I have been looking at paperless books after reading a post on Thanet Life you can look at the latest in this technology at http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reading-Display-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI and I am wondering how long it will be before the supply of recent books dries up.It really is quite difficult to work out if this is the greatest revolution since printing or just another gimmick that won’t catch on that much.
One thing is certain and that is that the few big retailers that have now got hold of the monopoly of new bookselling want to make sure that they have everything published in electronic form.
Following Google's plan to digitise all books published, which is facing some opposition, Amazon has launched its own program, 'Search Inside The Book' (SITB). Amazon are demanding that for all new books they require a PDF file of the whole text, to allow them to decide which sample pages they will show to the prospective buyer. The PDF file must be with Amazon three months before publication date.
I am wondering if the book publishing world and book authors have cottoned on to the fact that they are going down the road that the music industry started going down with the invent of the tape recorder.
By this I mean once you give the public an electronic copy of something, some bright spark finds a way to share it for nothing and it makes it very difficult to collect royalties.
Anyway I don’t suppose Amazon will ever get the problem I had in the bookshop on Saturday, this was a customer complaining that a book was too cheap. The bloke went pretty much brasic and it was all I could do to keep a straight face.
As I have said before we now have a recession section where all the hardbacks are 10p and all the paperbacks 5p, anyway I have recently expanded this section and put some of it right at the front of the front of the shop.
The paperback in question was therefore 5p, I won’t name and shame here, apparently the bloke in question is the author of the book.
For all the chest beating the Tape, the CD, the VCR and digital media has yet to kill the movie and music industry. However it has allowed a whole new generation of direct to fan sales by artists which cuts out the brow beating middleman.
ReplyDeleteSeth Godin the famous marketing man (Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, The Dip, Tribes, Small is the New Big etc, etc) has written extensively on the subject of the music industry and how one could use the changes to prosper. I imagine the same is true of books digital or paper.
Digital printers and photocopiers have already done exactly the same thing to publishing as have blogs to newspapers.
For what it's worth Michael, I seriously hope there are reading books for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteI am all for technology and what it can achieve, but i don't think you can ever replace the indulgence of a good book.
I am guilty of using the mighty amazon many times this year, for their second hand books, but at a fraction of the price of a new book, it's well worth it and can save a pretty penny in these tough times.
Having been a bookworm for over 70 years I agree that a book in my hand is priceless. Pme bit of techno I won't be embracing.
ReplyDeleteI really should stop typing in the dark. the word was one.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I would want to take an electronic reader into the bath with me !
ReplyDeleteWont replace the books in my house I love the real thing. Good for a trip to a desert island must remember that when Sue Lawley invites me on her show .
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