Tacoma Narrows Bridge Falling
E-book pricing looks like it’s in free fall. Amazon started it when they introduced their Kindle ereader. Now, in this July 2nd article, Barnes & Noble Follows the Leader (Amazon) With $9.95 E-book Pricing.
And it’s about time. It’s always bothered me that E-books have been nearly as expensive as “real” books. I wonder who has been taking the huge cost savings to the bank? Writers? I doubt it. The only difference in the publishing model has been the elimination of the production and distribution costs.
In this month’s cover story, Amazon Taps it’s inner apple, FastCompany tells an interesting tale and speculates about the future of books and publishing.
Who do you think will get soaked? I think it will be the traditional publishers. After all, in an electronic world where we don’t need their presses and distribution, why do we need publishers at all?
Why do we need dedicated ereader devices? Can you imagine having to buy special glasses from the publisher to read one of their books? Buy a Kindle from Amazon, a B&N reader from Barnes & Noble and who else wants to sell me their reader and proprietary book format.
No thanks. I saw an interesting online video that has me convinced. A netbook costs less than a Kindle, is a real computer and can read pdf files. The video showed a guy turning the netbook on it’s side. Makes a perfect ereading device.
Bye-bye Kindle, E-reader Screens Coming for Netbooks — PCWorld, May 29, 2009. I can hardly wait for these guys to hit the stores. I want one. Then again, maybe Apple is ready to launch their iBook? This is exciting.
Inexpensive ereaders and self-published pdf E-books have my interest. You could self-publish an E-book for five bucks and walk away with more than double the royalties from a typical $20 book sale. I’m in.
Sounds exciting! Can’t wait to publish my own ebooks…
What an exciting world we live in these days:)
Happy 4th of July everyone!
M. J.
I give this all thumbs up. My book is full price $10.84. Anyone with any search capacity (or basic reading skills on the opening screen) can purchase it for less than $6.
Knowing you can have unlimited access to a book (and searchability within it), without having a library you have to dust and treat for silver fish…why would you purchase it in print to make a brick and mortar publisher $$$ for his yacht?
Sheesh,
Ann Marie
This technology I definitely like, imagine lying on the couch listening to a good book, going for a walk hearing your favourite author and better still drifting off while hearing a good story…
wonderful clear concise thinking on your part
[...] with their own proprietary ereaders and ebook formats. I think they are the ones who are confused. Wait until netbooks equipped with e-ink technology hit the streets. I like pdf files myself and readers don’t need the aggravation of copy protection [...]