Publishers carry on about Amazon and E-Book pricing. They worry about E-Books cannibalizing sales of their printed hardcover editions. Amazon drops the price of the Kindle to below $300 for the first time. Publishers, who have always controlled the market, are losing their publishing and distribution monopoly. Amazon wants to take their place and dictate E-Book pricing and make the Kindle the dominant ereader.
"Gustave Doré's illustrations to Dante's Inferno, Plate LXV: Canto XXXI: The titans and giants. "This proud one wished to make experiment / Of his own power against the Supreme Jove" (Longfellow)" is the image of the day (July 15, 2009) on Wikimedia Commons.
The true titans and giants of the written word are authors, readers and the Internet marketplace. Publishers owned the presses and controlled the distribution of their printed books. They chose the writers who would be published and set the prices readers would have to pay. Amazon is trying to do the same thing with their aggressive pricing and kindle monopoly.
It can’t work long term. Writers have all the tools they need to publish their works without the need for publishers. Readers won’t be herded into accepting still another proprietary electronic device just to read books crippled with ridiculous copy protection schemes.
Innovative display technologies are in the pipeline now. Remember the floppy disk? Who buys CRT monitors these days? How long will the Kindle remain on the cutting edge? Not as long as Amazon hopes.
Once writers and readers realize that their chains have fallen away and their prison doors are open, they will come together without the intervention of the middlemen. The greatest market we’ve ever seen, the Internet, driven by The Long Tail, will decide who will be read and how much they will earn for their efforts. And that’s a good thing for writers and readers — the true titans and giants of the written word.
I am a big fan of technology; I love my iPod and my laptop computer. My coffeepot automatically makes my favorite beverage at the time I specify and I will be forever grateful to the inventor of the testing phone for enabling me to communicate with people I do not wish to talk with. However, some things are sacred and reading books is one of these venerable experiences. I want to hold the book while I read it–feel the paper when I turn the page. Part of my love affair with books is in the feel and smell of the book; in the creak of the spine as I open the book. My bookmark is a friend I place in the perfect spot and ask to await my return. This techno fan will pass on the Kindle et al.
River
I love books and technology too River. I just measured and I have 52 feet of filled bookshelves in my office, 30 feet more in other rooms upstairs and more downstairs. I use a fountain pen every day.
I read my first ebooks on my tiny Visor (palm) with the 160 x 160 screen. I still use film for my photography. I think film will be around for some time and so will printed books. Meanwhile…
Who knows what the future will bring?