MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - To own a book, and what my ideal ebookstore would be like

Kali Yuga · 10-07-2010, 05:21 PM

I think you have way too much time on your hands.

Otherwise, the overwhelming majority of what you're asking for is pretty much provided already by Amazon (and possibly B&N, I don't know their service as well). Buy and download right on the device, account services, repeated downloads, server-side storage, recommendations, author pages, international purchasing, an automatic "I'd like this in ebook form" button, wish lists, all done.

Ebook formatting and proofing isn't perfect yet, but IMO it has improved quite a bit since I got into this mess (~18 months ago). I rarely spot typos any more. I also have less than zero interest in fixing an ebook; that's the publisher's job, not mine. You can't do it with a paper book, and you shouldn't need to with an ebook either.

The biggest issues are DRM and a credit card requirement. Those aren't going away any time soon. Sorry.

Nor will you do any better than Amazon in terms of international rights. They've got as much clout as any retailer in the book biz, so that's as good as it gets. Fortunately, as ebooks take up more of the market, international availability issues will get resolved.

10-07-2010, 05:21 PM	#2
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	I think you have way too much time on your hands. Otherwise, the overwhelming majority of what you're asking for is pretty much provided already by Amazon (and possibly B&N, I don't know their service as well). Buy and download right on the device, account services, repeated downloads, server-side storage, recommendations, author pages, international purchasing, an automatic "I'd like this in ebook form" button, wish lists, all done. Ebook formatting and proofing isn't perfect yet, but IMO it has improved quite a bit since I got into this mess (~18 months ago). I rarely spot typos any more. I also have less than zero interest in fixing an ebook; that's the publisher's job, not mine. You can't do it with a paper book, and you shouldn't need to with an ebook either. The biggest issues are DRM and a credit card requirement. Those aren't going away any time soon. Sorry. Nor will you do any better than Amazon in terms of international rights. They've got as much clout as any retailer in the book biz, so that's as good as it gets. Fortunately, as ebooks take up more of the market, international availability issues will get resolved.