So, it all started with a few simple tweets about my position on ebooks and ebook readers in general and what it all means to the future of publishing.
You can follow my tweets at Twitter.com/MYN
- How is $9.99 “predatory pricing” when there is no warehousing, transport or print costs involved with ebooks?http://bit.ly/5FmdVt
- @jchutchins But isn’t indie anything is always threatened by virtue of its unprotected nature? It’s by innovation that indie survives.
- @jchutchins Last tweet was about overall nature of being “indie” anything at retail level, bookstore, record store, boutique…
- @eagleapex Anyone can put a book up for sale on Kindle store for free and become an “indie” ebook publisher (and by extension, marketer)
- @jchutchins ’Zactly. I feel bad for indie bookstores but you can’t fight the rising tide. It’s all about the consumer and their wants.
- The book industry is now at same place music was in 1999, fearful of digital . 10 yrs later, 1 billion legal songs sold in 2008 alone
- At any time I’d rather make less profit per unit if you can make unit more affordable, easier to get and then make it all up in volume
- Last word on this. All I’m saying is that $9.99 is a psychological price point that will sell more books/yield more profit than $12 or $14
- And how come there aren’t more people into “saving the planet” or “going green” enthusiastically supporting ebooks?
- I think this is most exciting time in publishing history b/c not only can digital artists change the game but also rewrite the rules
- @shawnhutchison The coveting of physical medium is a fetish that will vanish as the younger demographic conditioned not to need it grows
- For example: How many of you still get all of your photos printed out? Especially the digital ones. Or do you just keep ‘em on a hard drive?
- I’m one of those guys who thinks vinyl sounds superior to CD’s but I buy all my music digitally b/c of ease of use and portability.
- And I think, like vinyl, physical books will always have a place and will be rendered more special and cooler than they are now… but…
- but… if you’re an author and you don’t embrace digital soon you might as well take your eventual place on the scrapheap of history.
- @shawnhutchison The most important consideration a music artist should have in design of CD artwork is how good it looks as a thumbnail
- The difference between an artist and a craftsman is that a craftsman feeds his family
- What do most people do on their computer screens? Not browse… but READ. We are all conditioned to reading on screens all day long.
- When you read on a Kindle, the device fades away quickly. It is just you and those glorious words. That’s the relationship which matters
- The iPod changed the game when it became affordable enough for teens and their content became readily accessible. Remember that.
- Kids these days have far less of a relationship with “paper” (or analog) than any generation before and that trend will continue.
- @jakebible You actually don’t own the book in physical format. You own the right to keep that book in its present form.
- I, like many of you, own too many “analog” books which fill my shelves and take up too much room though I know I will never read them again.
- @jakebible Not a fan of the “used” book or CD market because the artist never, ever gets paid on sale of “used” merchandise.
- @jakebible I agree. Ebooks have a very long way to go but the dawn of this age should be exciting to all authors, mainstream and indie.
- @elanaroth I’m talking about teens. When teens start to covet e-readers then watch out… and then kids will want them too.
- @elanaroth Agreed. As soon as e-reader is a fashion accessory which their idols will be seen with, teens will flock.
- @zackmann Good question but aren’t you just a little bit appalled at all the healthy trees cut down to make those fucking Twiilight books?
- @elanaroth I have to think children’s books will be one of the last genres to give up paper. I’d hate to imagine no analog kids books
- Though can you imagine how excited kids could get over an interactive version of Goodnight Moon or Cat in the Hat (on a color device)?
- In future I see kid-centric ebook readers w/ high quality color screens where you can touch a word or sentence and have it read back to you
- @remdotco I’m talking about devices and interactive content specifically created for kids … the evolutionary extension of the Leap Frog.
- But can you imagine a digital Speak and Spell tablet for kids that also hosts animated/interactive ebooks with an emphasis on learning?
- All I’m saying is Victory belongs to those who find new ways to fight
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