Kindle Books Outsell Hardcovers

[vaughnmr]

What is it with the Apple and Amazon haters in these forums?

I like to read about anything ebooks and ereaders. I don't like reading rants by these paranoid people filled with hate. They are just companies, don't waste your life being filled with hate about them!

The same goes for the Agency 5 for me. I don't like their practices, so I no longer buy anything from them. Enough said, I don't hate them, I just won't do business with them anymore.

[GeoffC]

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

Save this post...... I predict Sony will be out of the ebook biz in less than 3 years... And I give them a 50% Chance of being around in two years.

They will probably be around in the same manner that apple are at the moment, by selling multipurpose tablet(s) that also happens to be an ereader rather than standalone ereaders. Sony want to sell hardware, but they are not locked into what type outside of playstations.

On the subject of future hardware, given the way amazon have pushed forward with getting their app onto other hardware and how they are less concerned about profit margins on their own hardware, maybe the next step will be for them to simply start licensing Kindle for other companies to make the hardware.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Crowl

On the subject of future hardware, given the way amazon have pushed forward with getting their app onto other hardware and how they are less concerned about profit margins on their own hardware, maybe the next step will be for them to simply start licensing Kindle for other companies to make the hardware.

Yes, I think this is a reasonable possibility sooner or later. That would free Amazon from hardware support, development, etc., but still serve Kindle device fans.

[Scott Nicholson]

For an independent author, Kindle is the best thing to happen since Gutenberg, the typewriter, mass-market paperbacks, and opposable thumbs combined.

Sure, Amazon is just in it for the money. Who isn't?

Kindle has made it incredibly easy for readers to find me, and for me to find plenty of authors--without six thousand people standing in the way trimming off money. Agent, editor, printer, distributor, warehouser, bookstore, and numerous corporate boards of directors--whether you like them individually or not, you pay all or most of them every time you buy a paper book.

I am excited about this new era and can hardly wait to see what's around the corner.

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

[vaughnmr]

Here's my 2 cents worth, YMMV.

I'm a techie (56 yrs. old, as of last Thurs.) and I was reading ebooks on my phone, believe it or not, for a long while. I finally broke down last year and bought a refurb Kindle 1. I'm blown away by the customer service, and I suspect I'm not the only one. I'm absolutely in love with the Kindle, in one years time this thing hasn't missed a heartbeat. I'm reading now more than I ever had before, and every time I bring it out to read, in between baseball games for the grandkids or whatever, I get comments from all kinds and generations of people. Believe me, this scene is happening, in littletown, USA, and everywhere else.

The actions of the Agency 5 has stopped me from buying books from most major authors. I will not support those publishers and authors, so I am looking at options to read (and I'm a voracious reader), and I love to hear from authors like Scott. You just got another customer, I love to hear from people like you. Thanks.

[Scott Nicholson]

Thanks, Vaughmr. The most exciting thing about this era is how thin the wall is between reader and writer--and since you can mess around with content of some formats, then the wall can be taken down and we get in the same sandbox. I have lots of ideas of how to get readers into "living books."

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

[J. Strnad]

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader. If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books. If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

As long as the Agency 5 publishers insist on DRM, those authors who own their own stuff and are willing, even eager, to issue it DRM-free on multiple platforms...well, that's one teeny-tiny thing in our favor. If Amazon, B&N, and the publishers wised up and opened up, that one teeny-tiny advantage would disappear. But still, the whole industry would be much bigger and my itsy-bitsy piece of it would be bigger, too, maybe.

[davidspitzer]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

What is it with the Apple and Amazon haters in these forums?

I like to read about anything ebooks and ereaders. I don't like reading rants by these paranoid people filled with hate. They are just companies, don't waste your life being filled with hate about them!

The same goes for the Agency 5 for me. I don't like their practices, so I no longer buy anything from them. Enough said, I don't hate them, I just won't do business with them anymore.

Yes ... Thank You!

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader. If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books. If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

Somehow, I can't imagine that Sony or B&N would even allow a kindle app on their equipment. And that's not even considering the technical details. IANAP (I am not a programmer) but it seems to me that unless the device has an SDK like Apple or Android it would be difficult to build apps that would work alongside the existing firmware. Heck, Amazon still hasn't really moved forward with the app store for the Kindle that was talked about months ago.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader. If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books. If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

As long as the Agency 5 publishers insist on DRM, those authors who own their own stuff and are willing, even eager, to issue it DRM-free on multiple platforms...well, that's one teeny-tiny thing in our favor. If Amazon, B&N, and the publishers wised up and opened up, that one teeny-tiny advantage would disappear. But still, the whole industry would be much bigger and my itsy-bitsy piece of it would be bigger, too, maybe.

The simple and easy solution is for EVERY book to be in (at least) epub format !!!!

Without DRM and without Geographic Restrictions - then it is likely guaranteed sales will increase .....

[Scott Nicholson]

The e-reader device game has a relatively short window--look how fast these things proliferate. It's not about the major cash influx (though certainly that is welcome), it's about securing the long tail of unlimited income from ebook sales.

Kindle has knocked just about everyone on the mat with a very simple philosophy--fair prices and easy access. Sure, it could be better. But ePub is NOT the dominant or "universal" format--that's just what tech guys say. If you look at formats, mobi is far and away the dominant choice of readers in the real world. Amazon has made it amazingly easy for any author to enter the market and offer fair prices directly to readers, and already big authors are jumping ship from their publishers, especially with backlist. Amazon is brilliant at targeting choices and encouraging impulse buys. And indie authors (which will be almost ALL authors in five years) can leave their files unprotected if they choose. Amazon doesn't care--it's the big publishers that are forcing locks on the material.

if I had to pick one as an author, I'd certainly go Kindle, as it is more than 90 percent of my sales (and of most indie authors I know).

Kindle has it right and everybody else has at least one major flaw going on. Hard to see anyone rising from the mat on this one.

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

[mikij]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

The simple and easy solution is for EVERY book to be in (at least) epub format !!!!

Without DRM and without Geographic Restrictions - then it is likely guaranteed sales will increase .....

For this, you merit a maximum karma I can give away. Not too much (only 2), but it is all I have. I like this!!!!!

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

Well, personally I'm sticking by my guns, because knowing the blatant dishonesty of Amazon goes a long way towards me taking their so called numbers with a generous helping of salt. Amazon's been caught blatantly lying about sales (and a hundred other things) before, so why should this be any different? I say that they're royally fudging the numbers.

I assume they're being technically truthful: they are selling ~180 kbooks for every 100 hardcovers. (Or ~140; the numbers changed based on when the reporting was done.)

What they're not saying is how many of those Kindlebooks were under $3. I'm not surprised that cheap ebooks are outselling hardcovers; so do cheap paperbacks. Let's see *dollar* amounts, not units, and then decide whether ebooks are "taking over."

They're including hardcovers for which there is no ebook, and very likely ebooks for which there is no hardcover--including self-published ebooks. The number looks like hype to convince publishers that ebooks are big sellers.

Without more details, the 180/100 ratio number is pure propaganda; it's meaningless without context. What we should know before deciding what that means:

• Dollar value of kbooks vs hardcovers sold,
• Hardcovers vs paperbacks ratio,
• Ebook vs pbook *of same title* ratio,
• Hardcovers vs ebook ration broken down by publisher,
• Hardcover vs ebooks actual unit numbers, not ratio.

We don't necessarily need all of those for the 180/100 thing to be actual information instead of pointless hype, but we need some kind of larger framework before drawing any (reasonable) conclusions.

[GA Russell]

I would be impressed by the sales ratio even if every hardback were $20 and every eBook were $3!

This is much earlier in the game than I expected this to happen.