else will really be a Kindle killer. They might take away some of the market share from Amazon but the Kindle will not be dead. Here are some of the reasons I say this. The Kindle is half the price of the Tablet (the wifi model is $499 and $629 for the 3G model) plus the cost of the books is going to be much less for the Kindle. You’ll have to pay $30/month for the wireless service for the Tablet while the Whispernet service from Amazon is free. Also, the Kindle is just made for reading (at least for now) so people that are just interested in reading will pay half of the price of a Tablet to get a Kindle and use their computers for all the other stuff that the Tablet can do. And one of the main reasons I like the Kindle so much is the e-ink screen – the Tablet is back lit. After looking at a computer all day long I don’t want to continue looking a back lit screen when I’m reading.
I do think that the Tablet is a pretty cool device though, I’m not writing this to demean the Tablet at all. In fact, I already own some Apple products (MacBook, Ipod) and I’m very happy with them as I’m sure owners of the Tablet will be happy with their device. I just don’t think that the Tablet will kill the Kindle.
Here’s a few articles saying that the Kindle will still be here, Tablet or not:
iPad as Kindle Killer is more storyline than reality
Kindle not ready to surrender to iPad
The iPad is not a Kindle KillerI know there’s a lot of people on both sides of this issue, so do you think that the Apple Tablet will kill the Kindle, or not?
Topics: Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, ereader | 1 Comment »
Calibre and Kindle
By Greg | January 28, 2010
I’ve said this on many posts in the last few months and I’ll say it again – The one major improvement that almost everyone I talk to about the Kindle wants, is a way to organize their books, with some sort of folder system or maybe something else. Well, there is “something else” available that will allow you to view, convert and catalog e-books. As you’ve probably guessed by the post title the name of this ebook library manager is Calibre.
From Calibre:
calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. It has a cornucopia of features divided into the following main categories:
- Library management
- E-book conversion
- Syncing to e-book reader devices
- Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form
- Comprehensive e-book viewer
- Constant server for online access to your book collection
Here’s one of the things that I like best about Calibre – You can sort books by any of the following: Title, Author, Date added, Date published, Size, Rating, Series, etc. If you have a ton of e-books this can come in very handy and until we do get a folder system on the Kindle this seems to be one of the best ways to organize your Kindle books. You can also use ‘tags’ to categorize your books however you like.
Another great feature is Calibre’s ebook conversion. It can convert from any of these formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT
to these formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, TCR, TXT – for the Kindle owners out there the .MOBI format is the one that we need to convert to.
Calibre is a pretty useful site for Kindle owners and the price can’t be beat either – it’s free. If you like the service and would like to make a donation there’s a button in the upper right corner for you to make your donation.
Don’t forget that you can use it to convert many of the free Kindle books that you can download also. For more info on what you can do with Calibre go here: Calibre
Also, there’s a very good forum over at MobileRead that has all kinds of good info and answers many questions about Calibre: Calibre at MobileRead Forums
Have any of you used Calibre yet? What do you think of it?
Topics: Calibre, Kindle, Kindle Books, Kindle Ebooks, free kindle books | 1 Comment »
Waterproof Kindle Cases
By Greg | January 26, 2010
I was just checking Amazon earlier today and I came across some waterproof Kindle covers from TrendyDigital. I guess these would be handy if you we’re planning on going to the beach – to keep sand or water away from your Kindle. As far as being waterproof, I would highly suggest that you test the covers before actually using them.
This is from experience with a waterproof case that I bought for my Flip video recorder. When I was reading the reviews for the case many of the reviewers had problems with the case leaking and it ruined their recorder. Fortunately for me, I read the reviews before buying one and one of the suggestions that someone made was to test the case first. The way to do this is to fill a sink or bathtub with water and submerge the case in the water for a while and then take it out and see if any water was able to make it inside the case.
If you do buy a waterproof Kindle case I would suggest doing the same type of test but still realize that the case may act differently once there’s a Kindle inside of it. The thing that’s different with the waterproof Flip case and the waterproof Kindle case is that the reason that people buy the case for the Flip is that they’re actually going to use it in the water or under water and most people that buy these waterproof covers for the Kindle are buying them to keep water away from their Kindles (reading in the tub or at the beach) not because they’re going to be reading them under water – at least I would hope not. You should still test them anyway because you really don’t want to take a chance on ruining your Kindle. I would also suggest reading the reviews before buying one of these cases.
Here’s a couple of the waterproof cases that are available:
Topics: Kindle, Kindle Case, Kindle Cover | No Comments »
Harvard Business Review Short Cuts Available On Kindle
By Greg | January 26, 2010
You will now be able to receive Harvard Business Review (HBR) “Short Cuts” on your Kindle. This is a service that is exclusive to Kindle owners (for three months) and lets you purchase individual chapters and summaries from the Harvard Business Review. Short Cuts are individual chapters and summaries from the HBR that are broken down by the time it would take to read the material. For example, 10 minute read or 30 minute read.
Here’s what Amazon has to say:
“There will be a total of 117 chapters available from 10 different Harvard Business Review Press books, including those from leading thinkers in the fields of strategy, leadership, innovation and management. Available books include “Leading Change,” by John P. Kotter, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” by Clayton Christensen and “The Future of Management,” by Gary Hamel, with chapters categorized by the time it takes to read them. This is the first time these chapters have been available for sale individually, and they will be exclusive to the Kindle Store for three months.”
This seems to be a pretty good deal if you’re a business person and also a Kindle owner. If you have purchased any of these HBR short cuts, please let us know what you think of them.
Topics: Kindle, Kindle Content, Misc. | No Comments »
