Kobo to publish directly with authors - Page 3

DiapDealer · 10-27-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Cause your a redneck?

Yep. But a redneck who knows the difference between "your" and "you're."

kiwipippa · 10-28-2011, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Hello, Double. I'd like you to meet Standard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Exclusivity is either evil or it isn't... it can't be OK for Kobo to do it, yet evil for Amazon to do it. That's all I meant by a certain someone's double standard.

I'm a bit slow tonight - didn't get that one the first time.

spellbanisher · 10-28-2011, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would not trust numbers that are not verifiable. And given how many different brands exist other then Amazon, the chances (IMHO) are good that these supposed numbers are inflated.

Total number of brands is irrelevant. There are a ton of alternative tablets to the iPad, yet the iPad accounts for 65% of the tablet market. There are several alternatives to windows, yet Windows accounts for 90% of the OS market. It is typical for one brand to dominate.

Amazon.com is the sixth most visited site with almost 100 million unique visitors a month. The first thing you see when you visit their site is the kindle. None of their competitors have comparable exposure. Kobo isn't exactly a household name. Their best exposure came through borders, which went out of business because they didn't have enough customers. Sony does a terrible job of marketing their product and their website isn't exactly overrun with visitors. It is likely that more people buy sony products from Amazon.com and bestbuy.com than sony.com.

Ereaders, which have been around for over a decade, did not become popular or even known until the kindle came out. For many people the term kindle has become synonymous with ereader.

JSWolf · 10-28-2011, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

Total number of brands is irrelevant. There are a ton of alternative tablets to the iPad, yet the iPad accounts for 65% of the tablet market. There are several alternatives to windows, yet Windows accounts for 90% of the OS market. It is typical for one brand to dominate.

Amazon.com is the sixth most visited site with almost 100 million unique visitors a month. The first thing you see when you visit their site is the kindle. None of their competitors have comparable exposure. Kobo isn't exactly a household name. Their best exposure came through borders, which went out of business because they didn't have enough customers. Sony does a terrible job of marketing their product and their website isn't exactly overrun with visitors. It is likely that more people buy sony products from Amazon.com and bestbuy.com than sony.com.

Ereaders, which have been around for over a decade, did not become popular or even known until the kindle came out. For many people the term kindle has become synonymous with ereader.

I do visit Amazon's site. But I don't buy a Kindle or any ebooks. Just because someone visits Amazon's site doesn't mean that person has a Kindle or is going to buy one.

Sure, it's not unusual for one product to dominate the market. In this case ePub has. It's the #1 format world wide. So why push numbers that aren't actually correct. They cannot be correct since ePub is the #1 format.

MrsJoseph · 10-28-2011, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Hello, Double. I'd like you to meet Standard.

HarryT · 10-28-2011, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Exclusivity is either evil or it isn't... it can't be OK for Kobo to do it, yet evil for Amazon to do it. That's all I meant by a certain someone's double standard.

Well, as the saying goes, the nice thing about standards is that there are so many different ones to choose from

.

murraypaul · 10-28-2011, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sure, it's not unusual for one product to dominate the market. In this case ePub has. It's the #1 format world wide. So why push numbers that aren't actually correct. They cannot be correct since ePub is the #1 format.

So any numbers that show that ePub isn't number 1 must be wrong. Because you know that it is. Yet you don't have any numbers to show that. It is simply an article of belief.

frahse · 10-29-2011, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

Kobo to become a publisher. ~ CBC News

The book business is heating up, and starting to get really exciting.

More choices make for competition. More competition makes me money.

J. Strnad · 10-29-2011, 02:43 PM

I wonder about the percentages that are bandied about.

Overwhelmingly, my book sales come from Amazon.com, U.S. I don't know why. My book's available in epub, no geo-restrictions, it's at B&N, Kobo, Sony, Apple, it's in all the Amazon stores. But in any given month, 98% or more of my sales are Kindle, U.S.A.

I know that some people report better sales through B&N. And I know that you can't extrapolate from a single, anecdotal experience with one book. But when people start talking about "exclusives," I feel that I'm already "exclusive," though not by choice.

Philosophically, I'm always in favor of open standards and a ragtag group of little guys banding together to battle an overwhelming Empire. Sadly, the little guys have been squabbling among themselves with competitive DRM schemes and a kludgy reliance on Adobe Digital Editions that destroy the "open standard" and complicate the shopping experience, while the Empire has offered seamless integration across devices and a shopping experience that is second to none.

When you add interoperability on various devices, it feels a lot less monopolistic to consumers. I have two Kindles now (for me and my wife) and the Kindle app on my Asus netbook, my Compaq desktop computer, and my Apple iPhone. Kind of hard to feel "limited to the Kindle" when every electronic device I own except my TV and toaster will read the books.

SeaKing · 10-29-2011, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yep. But a redneck who knows the difference between "your" and "you're."

YOu should realize that the penguin is having some visual problems right now if you check out his picture. He probably just didn't notice.

frahse · 10-29-2011, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

I wonder about the percentages that are bandied about.

Overwhelmingly, my book sales come from Amazon.com, U.S. I don't know why. My book's available in epub, no geo-restrictions, it's at B&N, Kobo, Sony, Apple, it's in all the Amazon stores. But in any given month, 98% or more of my sales are Kindle, U.S.A.

I know that some people report better sales through B&N. And I know that you can't extrapolate from a single, anecdotal experience with one book. But when people start talking about "exclusives," I feel that I'm already "exclusive," though not by choice.

Philosophically, I'm always in favor of open standards and a ragtag group of little guys banding together to battle an overwhelming Empire. Sadly, the little guys have been squabbling among themselves with competitive DRM schemes and a kludgy reliance on Adobe Digital Editions that destroy the "open standard" and complicate the shopping experience, while the Empire has offered seamless integration across devices and a shopping experience that is second to none.

When you add interoperability on various devices, it feels a lot less monopolistic to consumers. I have two Kindles now (for me and my wife) and the Kindle app on my Asus netbook, my Compaq desktop computer, and my Apple iPhone. Kind of hard to feel "limited to the Kindle" when every electronic device I own except my TV and toaster will read the books.

If I had an award to offer for clarity of thought, and sound analysis, I would give it to you right now.

It comes down to "Show me the money!" and Amazon is doing that for me as well!

SeaKing · 10-30-2011, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Well, as the saying goes, the nice thing about standards is that there are so many different ones to choose from

.

Sounds like some ladies I have known. Standards, yes, but all different.

SmokeAndMirrors · 10-30-2011, 03:32 PM

Eh. In anyone's case (Kobo, B&N, or Amazon) how I feel about this as a concept really depends on what the terms are.

If we're talking about them offering services a publisher might if you pay them a bit of money, but you still have the ability to make all the choices you normally would when submitting your work to their store (whether or not to DRM, whether to sell other places, etc), then I don't mind this. In fact it might be a good thing. It's hard to talk publishers into allowing you to publish DRM-free.

But if this comes with all the standard restrictions most publishers have about your control over your own work, then, well... I can't say I'm that excited. While it's probably no worse, control-wise, than using a standard publisher, it offers no substantial advantage either. Apart from maybe having an easier time getting published.

But if you're going to publish electronically only, then you're not really as dependent upon the publisher's resources as you would be in print, anyway. Why not just publish it yourself, if they're going to try to tie you down to publishing in one place, forcing DRM, etc?

In other words... we'll see how they put this into practice.

frahse · 10-31-2011, 07:23 PM

Publishing a book in print form or in digital form is in most cases a joint venture.

Almost always the publisher and author are bound together in this venture by a contract. The contract starts out fairly standard with certain selectable features.

The publisher has to feel it is to their advantage to obtain and publish the book, but also they have to bear in mind that if they give one author a perk, it will get around, and other authors will want the same thing. The publishers have an advantage over most authors because the publishers have the ability to give out money in advance. This causes the authors to become "voluntarily" beholden to the publisher and gives the publisher more leverage. Then there is the "new author" who wants more than anything to "be published," and this author will appear at the door of the publisher disheveled, hungry, and with their manuscript in one hand and their soul in the other, ready to sell for a pittance, or to sign a restrictive contract.

The only way an individual author has to be able to become somewhat the Master of their fate and the Captain of their destiny is to:
1. not need the advance or
2. already be published with some success or
3. both 1. and 2.

Then that author is able to exact better terms from the publisher.

Even many successful authors have a hard time with their finances and need that advance badly, and they give the publisher very little resistance to what is asked, though they will certainly grouse about it to their fellows.

kennyc · 11-01-2011, 10:30 AM

Interesting. This is where it's headed. The Traditional publishers better take notice!

10-30-2011, 03:32 PM	#43
SmokeAndMirrors Addict Posts: 280 Karma: 2064388 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: MN, US Device: Kobo Touch, Asus Eee Pad Slider	Eh. In anyone's case (Kobo, B&N, or Amazon) how I feel about this as a concept really depends on what the terms are. If we're talking about them offering services a publisher might if you pay them a bit of money, but you still have the ability to make all the choices you normally would when submitting your work to their store (whether or not to DRM, whether to sell other places, etc), then I don't mind this. In fact it might be a good thing. It's hard to talk publishers into allowing you to publish DRM-free. But if this comes with all the standard restrictions most publishers have about your control over your own work, then, well... I can't say I'm that excited. While it's probably no worse, control-wise, than using a standard publisher, it offers no substantial advantage either. Apart from maybe having an easier time getting published. But if you're going to publish electronically only, then you're not really as dependent upon the publisher's resources as you would be in print, anyway. Why not just publish it yourself, if they're going to try to tie you down to publishing in one place, forcing DRM, etc? In other words... we'll see how they put this into practice. Last edited by SmokeAndMirrors; 10-30-2011 at 03:36 PM.

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10-29-2011, 02:43 PM	#39
J. Strnad Guru Posts: 915 Karma: 3537194 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo, Kindle 3, Paperwhite	I wonder about the percentages that are bandied about. Overwhelmingly, my book sales come from Amazon.com, U.S. I don't know why. My book's available in epub, no geo-restrictions, it's at B&N, Kobo, Sony, Apple, it's in all the Amazon stores. But in any given month, 98% or more of my sales are Kindle, U.S.A. I know that some people report better sales through B&N. And I know that you can't extrapolate from a single, anecdotal experience with one book. But when people start talking about "exclusives," I feel that I'm already "exclusive," though not by choice. Philosophically, I'm always in favor of open standards and a ragtag group of little guys banding together to battle an overwhelming Empire. Sadly, the little guys have been squabbling among themselves with competitive DRM schemes and a kludgy reliance on Adobe Digital Editions that destroy the "open standard" and complicate the shopping experience, while the Empire has offered seamless integration across devices and a shopping experience that is second to none. When you add interoperability on various devices, it feels a lot less monopolistic to consumers. I have two Kindles now (for me and my wife) and the Kindle app on my Asus netbook, my Compaq desktop computer, and my Apple iPhone. Kind of hard to feel "limited to the Kindle" when every electronic device I own except my TV and toaster will read the books.

10-31-2011, 07:23 PM	#44
frahse occasional author Posts: 2,314 Karma: 2064403292 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Wandering God's glorious hills, valleys and plains. Device: A Franklin BI (before Internet) was the first. I still have it.	Publishing a book in print form or in digital form is in most cases a joint venture. Almost always the publisher and author are bound together in this venture by a contract. The contract starts out fairly standard with certain selectable features. The publisher has to feel it is to their advantage to obtain and publish the book, but also they have to bear in mind that if they give one author a perk, it will get around, and other authors will want the same thing. The publishers have an advantage over most authors because the publishers have the ability to give out money in advance. This causes the authors to become "voluntarily" beholden to the publisher and gives the publisher more leverage. Then there is the "new author" who wants more than anything to "be published," and this author will appear at the door of the publisher disheveled, hungry, and with their manuscript in one hand and their soul in the other, ready to sell for a pittance, or to sign a restrictive contract. The only way an individual author has to be able to become somewhat the Master of their fate and the Captain of their destiny is to: 1. not need the advance or 2. already be published with some success or 3. both 1. and 2. Then that author is able to exact better terms from the publisher. Even many successful authors have a hard time with their finances and need that advance badly, and they give the publisher very little resistance to what is asked, though they will certainly grouse about it to their fellows.

11-01-2011, 10:30 AM	#45
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Interesting. This is where it's headed. The Traditional publishers better take notice!