Today, Amazon.com launched its newest innovation – a wireless reading device called the Kindle. As I write this, Charlie Rose is interviewing Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com about Kindle and Amazon in general. Bezos’ story is worth studying because his ability to take ideas that make sense from both the consumers’ and company’s viewpoint is what makes him so successful. Win-win.
As an author, the Kindle is exciting news. When epublishing first came on the scene, a part of the debate revolved around a reading device that would be acceptable to book lovers. You know the die-hard book lovers that enjoy the experience of curling up with a good book. Bezos gets this. He says:
I also relax into the author’s words, stories, and ideas. The physical book is so elegant that the artifact itself disappears into the background. The paper, glue, ink, and stitching that make up the book vanish, and what remains is the author’s world.
He gets it! The reason other ebook reading devices haven’t succeeded is because they got in the way of the experience of losing yourself in the author’s world.
Amazon has signed on all the major publishers, according to Bezos, to sell books electronically through Amazon. 88,000 books, newspapers and magazines are available for download. The device can hold the equivalent of 200 books and Amazon offers free storage. So you can keep a virtual private library on Amazon. The device includes a resident dictionary and free access to Wikipedia as well as the ability to highlight and write margin notes. And you have the ability to browse the store and download the first chapter of books for free so you can get a good feel for a particular author before committing yourself and your money.
Can you tell I’m excited! As a writer, just think about the possibilities. Rose and Bezos discussed serialization of books – having books published in serial format as the author writes them. You’d be able to incorporate reader feedback into the manuscript as you went along. Obviously there are benefits for the publishers as well or they wouldn’t be on board with this. One of them could be lower production costs that might open the door to publishers accepting more manuscripts.
The drawback? One is cost. The device costs almost $400 and books are $10 a piece. (But it does appear that you can download from sources other than Amazon – like Project Gutenberg which has 100,000 titles with 20,000 of them free.) If you purchase books frequently, the device can pay for itself within a year or two. Kindle might be a great option for those with money but what about those folks that rely on the library for their reading pleasure. For residents of my city, a library card is free. I rely on the library to introduce me to authors I haven’t read before and to help me keep up with all the new titles coming out.
It’ll be interesting to see what changes this brings to the publishing world and we writers struggling to get our foot in the door.
As an author, the Kindle is exciting news. When epublishing first came on the scene, a part of the debate revolved around a reading device that would be acceptable to book lovers. You know the die-hard book lovers that enjoy the experience of curling up with a good book. Bezos gets this. He says:
I also relax into the author’s words, stories, and ideas. The physical book is so elegant that the artifact itself disappears into the background. The paper, glue, ink, and stitching that make up the book vanish, and what remains is the author’s world.
He gets it! The reason other ebook reading devices haven’t succeeded is because they got in the way of the experience of losing yourself in the author’s world.
Amazon has signed on all the major publishers, according to Bezos, to sell books electronically through Amazon. 88,000 books, newspapers and magazines are available for download. The device can hold the equivalent of 200 books and Amazon offers free storage. So you can keep a virtual private library on Amazon. The device includes a resident dictionary and free access to Wikipedia as well as the ability to highlight and write margin notes. And you have the ability to browse the store and download the first chapter of books for free so you can get a good feel for a particular author before committing yourself and your money.
Can you tell I’m excited! As a writer, just think about the possibilities. Rose and Bezos discussed serialization of books – having books published in serial format as the author writes them. You’d be able to incorporate reader feedback into the manuscript as you went along. Obviously there are benefits for the publishers as well or they wouldn’t be on board with this. One of them could be lower production costs that might open the door to publishers accepting more manuscripts.
The drawback? One is cost. The device costs almost $400 and books are $10 a piece. (But it does appear that you can download from sources other than Amazon – like Project Gutenberg which has 100,000 titles with 20,000 of them free.) If you purchase books frequently, the device can pay for itself within a year or two. Kindle might be a great option for those with money but what about those folks that rely on the library for their reading pleasure. For residents of my city, a library card is free. I rely on the library to introduce me to authors I haven’t read before and to help me keep up with all the new titles coming out.
It’ll be interesting to see what changes this brings to the publishing world and we writers struggling to get our foot in the door.
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