Seth Godin's Kindle Ideas

dedicated · 03-12-2009, 01:40 PM

Didn't see this mentioned on the forums so I thought I'd kick off a discussion on some of Seth Godin's ideas for improving the Kindle. To summarize, he suggests ways to share books and increase sales. I love the idea of being able to share the book with friends, with permission from the author/publisher. He didn't mention this specifically, but it'd be a killer feature for the Kindle iPhone app, which has a much higher penetration.

Some other interesting ideas from him:

Opt-in for automatic download of samples from authors or publishers
All you can read subscription model
Ship Kindle with X dollars worth of books - opted in by authors

The things we could do with the Kindle that don't require any hardware changes, just a change in thinking by the publishers, authors, and Amazon.

daffy4u · 03-12-2009, 02:32 PM

If there had been a Stephen King Edition of the Kindle with all of his works included (at a greatly reduced price though more than the $359 Kindle price), I would have been all over it.

Otherwise, I prefer to pick and choose my content. I hate when my computers ship with software I don't want and will never use.

I'm not big on book sharing (I'm selfish that way

). The subscription model migh be something people would jump on. The auto sample download would not be useful to me for authors I really like. I use samples for new authors I'm unsure of.

I would love to see book bundles. There are some long running series books (like "In Death") where I would like to purchase 3 or 4 in a bundle at a reduced price (with some control over which books are in my bundle).

kwjones · 03-12-2009, 02:49 PM

Netflix/Gamefly type subscription services for any of the dedicated devices would be pretty sweet.

grooks · 03-12-2009, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwjones

Netflix/Gamefly type subscription services for any of the dedicated devices would be pretty sweet.

I have something similiar to that for my Sony. It's the public library.

Alisa · 03-12-2009, 03:23 PM

He mentions Facebook connect, but you could also have a Twitter functionality where you could tweet what you read and a quick opinion and it would automatically include a link in the Kindle store for other Kindle owners or people with the iPhone client.

susan_cassidy · 03-12-2009, 03:25 PM

The only problem with blindly buying Kindle books for a specific author is that occasionally, one of the books will be formatted horribly. Also, one series I know of has the middle book in a not-very-good Topaz edition, while the rest are regular books. Having been burned a couple of times, I pretty much get samples of everything now, before buying.

Alisa · 03-12-2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

The only problem with blindly buying Kindle books for a specific author is that occasionally, one of the books will be formatted horribly. Also, one series I know of has the middle book in a not-very-good Topaz edition, while the rest are regular books. Having been burned a couple of times, I pretty much get samples of everything now, before buying.

If you complain to Amazon about the formatting, they typically give you a refund.

dedicated · 03-12-2009, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Otherwise, I prefer to pick and choose my content. I hate when my computers ship with software I don't want and will never use.

Well, removing books is a whole lot easier than uninstalling crap software. The other difference is that the former is the actual product, whereas the latter is often a limited version intended to hook you into paying (via cash or eyeballs or click-throughs).

While the idea is about making distribution easier, I wonder if authors can offer a free download from their website? While not as easy as bundling it in the Kindle, it's still a way to get the book out. I'm going to comment on Godin's blog and ask him to post a few books for free, since he offered to do so if Amazon went with the free bundling idea.

dedicated · 03-12-2009, 04:26 PM

Ok, I emailed Seth Godin and got a lightning fast response:

"because having my ebook on 300,000 kindles is different than giving my book to 1,000 people who might take it from my site

part of the power here is mass"

I see his point, people who were going to buy his books anyways may end up downloading it for free and he'd lose out on a sale. So his point being authors are willing to sacrifice some revenue in exchange for mass distribution.

Kessler · 03-12-2009, 05:14 PM

Sharing books between Kindles would be great.

StanDaMan · 03-12-2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwjones

Netflix/Gamefly type subscription services for any of the dedicated devices would be pretty sweet.

It just makes sense to me. Even if it were a "rental" situation for books. 0.99 micro transaction to rent a book for a month or something like that.

seems like a solid idea to me.

daffy4u · 03-12-2009, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dedicated

Ok, I emailed Seth Godin and got a lightning fast response:

"because having my ebook on 300,000 kindles is different than giving my book to 1,000 people who might take it from my site

part of the power here is mass"

I see his point, people who were going to buy his books anyways may end up downloading it for free and he'd lose out on a sale. So his point being authors are willing to sacrifice some revenue in exchange for mass distribution.

Wouldn't the point be to find new readers (customers)? I became a fan of Cherie Priest because TOR gave away one of her books as an ebook last summer. So far the rest of her books are only available in paper. If they were available as ebooks, I would have purchased them already.

Alisa · 03-12-2009, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kessler

Sharing books between Kindles would be great.

I understand why they want to restrict it some since it would be easy to share books with thousands of your dearest "friends", but I think they could come up with some reasonable restrictions that would keep it financially feasible.

They could let you use a time-limited DRM to loan books like libraries do or limit the number of times a month you could loan out books. Or maybe they could use social networking idea like the author mentions and let you have a network of other friends who own Kindles on other accounts that you could do some sharing with. My sister and one of my cousins also have Kindles. We have similar tastes. It irks me that I can't loan them a book like I would if it were a paper object. It's not practical for us to share an Amazon account. It's even a bit of a pain for my husband and I to share. Funny thing is I was able to include his account in my Prime membership so they do have an ability to draw relationships between accounts.

S.Canton · 03-12-2009, 06:43 PM

Some of the ideas he suggested sound promising, but they would definitely need to be well thought out. This is especially true for “book sharing”; there would need to be some sort of time bomb, otherwise people would keep the books indefinitely, and what’s to stop a person from lending someone else the book over and over? Lots of little things like that.

catsittingstill · 03-12-2009, 09:40 PM

I had a thought on book sharing--right now there's no percentage in it for Amazon (aside from good publicity and people perhaps valuing Kindles a little more, granted). What if there was an immediate payoff? What if you could share a book for a fee--like 25 cents to "loan" it to to a friend's Kindle for a month? They tell your Kindle to delete it, load it onto your friend's Kindle for the specified duration, and when the time is up--poof! It comes back (deleted off your friend's Kindle, reloaded on yours. It's great for you--your friend can't even mislay the book. And in the meantime your friend gets to read it and see if she likes it.

03-12-2009, 01:40 PM	#1
dedicated Member Posts: 34 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Device: Sony PRS-500, Kindle DX	Seth Godin's Kindle Ideas Didn't see this mentioned on the forums so I thought I'd kick off a discussion on some of Seth Godin's ideas for improving the Kindle. To summarize, he suggests ways to share books and increase sales. I love the idea of being able to share the book with friends, with permission from the author/publisher. He didn't mention this specifically, but it'd be a killer feature for the Kindle iPhone app, which has a much higher penetration. Some other interesting ideas from him: Opt-in for automatic download of samples from authors or publishers All you can read subscription model Ship Kindle with X dollars worth of books - opted in by authors The things we could do with the Kindle that don't require any hardware changes, just a change in thinking by the publishers, authors, and Amazon.

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03-12-2009, 02:32 PM	#2
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	If there had been a Stephen King Edition of the Kindle with all of his works included (at a greatly reduced price though more than the $359 Kindle price), I would have been all over it. Otherwise, I prefer to pick and choose my content. I hate when my computers ship with software I don't want and will never use. I'm not big on book sharing (I'm selfish that way ). The subscription model migh be something people would jump on. The auto sample download would not be useful to me for authors I really like. I use samples for new authors I'm unsure of. I would love to see book bundles. There are some long running series books (like "In Death") where I would like to purchase 3 or 4 in a bundle at a reduced price (with some control over which books are in my bundle).

03-12-2009, 02:49 PM	#3
kwjones Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 1546 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Rising Sun, MD Device: Sony PRS-505; Motorola Droid	Netflix/Gamefly type subscription services for any of the dedicated devices would be pretty sweet.

03-12-2009, 03:23 PM	#5
Alisa Gadget Geek Posts: 2,324 Karma: 22221 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Paperwhite, Kindle 3 (retired), Skindle 1.2 (retired)	He mentions Facebook connect, but you could also have a Twitter functionality where you could tweet what you read and a quick opinion and it would automatically include a link in the Kindle store for other Kindle owners or people with the iPhone client.

03-12-2009, 03:25 PM	#6
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	The only problem with blindly buying Kindle books for a specific author is that occasionally, one of the books will be formatted horribly. Also, one series I know of has the middle book in a not-very-good Topaz edition, while the rest are regular books. Having been burned a couple of times, I pretty much get samples of everything now, before buying.

03-12-2009, 04:26 PM	#9
dedicated Member Posts: 34 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Device: Sony PRS-500, Kindle DX	Ok, I emailed Seth Godin and got a lightning fast response: "because having my ebook on 300,000 kindles is different than giving my book to 1,000 people who might take it from my site part of the power here is mass" I see his point, people who were going to buy his books anyways may end up downloading it for free and he'd lose out on a sale. So his point being authors are willing to sacrifice some revenue in exchange for mass distribution.

03-12-2009, 05:14 PM	#10
Kessler Banned Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle	Sharing books between Kindles would be great.

03-12-2009, 06:43 PM	#14
S.Canton Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Some of the ideas he suggested sound promising, but they would definitely need to be well thought out. This is especially true for “book sharing”; there would need to be some sort of time bomb, otherwise people would keep the books indefinitely, and what’s to stop a person from lending someone else the book over and over? Lots of little things like that.

03-12-2009, 09:40 PM	#15
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	I had a thought on book sharing--right now there's no percentage in it for Amazon (aside from good publicity and people perhaps valuing Kindles a little more, granted). What if there was an immediate payoff? What if you could share a book for a fee--like 25 cents to "loan" it to to a friend's Kindle for a month? They tell your Kindle to delete it, load it onto your friend's Kindle for the specified duration, and when the time is up--poof! It comes back (deleted off your friend's Kindle, reloaded on yours. It's great for you--your friend can't even mislay the book. And in the meantime your friend gets to read it and see if she likes it.

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