Subscribe in a readerMore thoughts on the Kindle..
By Bruce K. Hollingdrake • Nov 22nd, 2007 • Category: News & OpinionsHere are some thoughts on Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader from Tony Leblanc of Cover to Cover Books.
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I’m not sure if the purchase of a printed book includes an electronic copy - my interest is more how many printed book sales Kindle will replace. For someone who doesn’t mind reading on it, paying $9.99 for a new release instead of $26+ for the hardcover is pretty attractive.
If one looks at the music industry as a comparison, the prevalence of MP3 players and downloading music has had a huge impact on sales of CDs, etc., to the point where, here in Canada, many (if not most) independent music stores have closed their doors. Is the arrival of Kindle a sign of the same changes in the book industry in the years to come? I suspect that, as the current 20-something population ages, electronic copies of books will become more and more common. If I owned a bookstore selling primarily new books, I’d be concerned about the long-term viability of a store.
I checked some Kindle titles on Amazon, and currently there is no real savings for a Kindle version of a title available in MMPB. For new hardcover releases, however, there is quite a difference in price. I’d not generally pay $25-30 for a hardcover fiction new release, but I might be willing to pay $10 to have it downloaded to my Kindle and read it there. However, I would expect the price of both the Kindle units and the titles will drop over the next few years.
With used books, I see some other factors involved. One is availability - it remains to be seen how many older titles will be made available on electronic media in the future. I suspect that books released within the last 20 years, for example, can be readily converted to electronic format, because they were printed using computerized means in the first place. The fate of older books is more uncertain - depending on whether publishers can justify the costs involved in scanning or otherwise turning text on paper into an electronic format, versus the revenue they could expect to generate from sales of that title.
I also think the concept of paperback exchanges will continue to be popular - you can’t buy a “used” title for your Kindle, and can’t trade in titles that you’ve already read for trade credit towards new titles. At our store, a shopper using trade credit would pay 25% of cover price cash for their books, so until and unless an older title can be purchased for the Kindle for a comparable price, I think there will be a market for used books. In the long-term, I believe the market will shrink, although I believe there will always be a need for a low-cost book that a person doesn’t mind taking to the beach, reading in the tub, etc., places where I wouldn’t want to take my Kindle.
(Mind you, if Kindle DOES introduce something like that in the future, where an electronic title could be “traded-in”, and removed from your unit, with a credit towards another sale, that could change my current thinking!).
Definitely something to watch………..
related story… The new Kindle
Side thought, since I don’t see it in tech specs. Many students enjoy being able to highlight books for easy studying. Can it do that?
And ignore casual reading, the real market for this should be education. Imagine being able o stick all your college or high school textbooks on one of these puppies. Textbook manufacturer could still update annually, but at a fraction of the cost to publisher.
Yes, the device itself is expensive, but its roughly equivalent to the cost of books for one semester of college.
Printed copies have their own pros… Books that are published in US/UK and priced in $/pound are costly to people living in other countries including India. The special edition (legal) covering Indian subcontinent is much cheaper compared to original print.
There would be no such classification in e-books!..
The comparison with music is not necessarily valid. No matter how the music is delivered, the listening experience does not change. Ultimately the listener does not know if the source is MP3, CD, or vinyl (OK, maybe vinyl is discernible), because the product is ‘consumed’ in a similar manner. Reading from a Kindle versus a book is a different way of consuming the product. Actual reading patterns and mechanics will have to be altered, hence a barrier to market entry.
However, the digitization of academic resources has already made a huge difference with respect to professional publications. Many journals do not offer hard copy at all, and in two years of graduate work in history i have yet to enter a library building, all the while accessing hundreds of journals with thousands of volumes, all searchable!
Wayne
Thanks for an interesting suggestion on trading the quality paperbacks. I give 25% of the new price as trade credit and was seeing how many of those books come in and not go out. By just giving a straight 2.00 credit on them I’ll be able to ‘not lose’ quite as much!!! In small town America it’s difficult to come up with new ideas for increasing the bottom line. And advertising is sooo expensive. I’m doing BOOKLOVERS Day next Sat in conjunction with Open House so am hoping for good bottom line results. Please share all ideas here. Thanks
Seachability is the main advantage an e-book offers. Academic resources available in this form is a boon to students. Still reading a fiction or a romance novel using a computer is not enjoyable.