Comments on: Book Business Twists In To New Shapes To Face Its First Digital Challenge http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/ The economics of digital content Mon, 20 May 2013 15:40:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: AJ http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83613 Mon, 16 May 2011 15:40:00 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83613 Very interesting website.

 Future of publishing? Just might be!

http://interactive.nfb.ca/#/pinepoint

]]> By: Shelly Santiago http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83612 Sun, 15 May 2011 18:16:21 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83612  Publishers have to open their minds up to the idea that books are changing. We see things differently today, and that causes some of us to write them differently. My books might not sound interesting to you! However, they might sound great to your neighbor three doors down the hall. Writing is another form of art. Respect the art, and open your mind to the many different types of art. Author of The Vampire’s Salvation, and Luck of the Curse.

]]> By: RON TAYLOR http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83611 Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:08 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83611 @
Mindbendingpuzzles <> that isn’t a rant. It is a good summing up of the problems many publishers need to address.

I had an unsigned writer contact me with his eBook. He is selling it £9 a copy.
He is mad. No one will pay that or should be expected to pay that.
Agree with you on price. All eBooks should be priced at less than £3.

]]> By: RON TAYLOR http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83610 Thu, 12 May 2011 13:59:50 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83610 @Mindbendingpuzzles <> that isn’t a rant. It is a good summing up of the problems many publishers need to address.

I had an unsigned writer contact me with his eBook. He is selling it £9 a copy.
He is mad. No one will pay that or should be expected to pay that.
Agree with you on price. All eBooks should be priced at less than £3.

]]> By: Mindbendingpuzzles http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83609 Thu, 12 May 2011 13:41:16 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83609 Speaking as a paying customer of ebooks here are some observations that reflect my viewpoint:

1. Clear up the format mess and agree on a single non proprietary standard. Stop clinging to proprietary formats in a vain hope that you can screw extra money out of me. On my Android device I have readers for Kindle, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and just about any other format you can throw at me. I can and will shop around for the best price but it annoys the hell out of me to have to use different readers for different books.

2. Abandon those historical regional distribution agreements. They are past their sell by date in the new digital world. Imagine my annoyance at finding the book I want on Amazon and then being told I can’t buy it because I don’t live in the right country.

3. If you hope to still be relevant in this industry in a few years time you need to dramatically improve the search and browse facilities on your websites. I am looking at you Waterstones who produces a mobile app that doesn’t show any of your ebooks. I am looking at you Kobo and your useless useless search tool. Browsing an ebook store needs to be as easy and and as enjoyable as browsing in a real bookshop. Amazon are probably the best here but even so they aren’t much better than just using Google.

4. Get real about pricing. The manufacturing and distribution costs of ebooks are much much smaller than paper books. I expect you to pass on those savings. Expecting me to pay €20 for an ebook just because it is still in hardback is nonsense. The day when most of your books start to cost €3 or less is the day you will start to see sales grow substantially.

5. In the long run it is irrelevant whether or not Kindle is better than Ipad or better than Nook. It is not about the reader it is about the stories that are in the books. The reader just needs to be “good enough”. For many the current generation of readers are already good enough but the technology is going to improve and in the near future the market will be awash with cheap readers that are good enough for just about everybody.

6. Yes you can learn lessons from music and films and possibly even game distribution but don’t fool yourself. This revolution is going to hit books harder than any of those other industries because electronic books require virtually no infrastructure to create.

Apologies for the ranting tone of some of my comments but I am a fairly recent convert to ebooks and I still bear the fervour of the novice.

]]> By: RON TAYLOR http://paidcontent.org/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83608 Thu, 12 May 2011 12:20:34 +0000 http://paidcontent.wp.gostage.it/2011/05/12/419-book-business-twists-in-to-new-shapes-to-face-its-first-digital-challen/#comment-83608 Some publishers are still in the dark ages.
I contacted a a few of them, none of them came back to me.

So, I started my own ebook publishing/rich media company.
I worked for the BBC for twenty years and have been a freelance filmmaker for fifteen. You would think that I had skills useful to publishers.

Many publishers seem to think that putting a few colour slides into an ebook is enough.
They are in for shock.

Just had a look at the aNobil web site. Interesting idea, web site needs re designing.
Looks like something from the Cold War era. Can you imagine Apple designing a site like that?

If Waterstones want to do something to help the market they should create a site which also allows independent publishers to sell through their web site.

iBookstore, Apple don’t care how small your business is as long as your product meets technical standards.

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