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retailer Amazon launches own e-book reader to jump start e-book market 11/22/07<<
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-- Dan Poynter
Not only are most of my books available as eBooks, I read a lot of eBooks.
I am a publisher and a reader. That places me on both sides of publishing:
as producer and consumer.
My speaking travels average some 6,000 miles each week. Yes, 6,000; I made
five around-the-world speaking itineraries this year. (I have a home in
Santa Barbara but live on United Airlines.) Traveling as light as
possible, I do not carry printed books. Think about it, even for a short
trip, you would have to carry two books—in case you finished one. For
the
past several years, I have read eBooks on my Pocket PC.
A Pocket PC is a multifunction device. Now I do not have to carry an
address book, calendar, reference materials, paper books, etc.
Then something happened. In December I was home for a couple of weeks. I
had a couple of mass-market paperback that I wanted to read. They were not
available as eBook editions so I decided to read myself to sleep with one
of them.
How awkward! With the printed book, you have to turn on the (bright)
light. If you wake up in the middle of the night and decide to tire you
eyes with reading, that light is dazzling! The eBook reader is
back-lighted and very gentle.
As a world traveler, I have become used to reading my eBooks in a taxi at
five in the morning. Light? No thanks, my (back-lighted) book comes with a
light.
Holding a printed book (pBook) is awkward. It take two hands. Even a
smaller mass market paperback is difficult. Have I been reading my Pocket
PC with one hand too long?
Bookmark? How Twentieth century! I don’t need a book mark. Nor do I have
to deface the book by dog-earing it. The eBook remembers where I stopped
reading and opens to that page when I turn it back on.
Cost. The only reason I paid more for these pBooks is that they were not
available as eBooks. I love these authors and have purchased everything
they have written. How I wish all of their books were available
electronically.
Type.. Why can’t I adjust the size to the glasses I am wearing? It is
easy
with an eBook reader.
Spelling. When not sure of a word in a pBook, I have to go find a
dictionary. With my eBook, the dictionary is built-in.
Convenience. I can download eBooks from anywhere in the world. I do not
have to visit a bookstore or have Amazon deliver it.
Disposal. I read a lot of books. What should I do with pBooks when I
finish reading? My shelves are full.
Electronic books are a far superior platform to dead-tree books for
numerous reasons. But let’s be practical. After trying both—extensively,
I
prefer to annoy electrons than cut down trees. This is not just an
environmental concern, it is a practical reading decision.
I love eBooks.
The editor recently bought an eBookwise Reader on the Internet for $120 and fell in love with it. Before I was too busy to read for recreation. Now I read at the bus stop, coffeehouses, doctor's offices, etc. There are better ones such as a Palm Pilot PDF, Amazon Kindle, Sony & Borders, iPod, and various cell phones. But they cost a lot more and I am perfectly happy with my simple eBookwise Reader.
While talking with self-publishing guru, Dan Poynter, he told me that he reads eBooks on his PDF while flying from one speaking engagement to another. Many Luddites knock them saying that they prefer the feel of a real book, but then, they haven't tried the convenience of having multiple books and a dictionary at their finger tip. Plus there is the easy-to-read backlighting and the adjustable font size.
15 Trends to Watch in 2008
Publishing futurist Mike Shatzkin predicts what's ahead for the book industry.
by Mike Shatzkin - Publishers Weekly, 1/7/2008/. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6517338.html
The End of General Trade Publishing Houses
Read a transcript of Mike Shatzkin's presentation at Book Expo America,
New York City, May 31 2007. http://www.idealog.com/speeches/endoftrade.htm
Online
retailer Amazon launches own e-book reader to jump start e-book market 11/22/07By Anick Jesdanun, ASSOCIATED PRESS, 2:44 pm November 19, 2007
NEW YORK – Amazon.com Inc. is hoping to invigorate a nascent market for electronic books by introducing its own e-book reader with free wireless connectivity. Monday's long-anticipated announcement comes as e-books remain a sliver of overall book sales, partly because they lack the comfort and intimacy of bound paper.
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the online retailer spent three years developing the Kindle reader, which the company is selling online for $399. Rather than try to “outbook” the bound book, Bezos said, Amazon designed Kindle with the e-book's strengths in mind.
It is thinner than most paperbacks and weighs 10.3 ounces. Yet it can hold some 200 books, along with newspapers, magazines and an entire dictionary. Readers can buy and download books directly to the Kindle – without a PC – through Sprint Nextel Corp.'s high-speed EV-DO cellular network without fees or contract commitments. They also can take notes on what they read and store them on Amazon's servers.
Sony Corp. already offers an e-book reader that imitates the look of paper by using an innovative screen technology. The Kindle screen takes a similar approach and has no backlight to reduce battery use and eyestrain. Bezos said Amazon decided to make its own device so it could seamlessly build a service around it. Best sellers and new releases will typically go for $9.99.
Read more about Amazon's amazing new eBook reader by going to our our Bookwarren Bookstore and clicking on the eBook Reader catagory. If you wish to purchase one from Amazon, please go to our bookstore so we get the commission to support this eNewsletter.
Time to start thinking about the
future of publishing. In addition to the thousands of ebooks available to purchase,
there are thousand of copyright free classics at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page.
You can read about the Sony Reader at: http://products.sel.sony.com/pa/prs/index.html.
Sony and Amazon are a bit expensive, but a less expensive, but a more limited
one, can be bought at for only $139.95 at http://www.eBookwise.com.
And, of course, you can read them on your PDA, laptop, or computer. I like to
download a good Sherlock Holmes mystery onto my PC, increase the font size with
a search & replace command, and kick back with my mouse and pipe.
Some of the
benefits of eBook readers are:
* You can carry more copies of book in a smaller space.
* You can read them on your PDA and laptop on airlines while you are traveling.
* You can access related documents and dictionaries.
* You can also link to videos and slide shows.
* They are cheaper than paper books.
* You can get them faster – no shipping or visiting bookstores.
* As a publisher, they are cheaper to publish.
* They are available world wide without worrying about foreign publishing rights.
* They are more popular in Europe.
* Easier to read as you can enlarge the type to the size you like.
* Easier to read as you can have a back light.
* There are programs that will read the book for you.
* You can look up words in a dictionary with a click.
* On high end readers, you can link to websites.
* They are easier to navigate.
Customers who buy a Sony Reader device at Borders are given access to the co-branded
site, allowing them to immediately purchase new titles. T-Mobile Hot-Spot customers
can also access the website while using the T-Mobile wireless access in Borders
stores. See
http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/retail/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003688036
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6514739.html.
All Books Free: http://www.allbooksfree.com (for novels, short stories, poems, and children's books). Free Books for All: http://www.freebooksforall.com (for nonfiction books). Brazilian author Paulo Coelho has been an apostle of free Internet distribution for years. He figures they sell more books this way. Free Books for All: http://www.freebooksforall.com (for nonfiction books). In a comment below, Paolo provide a link to his blog. Here is the live link so you can go there right away: http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Read a short story by Raymond Grant without having to wait until it is off the press. Go to: http://www.redenginepress.com. Flashes in the Pan, Fifty Short Stories for the Impatient. Download: http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com. Large print paperback: http://www.lulu.com. The Fiction Flyer at http://tri-studio.com/ezine.html.
1. Mobipocket.com
2. Fictionwise, Inc
3. ebooks.com
4. Books On Board
5. eBookMall.com
6. beam eBooks
7. Libri.de
8. Kreutzfeldt Electronic Publishing
9. Franklin Electronic Publishers
10. Diesel eBooks & eBook Eros (new!)
11. Laurie J. Books (new!)
12. eBook Crescent (new!)
13. eBook.nl
14. thebookgap.com (new!)
15. eReader Outfitters (new!)
16. eBooksAboutEverything
17. Les Echos (new!)
18. Leer-e (new!)
19. Libresco (new!)
20. Mobile Mosaic
21. selexyz (new!)
22. Bookeen
23. CyberRead (new!)
24. Elittera AS (new!)
25. Tradebit.com
26. Unlock A Book Publishers, LLC (new!)