Apple-Booklamp: a third front in the war?

[fjtorres]

Apple's recent acquisition of Booklamp and its heuristic ebook recommendation engine has sparked some rather interesting thoughts here:

http://blog.williamdrichards.com/201...ters-fray.html

A tiny little company has just been acquired by Apple for the “tiny” sum of just $15M. In an age where companies like Google and Amazon have scooped up tiny startups for hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars, $15M is pretty much chump change.
The significance of this has not yet hit the self-publishing community yet. But when it does, executives at both Amazon and the Big-5 might be in dire need of clean underwear.
Here is why this is so important.
Right now, Amazon has an absolute stranglehold on the ebook market, thanks in a very large part to self-publishing writers. And in a small part, to the greed of the Big-5 who demanded on DRM for ebooks, not realizing that by doing so, they would lock customers into one platform. Locking people into one platform for reading ebooks means it is incredibly difficult and expensive for the competition to get a foothold in the market. Lack of competition puts way too much power into the hands of the few, and consumers and writers alike surfer for it.
Amazon didn’t sit back on that. They knew they had to offer more value to make their market share grow. Amazon has sunk millions of dollars into data mining to ensure that they could make good recommendations for new books to their customers.
This is vital for self-published writers!
To have your book recommended to potential readers is the lifeblood of a writer’s career. If people don’t know your book exists, they won’t ever buy it.

More at the source.

It's an interesting idea.

- The BPH/BWM old-school tradpub model of book promotion relies on professional (paid) reviews (Kirkus, etc) and preferred (paid) placement at B&M store shelves. Some online ebookstores have been going along with this model (Nook and Apple) and giving preferential treatment to tradpub titles.

- Amazon has long been relying on a different model, one more focused on helping customers find books they might like (instead of convincing them to buy what specific publishers are pushing on that given date) through crowd-sourced reviews and algorithmic recommendations from datamining consumer sales data and behavior.

- Now we have the prospect that Apple might be switching from a publisher-driven promotion model to a (more) neutral content driven model, one that seeks to drive sales by matching buyer interests with compatible books. It is an intriguing and not illogical idea. Barred from signing Agency sales agreements for the next few years, Apple is now forced to actually compete for ebook sales and, since they lack both Amazon's big data to mine and reviews, they can't duplicate their promotion system any time soon. A heuristic content system seems like a reasonable alternative. And a cool one. And we all know Apple thrives on cool.

The real issue to be on the lookout for, if and when Apple deploys this heuristic recommendation engine, will be just how neutral will it really be? Will it return a list of likely books sorted alphabetically, by price, or by coop/paid "grease"? Will it be truly driven by heuristics (and hence indie friendly) or will it have an embedded fudge-factor to steer sales to compatible tradpub titles.

The idea of a purely content-driven book/reader matchmaking service sounds appealing for both readers and indie publishers but I doubt it would sit too well with the BPH/BWM crowd. It might just put Apple right beside Amazon on their enemies list.

Definitely need to keep an eye out for what Apple does with booklamp.

[crossi]

I don't buy from Apple so I have no idea, but how indie friendly/unfriendly is their ebook store? Do many indies publish there as compared to Amazon or Kobo? Are the indies made as visible as non-indie books? I am not in any way an Apple fan but I would be pleased at more promotion of indies and trads who went indie in any store.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by crossi

I don't buy from Apple so I have no idea, but how indie friendly/unfriendly is their ebook store? Do many indies publish there as compared to Amazon or Kobo? Are the indies made as visible as non-indie books? I am not in any way an Apple fan but I would be pleased at more promotion of indies and trads who went indie in any store.

Initially it wasn't.
For about a year or so, the only way in was through aggregators.

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/...e-aggregators/

After two years, they added a direct path but it only works for Mac owners.

http://theworldsgreatestbook.com/ibooks-author-ebooks/

And it came with a controversial caveat:

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.

Their storefront highlights primarily BPH titles but despite that, some indies report significant revenue from Apple.

On an indie friendliness ranking I'd say they're ahead of google and behind Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

[JSWolf]

The reason I don't buy from Apple is that the DRM is not easy to remove and since I can remove the DRM from eBooks bought at other stores, I'll shop elsewhere. That and the fact that because of Apple, we had agency pricing and I don't want Apple's eBookstore to even generate one single penny in profit.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

...I don't want Apple's eBookstore to even generate one single penny in profit.

Not something to worry about for several more years.
Once they cut their settlement check it will wipe out any net income generated over the life of the store and a couple more to come.

[WT Sharpe]

In general, I love Apple's products, but like Jon, I won't buy books from them, and for the same reason: I can't break the DRM. Every year, Amazon and other retailers receive hundreds of dollars from me for books I've purchased from them, but the only time I've ever bought a book from Apple is those rare occasions when they've been the only ones carrying a title I had a burning desire to read as soon as possible.

The prevalence of DRM isn't all bad, though. It has allowed indie publishers and authors who don't rely on it to make significant inroads on the profits of the big publishers who can't seem to stay away from that customer-insulting crap.

[Jessica Lares]

Some of the books Apple carries don't have DRM, although they aren't in ePub format anymore either. I don't buy from them either though, and that's because I use a Kindle and rely heavily on text-to-speech and other things that are better on the Amazon side.

When it comes to digital content, I want to get it as cheap as I can.

[eschwartz]

I will never buy from iBooks simply because it is a despicable store model which locks people into reading on iDevices only.

The fact that Apple is way too obsessed with fighting against the DeDRM tools is a factor too, granted. But it never even comes to that consideration, since i cannot possibly shop at iBooks without owning an iDevice.

Notice how Google Play offers options for those who don't have an Android. But Apple doesn't want to sell me books they want to sell me iDevices. Their misplaced priorities mean that iBooks is not a serious way to get books regardless of the ease of use () or prices or quality of recommendations.

Frankly, the whole idea irritates the hell out of me to the point where even if I had an iDevice I still wouldn't use iBooks for that reason alone.

[JSWolf]

The reason you need iBooks is because a lot of the eBooks sold by Apple won't work with any other software.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The reason you need iBooks is because a lot of the eBooks sold by Apple won't work with any other software.

And Apple encourages that since it gives them an excuse.

And Amazon has plenty of books like that too, but that doesn't stop them from allowing the normal books from working anywhere. They just mark some books as only compatible with certain devices.

Unless you mean because they have DRM, and thus won't work without iBooks to decrypt them? I think I already answered that one.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The reason you need iBooks is because a lot of the eBooks sold by Apple won't work with any other software.

Well, Apple is very upfront sbout it: iBook format isn't epub.

It is derived from epub but they embraced and extended it to meet their needs. And iBooks Author ebook output is intended solely for reading on Apple hardware. Also clearly stated upfront in the iBooks Author EULA.

Apple's iBook is as much epub as Amazon's Mojito FIRE OS is Android. Which is to say, not at all. It works for them; they *have* taken half of Nook's peak market share. If they improve the iBookstore they might grab the rest...

[WT Sharpe]

For all those of you who do buy iBooks, I'd like to offer my condolences in advance for the loss of your entire library should Apple ever go belly up.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

For all those of you who do buy iBooks, I'd like to offer my condolences in advance for the loss of your entire library should Apple ever go belly up.

It shouldn't be a problem -- the only people who buy iBooks are people who only read on their iDevice, which I'd venture to say aren't that many.

If Apple goes belly-up, the iSheep will have bigger problems...

[pwalker8]

Gee, why don't be honest about it and just title this thread the Apple Hater's bashing thread?

All in all, a fairly silly bit of speculation in that blog post. Apple buys small companies all the time. Most of the time, it's hard to see the influence that a given company has in the final product. Obviously, Apple is looking to improve their recommendation engine, just like most online stores do. Past that, I doubt anyone can do more than mindlessly speculate.

I consider it quite unlikely that Apple is suddenly become the happening place for indies. Apple has long been focused on the needs of the majority of buyers rather than the narrow needs of a few. They have put the tools out there for those who want to use them, but as far as actively pursuing ebooks, I think that Apple will continue to focus on the mainstream publishers rather than the indies.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Gee, why don't be honest about it and just title this thread the Apple Hater's bashing thread?

There are plenty of reasons to approve of Apple, and ♥ their devices (even if I personally dislike both). ebooks/iBooks are not one of them.

Pointing out the way Apple is completely lacking in every way in that area (for the serious reader) is not necessarily Apple-bashing... It could be I/we are merely telling the truth.

Apple does not sell ebooks, they sell iDevices with incentives. They have no interest in paying attention to their ebookstore beyond what is necessary to stick in an ad. Basically, that they have one. And that it is flashy.

Real readers with real needs need more than that, and only the start of it is the need to read on e-ink devices.