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Let's face it: the ebook market is FUBAR, thanks to pure greed
40hz:
Stephen King is ok, but I was thinking more along the lines of some super scandal ridden kiss&tell "names names" type thing that had the potential of motivating someone to buy a reader just to get it.
Could work since any time the book got mentioned, it would likely also be mentioned that it's "only available on Kindle" or whatever. So it's a built-in advert/endorsement for a specific platform.
So far, only Apple seems to be able to get away with that. :-\
Paul Keith:
All say they hate the idea of losing the feel of a real book, the tactile pleasure, the smell. All love the idea of carrying around lots of books in a small device. All are impressed with the screens on the latest generation of ebook readers. Everyone over 40 loves the fact that you can vary font size! (this is a huge selling point).
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Since I'm not from a first-world nation, my perception of e-book readers here is that most people have not heard of it. The few who do, they shell out the cash on the Kindle thinking Kindle = e-book.
That is dying though because people are mostly getting Ipads and other tablets.
And my point is...the price of books is hardly ever mentioned as a barrier/reason to purchase. They all spend lots of money on books, and they'll continue to do so. Real books, ebooks, whatever. Price is always an issue, everywhere, but I've never heard a member of the "masses" complain about the price of an ebook, or say they should be cheaper than they are. They do moan if the ebook is dearer than the print version. This happens quite often these days, due to Apple's scandalous deal with book publishers, which allows publishers to set ebook prices. This will hopefully be declared unlawful in the UK, as it is essentially a re-introduction of the Net Book Agreement*. The Office of Fair Trading is already investigating.
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On my end, most of my culture guessing makes me feel people rarely talk about expensive things they can't afford.
A bookstore stalker for example would flip books all they long but even if they know of e-books, they won't really feel like it's worth talking about.
Similar with book clubs. A few person may have an e-book reader but it's just a nifty gadget and there's really no true interest in having a full-on e-book discussion as people would still most likely be buying and seeing books.
We're mostly a bookstore culture though and hey, I'm not saying there's not an e-book crowd - just that this is my impresson of the masses' perception of e-books.
Paul Keith:
Stephen King is ok, but I was thinking more along the lines of some super scandal ridden kiss&tell "names names" type thing that had the potential of motivating someone to buy a reader just to get it.
Could work since any time the book got mentioned, it would likely also be mentioned that it's "only available on Kindle" or whatever. So it's a built-in advert/endorsement for a specific platform.
So far, only Apple seems to be able to get away with that. :-\
-40hz (February 07, 2011, 10:18 AM)
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Damn, I must be way behind the times now. I thought Stephen King was still above ok and the reason I searched for that link was because I thought I chanced upon that news back in the day in one of those trending social media links.
zridling:
Absent from publishers' and distributors' discussions are the customer. It's not what we want, but what they're willing to shove up our ass, I mean "give" us. Much like I envision the "Apple experience."
>:(
40hz:
Customers? What do the bleedin' customer desires have to do with anything anymore? ;D :P
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