E-Books Are Only 6% of Printed Book Sales 437
An anonymous reader writes "MIT's technology blog argues that e-book sales represent 'only six pecent of the total market for new books.' It cites a business analysis which calculates that by mid-July, Amazon had sold 15.6 million hardcover books versus 22 million e-books, but with sales of about 48 million more paperback books. Amazon recently announced they sell 180 e-books for every 100 hardcover books, but when paperbacks are counted, e-books represent just 29.3% of all Amazon's book sales. And while Amazon holds about 19% of the book market, they currently represent 90% of all e-book sales — suggesting that e-books represent a tiny fraction of all print books sold. 'Many tech pundit wants books to die,' argues MIT's Christopher Mims, citing the head of Microsoft's ClearType team, who says 'I'd be glad to ditch thousands of paper- and hard-backed books from my bookshelves. I'd rather have them all on an iPad.' But while Nicholas Negroponte predicts the death of the book within five years, Mims argues that 'it's just as likely that as the ranks of the early adopters get saturated, adoption of e-books will slow.'"
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
My thoughts exactly. Not sure why this has been modded as offtopic.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:4, Funny)
"If one cannot write clearly and concisely then they need not to be writing anything at all."
Hey you - yeah, you, in the hole - shall I drop another shovel down for you? That one looks worn out.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:4, Insightful)
E-books have 6% the sales that printed books have.
E-books make up 6% of book sales.
The first way is the option you came up with but it results in a different figure than reality.
If 1000 books total were sold then your interpretation would mean that 57 were e-books, 943 printed. By the other interpretation it would mean that 60 were e-books, 940 printed.
The discrepancy is more obvious if you change 6% to 100%. In the first view you are saying e-book sales equal printed sales, the second view you are saying that e-book sales are the only books sold.
eBook pricing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:eBook pricing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Reader prices are plummeting, I would imagine that by Christmas there will be several nice models available for less than $100.
On a side note, I typically despise Sony for their proprietary formats, but
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually the only reader I know of that isn't (mostly) open is the Kindle. Both the Nook and the Sony Readers take the open .epub formats natively, and can pretty much read everything else out there outside of things purchased from Amazon (there are ways though), and the few formats they can't read, Calibre can fix for you. Books purchased from Barnes and Noble are as locked down as Amazon's books, but you can "side load" (a phrase I hate) from pretty much any store offering ebooks. Most of my purchases
Re:eBook pricing (Score:4, Informative)
Actually the only reader I know of that isn't (mostly) open is the Kindle. Both the Nook and the Sony Readers take the open .epub formats natively
This is non-sense. When people complain that the kindle doesn't handle EPUB, they mean DRM'ed EPUB. The real problem with the lack of DRM epub on the Kindle are public libraries lending DRM'ed epub, and other shops only selling in DRM'ed epub.
The kindle takes .mobi files, and DRM'ed mobi (.azw I think). The Sony and other readers take several formats but are mostly optimized for unencrypted epub, and DRM'ed epub. The whole deal is about which DRM scheme works on each, and which shop sells on that DRM format.
Back and forth conversion between non-DRM mobi and epub is trivial. All shops I know of selling books without DRM also sell the books in .mobi for the Kindle, and if they didn't epub to mobi is, as I've said, trivial.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I never said that the Kindle supported EPUB. My point is that for epub without DRM this is a non-issue.
As I said, I don't know of a single e-book vendor selling epub without DRM that doesn't sell a mobi version as well.
The fact, that there are converters in the wild, that can convert between formats, doesn't make Kindle "support" mentioned formats.
Read the post I was responding to. The guy already uses Calibre, so that fact that calibre will convert the (open) epub automatically when tell it to put the e-book in the Kindle is pertinent to him.
If you don't want to use Calibre you can use Amazon's free conversion service by emailing the
Re:eBook pricing (Score:5, Interesting)
They WERE lower and then Apple cut a deal with the publishers to allow the PUBLISHERS, not the retailers, to set pricing. They then beat Amazon over the head with this deal and forced Amazon to capitulate. Overnight book prices for E-books in many cases were changed to be HIGHER than hardcover sale prices. The publishers tell you this is a deal though because it's still lower than hardcover LIST prices - who buys at list?! Retailers still set those prices! Want to know when you're getting boned by a publisher? Look for "This price was set by the publisher" on the sales entry.
When this occurred I went from buying multiple books a month to torrenting them - I haven't bought anything other than a Sci-Fi subscription to a magazine in MONTHS as a result of this bullshit. When they bring back $9.99 pricing I'll start buying, until then - fuck 'em. I can't resell, trade, or give away an e-book like I can paper. I no longer want paper books in my home either - I have too many as it is! grrrr!
Re:eBook pricing (Score:5, Insightful)
At what point do you get that sense of entitlement that you're allowed to pirate content? If you cant afford it, move on.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"At what point do you get that sense of entitlement that you're allowed to pirate content? If you don't think it's worth the money, move on."
FTFY.
Otherwise agreed.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
At what point do you get that sense of entitlement that you're allowed to decide about what others' should or shouldn't do?
people are cheap? sensible more like! (Score:3, Insightful)
"People are cheap and don't want to spend more for an eBook than the mass market paperback version"
Sounds like you've got shares in an eBook company, my friend!
Perhaps, people are *sensible* and weigh up the cost-benefit analysis and take the best option. "Hey buddy, I've got 2 identical products here, one costs $5 and one costs $15. Which one do you want?". Err.....
Probably people are looking at similar priced products and weighing up which one works best for them. There's a huge number of people once you
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
For all the reasons listed from parent on down I do not buy ebooks. I'll download and read from the Gutenberg Project. However, I will not spend money on a book that will, in all likelihood in the future, not be accessible as I'll be damned if I'll buy something twice. I'll not buy at all rather than have to buy twice as DRM history has taught us is very likely.
I like the tactile feel of reading a book and that direct sunlight improves reading conditions rather than destroying them. Plus, I don't like
I agree, but (Score:5, Insightful)
It is difficult to argue with the meteoric rise in ebook popularity. I'm an ebook insider, and I still buy mostly physical books. But customers really are demanding ebook version of many books. And pretending that the trend towards ebooks doesn't exist is unrealistic. I might start and stop in fits but I think the writing is on the wall (or display).
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, I agree that I'm not sure what the point of this original post is. A new technology doesn't sell as well as an equivalent, older technology? I'd argue that books are a bit different from movies or music in that books actually
Re: (Score:2)
There will probably be a market for both types, especially since there is a difference between paper books and ebooks. Some people read in bed and if you drop the book the worst that can happen is that you need some tape but if you drop your reader you may need a new one.
And a paper book doesn't need any batteries, which means that you can use it everywhere.
But for some reading the ebook may be an alternative. And there will be an overlap where the media doesn't matter.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As a Kindle Owner (Score:5, Informative)
E-Books still aren't there yet. When an E-Book as as convenient, as cheap, and as trouble free as real books, then we'll see e-books take off. But I think they've still got a way to go. Prices need to come down, the devices themselves need to get better (more durable, longer battery life, cheaper) and the software inside them needs to get much better.
Speaking only from owning a Kindle, the limitations on display imposed by are sometimes infuriating: Limited type choices, no ragged right, an orgamizational system which doesn't scale past 100mb of material, let alone the two gigs that comes onboard, (Why people moan that the kindle is not expandable I'll never understand. Aside from a wikipedia dump, who needs two gigs of text on the go!). PDF Support needs vast improvements (why, god why do you let me zoom, but only to the scales you chose for me... which are always way too wide or ten letters too narrow on academic papers?)
Annotations for academic work are important, and on the impotent keyboard they give you on the kindle, good luck. HIghlighting is slightly better, but still painful.
Having ranted though, I have to say, I still love my kindle, if for no other reason than receiving my news paper every morning electronically, combined with Instapaper for long articles.
The devices have amazing possibility, but until they improve, they won't kill the book.
Re:As a Kindle Owner (Score:4, Insightful)
And I have to add, nor do I want them to kill the book. I love my books, I love owning them, I love reading paper books. But e-books have a super leg up when it comes to portability. I can carry the three books and the newspaper I'm reading in 8 ounces, or I can carry a pound and a half of paper.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
But e-books have a super leg up when it comes to portability. I can carry the three books and the newspaper I'm reading in 8 ounces, or I can carry a pound and a half of paper.
And can you lend out one book without having to hand over the Kindle and subsequently your entire library?
Re: (Score:2)
Much like DRM was removed from iTMS, I'm hopeful the same will happen with Kindle, or at least some sort of reasonable borrowing mechanism.
Other than that, you and GP are talking different purposes. Your issue is book lending. GP (and my) issue is portability.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, you can also strip the DRM off of the Kindle book and share to as many friends as you want but frankly it's a hassle...
Re: (Score:2)
I believe Edward James Olmos said it best: "You don't lend books."
Wrong title (Score:5, Insightful)
The vast majority of the reading public doesn't own an ebook reader. The vast majority of people say things like, "I like the feel of a paper book, I wouldn't want to read a novel on my computer." The fact that, despite the relative novelty of the medium, and endemic resistance to ebooks, they've already captured a sizeable percentage of the venerable book market says quite a bit about the future. And frankly I'm surprised.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
And there is high demand for more.
It's just plain wrong that in 2010, there isn't an eBook version of every text book. I would buy a kindle for my 11 year old son if I could gt all his texts on it. Kids these days carry around 20+ pound of school crap all day long. When I was in high school, I never even owned a back pack.
Re: (Score:2)
Seconded. It's pretty impressive considering how much of a place paper books have had in most people's lives, and throughout history, I certainly didn't expect eBook penetration to be so high anytime soon!
I bought an eBook as a test on Android recently, then was pretty annoyed to find out there's no official Linux Kindle client, and the Windows version doesn't even work in WINE.. come on Amazon, you can do better than that. I don't want to read the whole of the book on a 5" screen..!
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, WTF, 6% already?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
>The title should be, "Holy crap, an entire 6% of books sold are eBooks."
Yep. I was going to post something to that effect, but you said it all.
Or you could even say "'Sblood! 6% of book sales are lost to eBooks!"
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm going for my masters. The program I'm enrolled in is a new one for the University I attend and as an incentive to enroll they are offering free e-books to those who are in it. As a tech geek I thought this was going to be awesome. "Look tech!"
Well, I fucking hate the e-books aside from their price. I really thought I'd love to search functionality but I don't. It's no better than me printing the chapters out and scanning the pages manually. While this has a lot to do w/the software used for the e-book,
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
What is far, far more likely is each ebook will be purchased once, the DRM stripped and the resulting file posted in five or six different formats for the planet to freely download.
You could theoretically do that with music, yet people buy in droves from iTunes and Amazon, 100% DRM free. Eventually, publishers will realize it's pointless to fight the tide of technology and market forces, or they'll simply go out of business.
Many people don't mind rewarding companies that offer good products at reasonable prices - especially when its more convenient to purchase legitimately than to pirate. That, to me, is the real lesson to be learned from the Kindle. Purchasing an e-book is so conv
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Five star reviews are mostly bogus. (Score:5, Insightful)
Millions of people are already reading on Kindles and Kindle is the #1 bestselling item on Amazon.com for two years running. It's also the most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon.com.
Let me start with this; I knew someone who was close to an author (she will go unnamed) and whenever the author published a book, I was always encouraged to go up to Amazon and write a review.
I'm trying to find the original article, but a year ago Dow Jones reported that online reviews are inflated - people are way too nice.
In my experience with my own purchases, five star reviews are horribly misleading and inflated. And many times, I think they're written by shills. I now go to the 1 star reviews first (ignore the user errors and the folks who didn't like the shipping) and go up the ratings and ignore the fives. Apparently, some shills are writing 4 star reviews. Fortunately, the shills are kind of easy to spot - I'll leave that up to you figure it out - I don't want to make my buying harder than it is.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Millions of people are already reading on Kindles and Kindle is the #1 bestselling item on Amazon.com for two years running. It's also the most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon.com.
Let me start with this; I knew someone who was close to an author (she will go unnamed) and whenever the author published a book, I was always encouraged to go up to Amazon and write a review.
I'm trying to find the original article, but a year ago Dow Jones reported that online reviews are inflated - people are way too nice.
In my experience with my own purchases, five star reviews are horribly misleading and inflated. And many times, I think they're written by shills. I now go to the 1 star reviews first (ignore the user errors and the folks who didn't like the shipping) and go up the ratings and ignore the fives. Apparently, some shills are writing 4 star reviews. Fortunately, the shills are kind of easy to spot - I'll leave that up to you figure it out - I don't want to make my buying harder than it is.
True if there are only a few reviews. However, when the reviews number in the hundreds or thousands and the ratio of 5 stars to 1 stars is like 20:1, I tend to believe the 5 stars. I do still read the 1 star reviews to see if the complaints are valid or if they're simply by someone who had some issue with Amazon support and decided to ding the product for it. But your point is valid. I do find that the 4 star reviews tend to be the most objective and helpful.
i would think it would be 0% (Score:2, Funny)
If you print an e-book doesn't it become a ..., oh forget it.
Is it just me? (Score:2, Insightful)
Am I the only one who prefers reading real books?
I stare at a computer screen enough.
a
Ebooks are great for quick fact checking, but if Im reading 100+ pages I'd prefer a paper book. Its just easier on the eyes.
--
Windows Media Codec Pack [softpedia.com]
Re:Is it just me? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
True, for me it depends on the type of publication as well.
I definitely prefer printed versions for novels, other casual reading and art books. But for stuff like tech literature it's definitely great to have a digital version so you can copy the code examples straight from the source. And have you ever tried to Ctrl+F in a paperback?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Strongly suggest you check out a Kindle - no not an iPad. the Kindle screen is as close to paper as you're going to get in a portable form right now. It's NOT backlit but can be read anywhere the light is good enough to read paper. It doesn't strain the eyes either - it's NOTHING like a computer screen. Give it a chance, you just might find that you liek it. I know being able to carry a few hundred books in my pocket sure is nice. Just be sure to review ebook prices first - right now they suck!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Huh? Last time I looked at one it had about the contrast ratio of an old phonebook. Have they fixed this?
Can you now flip at the end of the page or still have to do it when your halfway down since it take forever to flip?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I strain to read text in most books, and I find it harder to get the lighting right.
Different Metrics - Price, Units, Profit (Score:2, Interesting)
We have to remember that it is possible that, in the current market, due to markup costs, eBooks may be selling for less than they cost per unit.
The only metrics that matter to the consumer are price and utility.
The only metrics that matter to the writer are profit and control.
The only metrics that matter to the middleman (book publisher, distributor) are profit per unit.
We can't compare apples to oranges. We can't use Gross Sales Price, since many books sell for less, due to markdowns and returns in the di
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Bullshit. You can sell ebooks for less than $3 and make a profit. The overhead is WAY lower. Authors are starting to realize this and publish on their own and it scares the crap out of the publishing industry which is so stupid they actually use the cost of PRINTING paper books as an excuse to inflate ebook pricing!
Read this: http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/ [macmillanspeaks.com] completely to see how far up their ass the publishers have placed their heads
and this: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] to see what smart authors are sta
Why? Because... (Score:3, Insightful)
Editing, mainly. Most authors need one or more editors, or at least a collection of "beta readers." I own a literary agency, and I have to tell you, of the best authors we handle, there isn't a single one of them that hasn't handed us a manuscript with glaring errors in it. Some authors are terrible with spelling, grammar -- and yet are compelling storytellers.
Ideally for the authors and the readers, this will settle out as a service offered the authors, rather than an artifact
Re:Different Metrics - Price, Units, Profit (Score:5, Interesting)
That is utter nonsense. I own a literary agency, and I know exactly what the numbers are.
First of all, most proof reading and editing is done by the literary agency before the book even reaches the publisher. Also there is work done for free by readers the author collects who act as initial filters. And the agency typically gets 10...20% of what the author gets, which in turn is only a few percent of what the book brings at retail. The publishers and the store make far more per copy than the author does. And reviews are free. Marketing -- if you can get the publisher to do any -- can be expensive. But generally, they expect the author to foot that bill these days. Your own web site, your own "signing tours", your own "buzz generation"... publishers do very little right now. And they're not taking new authors worth a damn, either; if you aren't already published somewhere (short stories, etc.), we can't even get a publisher to look at you these days. And I'd really hate to tell you how many good books you haven't read for just that reason.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
from someone doing it.
I think it's more than 6% (Score:2)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/44546-e-book-sales-jump-150-in-july.html [publishersweekly.com]
DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd love to buy some e-books, but I don't want any of the DRM restrictions they come with. I can't sell an e-book online once I've read it, I can't give it away to a friend, I can't check out an e-book from the public library unless the publisher allows it, and often I can only copy my e-books onto a limited number of my own devices. While I expect e-books will someday become the standard for book publishers, I don't want to be part of that future unless and until these DRM issues are resolved. Publishers have little motivation to do so, which means I'll likely remain a technological dinosaur with respect to books and will never own a Kindle or whatever device has replaced it in the future.
Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine, 50 years from now, a kid goes up to the attic and sees a Kindle with a cracked screen, broken navigation keys, and a dead battery. It is junk. Imagine the same kid in the attic uncovering boxes full of books, dozens of them, with pictures, diagrams, stories, plans, photos, etc. Which is the better outcome?
Re: (Score:2)
"Imagine, 50 years from now, a kid goes up to the attic and sees a Kindle with a cracked screen, broken navigation keys, and a dead battery. It is junk. Imagine the same kid in the attic uncovering boxes full of books, dozens of them, with pictures, diagrams, stories, plans, photos, etc. Which is the better outcome?"
Best example of the fundamental differences I've ever seen.
Re: (Score:2)
"Imagine, 50 years from now, a kid goes up to the attic and sees a Kindle with a cracked screen, broken navigation keys, and a dead battery. It is junk. Imagine the same kid in the attic uncovering boxes full of books, dozens of them, with pictures, diagrams, stories, plans, photos, etc. Which is the better outcome?"
Beautiful! I was that kid in the attic, back in the 60's. What a world was revealed...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Instead, he'll find the e-book on whatever the current technology is, and can read it there. And he'll find it a lot more readily. I know that finding something that was effectively "lost" (i.e. inaccessible) is a great feeling, but I think its even better to always have it accessible.
In a similar vein, I am quite happy that I no longer
Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Have you accessed any 20 year old floppy disks lately? Do you still have access to a 5 1/4" drive? An 8" drive? Can you access cassettes from an old Apple II or an old Sinclair 2068?
Not so ironic for seeing on slashdot, but yes actually I do and have.
I however am under no illusions that I am one of maybe 20 people whom still do that sort of thing.
Interesting tidbit: Even in the days of the Apple//, there were plenty of programs with copy protection (Minor form of DRM?) that needs cracked to use the softwar
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Glass.
I have personally broken two Kindle screens. I have managed to get them replaced under warranty - thanks, Amazon. A short fall to a relatively hard surface does it.
Another problem with the Kindle is the screen gradually darkens over time. I believe this apples to all eInk displays and not just the Kindle but also the Sony, Nook and everything else using eInk. It makes the device have a rather limited lifespan that is somewhere around 2-3 years. Much shorter than I originally expected.
Re: (Score:2)
I hear you. Check out the torrent sites and look for the Python script that strips Kindle books of their DRM. Right now I'd agree things are a mess and the book publishers are making the RIAA guys look like Einstein!
Re:DRM (Score:4, Informative)
Yes but (Score:2)
it is the BIGGEST 6%. All those other sales figures mean nothing in the face of a new technology wave.
And the thing is, this is both ironically sarcastic, and sardonically true.
Re: (Score:2)
RPG Books (Score:4, Informative)
I am liking the trend (started primarily by Paizo) of role-playing companies that give Print + PDF bundles for their books. I love having access to reference PDFs on my laptop. When regular ebooks start coming bundled with hardcovers or at a more reasonable price, they will definitely take off. As it is, who wants to pay more than a softcover price for a novel?
No surprise with DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
Lots of factors here. I know I won't buy a book while it's tied to a machine or even several machines let alone the installation of the operating system on a machine. I know I'm not the only one. I suspect that's a huge factor. It isn't reasonable that if I lose or damage my reader, my entire library is wiped out. Is it any wonder that if people are asleep reading in bed or reading in the bath or on the toilet that they don't want to risk an expensive device AND their entire library whereas risking a single paperback or hardback book is acceptable? Imagine rolling over in bed and killing not only your poor reader but $5000 in books. Stuff that for a joke.
Re:No surprise with DRM (Score:4, Interesting)
I can't speak for all vendors, but Amazon doesn't do it that way -- the library remains on their server, available for redownload. Same for the audiobooks I listen to on my commute.
Granted, that's at their mercy -- if they took that option away today all I'd have would be local backups of files tied to my physical device -- but it's not as bad as you make out. (Also, I don't buy most of my eBooks from Amazon; I buy my technical books mostly from Manning Publications, as unencrypted PDF).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Granted, that's at their mercy -- if they took that option away today all I'd have would be local backups of files tied to my physical device -- but it's not as bad as you make out.
That is EXACTLY as bad as I make out. Vendors go out of business, and remove services all the time. I have books on my bookshelves at home that I've owned for 25 years. What are the odds your books will be on available on Amazon in 25 years? You're just renting them, and the rental period isn't even specified.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it is not. You painted a world in which a single mishap with a single device meant immediate loss of use; that's not presently the case, though it certainly will be far enough in the future (or would be, if I couldn't crack the DRM).
The only books I've bought in Amazon's Kindle store are things I probably won't care about next month, much less 25 years from now -- think "sitting in an airport, ou
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I have books on my bookshelves at home that I've owned for 25 years. What are the odds your books will be on available in 25 years even with backups to multiple devices? You're just renting them, and the rental period isn't even specified.
If they were DRM free, it'd be a different story. Key advantages include not only storage space, but being able to carry the whole lot with you, and being able to search them.
The Book, The. (Score:2)
It's going to be a multi-step program before I migrate fully to eBooks:
I'll take two out of three. However, I can't see the paper book becoming any more obsolete by the
6% sounds about right, but where the equilibrium? (Score:5, Informative)
Books won't die. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
My Kindle 2 will last 2 weeks with the wireless off.
The new Kindles will last a month. If you're seriously going to go A MONTH without seeing an electrical outlet of any type, well...
Get a solar charger.
However, if you're planning a mission in space where you don't see any kind of electrical outlet, and the sun is too dim for solar...
Tell whoever made your spaceship that you need an electrical plug. The mass savings are worth it.
20 Minutes Into the Future (Score:2)
Paula: What's that?
Blank Reg: It's a book!
Paula: Well, what's that?
Blank Reg: It's a non-volatile storage medium. It's very rare. You should 'ave one.
Paula: Stuff it!
Don't forget 1984 and Animal Farm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't forget 1984 and Animal Farm (Score:4, Funny)
Disgruntled literature students with no job prospects after 6 years of university (complete with masters, et al).
And converting all their books to ebooks, when they can't even afford a phone is going to make the problem even worse! Roving gangs of philosophy majors, terrorising honest people, breaking into homes, stealing and and all books they can get their hands on for the next "fix".
Amazon, you are an enabler, this is a terrible business model to work on.
500% growth in e-book sales in 3 years!! (Score:3, Interesting)
2c on ebooks (Score:2)
Or maybe they are using hollywood accounting. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Or maybe they are using hollywood accounting. (Score:4, Insightful)
"Only 6%"? (Score:2)
Seriously? "Only"?!? "Only 6%"?
We are talking about an industry that only really had a chance to take off in a practical way for about four years (since Sony introduced it's first e-ink reader). This four year old industry has already taken a 7% chunk out of an industry that is roughly 500 years old (depending on how you define it).
Is it as rapid as digital-only (i.e. no physical media) music overtook CD sales? No. But on it's own, this number is astonishing.
There's a little bit of not-getting-it here (Score:2)
From TFA:
And as for the death-by-2015 predictions of Negroponte, it's just as likely that as the ranks of the early adopters get saturated, adoption of ebooks will slow. The reason is simple: unlike the move from CDs to MP3s, there is no easy way to convert our existing stock of books to e-readers.
Yeah. Because that's how all those MP3s got onto our iPods. We, um... ripped them from our CDs.
E-books are not purchased... (Score:3, Funny)
Also missing: library management (Score:3, Insightful)
We have also dabbled our toes in ebooks - we have two smart-phones, one dedicated reader, and a library of maybe 50 ebooks (as opposed to a couple thousand paper books). Even at 50 books, I am already frustrated by the quality of the ebook software on all of these devices. Reading is ok - it's the library management that sucks. Even PC-based software like Calibre isn't much good.
Here's an example: Suppose you have a mass of titles by the same author, some are individual books, others belong to various series. You've just finished a book, and want to read the next one in that particular series. With paper books, I will have put the books on the shelf in the right order. Put the finished book back, take the next one to the right. With ebooks? The books are most likely sorted by title. The series information is generally not available. You wind up opening up several books, hoping that they list the series in the right order, or that you can tell from the publication date.
This is just one minor frustration among many. When I imagine having a couple of thousand ebooks in one library - gack, it's really a pretty horrible thought.
Re:price (Score:5, Insightful)
The very reason ebook prices are so high is because publishers won't let Amazon drop them further, as that would cannibalise their book sales in which they get much larger margins.
But, I doubt ebooks will ever replace books completely (at least in the foreseeable future). Books will be around a lot longer than CDs, DVDs, BDs, and many other such media.
Re:price (Score:5, Informative)
The very reason ebook prices are so high is because publishers won't let Amazon drop them further, as that would cannibalise their book sales in which they get much larger margins.
This NYTimes article [nytimes.com] broke down prices of ebooks -- showing that a $10 ebook nets them about as much profit as a $26 hardcover [nytimes.com]. It goes on to suggest that they're keeping prices high to slow down adoption -- their whole infrastructure is built around dead-tree books right now, and they fear they won't be able to adapt fast enough to scale down their own DTB-related costs. I suspect though, that when they do figure out how to scale down, they'll be just as happy keeping the prices high.
I'm a happy owner of a Nook. The only faults ebooks have right now is that even basic typesetting is almost entirely non-existent on them. Things that could be done automatically by the ereader -- things you don't realize you want until you don't have them, like paragraph-optimized justification, automatic hyphenation, preventing lone paragraph lines on page boundaries, hanging punctuation, and ligatures -- aren't there. Ebooks are displayed either with left-aligned text or with an obnoxiously-spacious justification.
It's the model, not the price! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:price (Score:5, Insightful)
a $10 ebook nets them about as much profit as a $26 hardcover
That doesn't come as a surprise. The paperback version of a book is often cheaper than the ebook!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
BOOKS RULE. Tech pundits drool.
Amazon's used books section contains some incredible deals. You can often find reference works and fiction for $4.00 (1 penny for the book and $3.99 shipping).
You never have to justify your alignment with a paper book.
Haven't had to "justify my alignment" since about 1992, back in the AD&D days.
BTW whoever formatted all those Gutenberg etexts in that annoying tiny bold italic font... FUCK YOU.
Re:price (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:price (Score:5, Informative)
BTW whoever formatted all those Gutenberg etexts in that annoying tiny bold italic font... FUCK YOU.
If you want Gutenberg texts sanely formatted, go to FeedBooks. They typeset them with TeX for your eBook reader's screen size, with configurable text size.
Re:price (Score:4, Insightful)
I also own a Nook. I've been very happy with it, but I've always been a heavy reader. That said, I do believe that ebook prices are outrageous. I don't think anyone would really argue that they aren't. The publishers need to wake up, lest they find themselves in the same boat that the music industry did when Napster blew up.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I went to Borders last night to browse books, even though I own a Nook (woohoo, we should form a club). I found a paper back I was looking for, that was $1 more than the ebook version. I had a small qualm, and bought the paperback. Why? If the book sucks I can trade it in at a used bookstore, but with the ebook I'm stuck with it, and can never even regain a fraction of my costs.
I love my Nook, and I'm really happy with Barnes and Noble (their tech support is among the best I've ever dealt with, had a cr
Re:price (Score:4, Insightful)
I did it for all of Harry Potter and then nothing else for years - and yes I owned multiple hard and soft copies of that series. Then earlier this year prices went through the roof and some books were no longer available anymore! I was reading a book+ a week and traveling so like I did with music I turned elsewhere. Music I now get from Amazon for my iPhone, not encumbered and a decent price. When books return to being reasonable I will probably do the same. These guys really are being dumb, thankfully some of the authors are a little brighter. I wish more of them had tip jars....
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a happy owner of a Nook. The only faults ebooks have right now is that even basic typesetting is almost entirely non-existent on them. Things that could be done automatically by the ereader -- things you don't realize you want until you don't have them, like paragraph-optimized justification, automatic hyphenation, preventing lone paragraph lines on page boundaries, hanging punctuation, and ligatures -- aren't there. Ebooks are displayed either with left-aligned text or with an obnoxiously-spacious justification.
I completely agree -- the main thing that's holding me back from buying an e-ink device is a complete lack of decent typography in the software. If ebook readers want to be treated in the same category as real books, they have to look like real books, and that includes the basic typography rules you've mentioned. It's not hard ... I don't understand why even large companies like Amazon haven't invested in this simple, obvious step. The hardware is there now, it's only the software that is completely lack
Re:price (Score:4, Interesting)
When E-books cost MORE than some hardcovers of course they don't sell. Put them back under $9.99 and I'll stop torrenting and begin purchasing again! The publishers are trying to use E-Books to support their print overhead - and have said as much. MacMillan and others are thieves so far as I'm concerned. As soon as they began setting prices vs Amazon the cost of E-books went through the roof. that they try to make them sound like a bargain because they cost less than LIST hardcover even though they cannot be traded, shared, or sold is a sad sham. some authors are starting to go it on their own and skip the publishers altogether - I wish some of the authors *I* like would do that. You know it's sad when a published author makes MORE money going through Amazon direct and selling for a pittance than they do going through a publisher!
Some reading:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/01/amazon-macmillan-an-outsiders.html [antipope.org]
http://www.teleread.com/drm/macmillan-ceo-tells-his-side-of-amazon-spat/ [teleread.com]
http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/ [macmillanspeaks.com] Make sure to read ALL of the entries in this one - there are some truly stunning doozies! I wonder what planet this moron comes from?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
BZZT!!!
Amazon is no longer setting the prices of books. Amazon would LOVE to drop them BACK to where they were but cannot because the Publishers now set the prices! Look at most any Kindle book on Amazon now and note the "This price was set by the publisher" statement just below the price...