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The Other Pilot · 09-13-2012, 01:50 PM

[Self-promotion deleted - MODERATOR]

I used to own a bookstore. I lost my shirt and closed it a decade ago because Amazon and Walmart sold books cheaper than I could buy them. Now I see Amazon putting Walmart out of the bookstore business, and also cutting down to size those big publishing companies that wouldn't even acknowledge the queries and manuscripts I sent them.

I used to pay dues to The Author's Guild. They are plaintiffs, with the big publishers, claiming Amazon's pricing of ebooks is bad for the publishing industry. The judge, in a preliminary ruling scoffed at that argument, saying ebook pricing is good for readers, i.e., customers.

I'm reading The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, by Winston Churchill. Long out of print, this was Churchill's second book and I got it through Print on Demand. On my Kindle I have The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which was Churchill's first book, published in 1898. He was a young lieutenant with the 21st Lancers, a British cavalry unit fighting in Afghanistan and then the Sudan. Not the writer he would become, these books are fascinating for what they tell about the times, and what they show about publishing today.

Where will it go next? Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Barnes and Noble are going to make everything ever published available to us in whatever format we desire. Our challenge as readers is to sort through it all.

Which brings us to MobileRead, and my first post. What's new?

Ed Baldwin

09-13-2012, 01:50 PM	#1
The Other Pilot Ed Baldwin Posts: 7 Karma: 498501 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Hot Springs, Arkansas Device: Kindle	The Other Pilot [Self-promotion deleted - MODERATOR] I used to own a bookstore. I lost my shirt and closed it a decade ago because Amazon and Walmart sold books cheaper than I could buy them. Now I see Amazon putting Walmart out of the bookstore business, and also cutting down to size those big publishing companies that wouldn't even acknowledge the queries and manuscripts I sent them. I used to pay dues to The Author's Guild. They are plaintiffs, with the big publishers, claiming Amazon's pricing of ebooks is bad for the publishing industry. The judge, in a preliminary ruling scoffed at that argument, saying ebook pricing is good for readers, i.e., customers. I'm reading The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, by Winston Churchill. Long out of print, this was Churchill's second book and I got it through Print on Demand. On my Kindle I have The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which was Churchill's first book, published in 1898. He was a young lieutenant with the 21st Lancers, a British cavalry unit fighting in Afghanistan and then the Sudan. Not the writer he would become, these books are fascinating for what they tell about the times, and what they show about publishing today. Where will it go next? Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Barnes and Noble are going to make everything ever published available to us in whatever format we desire. Our challenge as readers is to sort through it all. Which brings us to MobileRead, and my first post. What's new? Ed Baldwin Last edited by Dr. Drib; 09-13-2012 at 02:10 PM.