How many books from kindle store have you bought?

[phuocle]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

Frankly speaking it would never work for me. One chapter is not enough for me to decide. My opinion about the first chapter would have next zero effect on my decision. Sometimes you have to read 200 pages into 1000 pages book in order to get into it. If we are talking about series, sometimes you have to read a whole book in order to get into the series.

You're just not the kind of reader ANY publisher would like to have as a customer.

I suspect the majority of people will know if they are interested in a book by the end of the first chapter, if not before then. Those are the customers they're going after.

[astra]

Originally Posted by phuocle

You're just not the kind of reader ANY publisher would like to have as a customer.

I suspect the majority of people will know if they are interested in a book by the end of the first chapter, if not before then. Those are the customers they're going after.

I doubt it.
From my experience based on different book forums, I am far from being in a minority

[phuocle]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

I doubt it.
From my experience based on different book forums, I am far from being in a minority

Well, we can agree to disagree, although my assertion still stands.

I would put forth that you and the other folks on these different book forums are already in a minority. Being the majority of a minority group is no better than being in a minority group in the first place. I base this on the premise that people who join book forums or other dedicated forums (like this one for electronic reading) are at the forefront of their peers. They tend to be more picky, opinionated, and vocal. However, they are a very small percentage of the overall reading population.

I believe the way Amazon is marketing the Kindle that they are targeting the overall reading population. The population that previously didn't even consider reading books on an electronic device. Not the geeks that have been reading ebooks on their low-rez, black & white Palm devices since the mid 1990's and have now made their way up to the latest Gen 3 devices. You can see it in how they're presenting the Kindle, how you can just use it without ever hooking it up to a computer. As easy as a paper book really.

Because of their target market, they're going to choose a marketing program that appeals to the most users in that market, hence this program we're discussing here. I would think that before Amazon decides on a marketing program such as this (download the first chapter for free), that they performed some type of marketplace survey to see how such a program would actually be received. There's a cost to Amazon, no matter how small, to distribute all these free first chapters to all Kindle owners. In aggregate though, it could be quite a large cost. Some of the costs for the program is built into the device, sure. But the rest of it must surely be built into the profits from the ebooks themselves when people ultimately decide to buy after the free samples. It would make no sense to implement a marketing program that costs you money but provides nothing in return.

I only raise this topic about being in a minority because it has some rather big implications here. You may feel strongly about the way certain things are done on the Kindle and will voice them unabashedly. However, it won't amount to much from the manufacturer's standpoint since you're really not the market they're trying to win over. If the regular Joe is satisfy with free first chapters and that gets him to make some impulse buys or take some risks on certain books, that's perfectly fine by Amazon. It basically just means that your concerns will never be addressed because to Amazon, you do represent a minority, whether you feel that way or not.

[astra]

They tend to be more picky, opinionated, and vocal.

They are the driving force. They are the fans who purchase Limited Editions starting with $125, $300 and so on. They are the readers who visit writers on their tours and buy signed editions.

Speaking about Amazon's profits from their current business model is bit prematurely . At the moment they have no idea whether this model will bring profit or not. Moreover, there are suggestions that they loose money when they sell books for $9.99, so what sort of profit can we discuss when we speak about offering 1st chapter for free?

They are trying their best to entice people, but is it going to work? I don't know, neither do you.