Amazon.com Inc. said it reached a milestone, selling more e-books than hardbacks over the past three months.
But publishers said it is still too early to gauge for the entire industry whether the growth of e-books is cannibalizing sales of paperback books, a huge and crucial market.
In a statement Monday, Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, also countered the perception that sales of the company’s Kindle e-reading device had suffered due to competition from other devices, such as Apple Inc.’s iPad.
He said the growth rate of Kindle device sales had “reached a tipping point,” having tripled since the company lowered its price to $189 from $259 last month, following a similar move by competitor Barnes & Noble Inc. to cut the price on its Nook e-reader.
As an enthusiastic Kindle user, I have to say I am hardly surprised. It is a convenient way to get books, and as someone who long ago ran out of shelf space they take up far less room. However, there are certain kinds of books, especially those that are study-oriented, that don’t work well in this format
I got a Barnes and Nobel Nook for my birthday and I simply love it. It is nice to have a library of several hundred books at your finger tips. However I have also learned more about digital rights management (DRM), book publishing and pricing than I ever wanted to know.
1. E-book prices are in flux. The publishing houses want you to pay hardcover prices for that little digital file. The sellers like Amazon want to sell it for less. Bottom line is you have to shop around.
2. You don’t really own it like you do a hardcover. On the other hand it takes up no space on your bookshelf. If the file is protected (DRM) you can only use it on your machine. The Amazon Kindel also uses its own file format and Amazon e-books can only be read on the Kindle. That is why I wanted the nook. It use an open format. Nevertheless, in general, you can’t lend the file to another like you could with a paper copy.
3. Think in terms of paper back books not text books, color picture books etc.
4. Great way to get books that are out of print? Don’t count on it. The publishers control the rights. If an author wants an out of print book re-issued so they can get some royalties, don’t count on it. All too often the publisher own the rights, won’t re-print and won’t allow e-book conversion. Some authors are starting to retain e-book rights and are self-publishing. See http://www.cherryh.com/
5. Check out the e-book forums at Barnes and Nobel and Amazon to read what user say about their devices. The ones at B&N are pretty open and direct. If they are having problems they don’t hold back.
The dedicated e-reader is a good idea, but along with the DRM they haven’t quite gotten the marketing right. Compare the price with a basic iPad, netbook, or even a very high end smart phone. You are paying about a third to a half of the price for a far less capable box. They need to start giving them away at cost or less, and make their money on the purchases. Blade razors and inkjet printers are examples of this.
I had been reading e-books for years, first on my old Palm, then on my Palm T/X, and now on my Ipod Touch. All the big book companies now have apps for the I-phone, touch, pad: Kindle (Amazon), Borders, Barnes and Noble. It’s nice having access now to the Kindle ebooks, but I’m not that impressed with some of the formatting – some of the books look like a scan of a print book, while others look nice. I have to say my favorite app is Barnes and Noble e-reader. Border’s is my least favorite – they just came out with it, and it crashes often.