News flash! Barnes & Noble buys Fictionwise for $15.7 million

[DixieGal]

I wonder what B&N will do with eReader? Will they make it excluse, like Mobipocket, to all except those who own their (alleged) devices, just like Amazon did? I've been a loyal FW customer since 2002, but it is becoming more and more difficult to buy from them because of fewer and "secure" formats. Will they move themselves away from Sony users altogether?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I understand. But, I don't want to see any overhead added to the creation and distribution of eBooks. Any excuse to raise prices these days seems to work for the publishers/sellers.

BOb

i completely agree with that, but it shouldn't be too costly to simply add a basic terminal (any pc with an internet connection will, and i suspect most shops already have these for other uses) even if it means having to go through checkout. alternatively, even if they don't add kiosks, they could raise visibility of ebooks by simply indicating in the shelves "this title is available as an ebook on Fictionwise.com". this would at least have the benefit of raising awareness of ebooks.

what i'm hoping is that B&N will be able to get more content available digitally, since they must have a fairly long-standing relationship with a lot of publishing houses. in-store advertisising of ebook editions might be a nice incentive to publishers to encourage more ebooks since it's a nice form of free publicity for people who might prefer ebooks to paper books when possible.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I wonder what B&N will do with eReader? Will they make it excluse, like Mobipocket, to all except those who own their (alleged) devices, just like Amazon did? I've been a loyal FW customer since 2002, but it is becoming more and more difficult to buy from them because of fewer and "secure" formats. Will they move themselves away from Sony users altogether?

heaven forbid ! I've just renewed my subscription ....

[Mr. Goodbar]

I could also see a store scenario where you are browsing and next to the book is a fictionwise checkout slip. You take that to the counter, give them your FW id, pay for the book and it's emailed to the email address on your FW account. They would only need to integrate their POS systems between B&N and FW. I know, not as easy as it sounds, but still a viable approach.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

Isn't fictionwise supposed to be coming out with their own branded reader supporting the ereader format? Seems if B&N plays this right they could very quickly get a Kindle like product to market with a ready made online store and a brick and morter distribution point for the device. B&N gives fictionwise more clout with the carriers if they choose to go that route.

I know Amazon has a huge presence, but my local B&N is typically not hurting for business. There is almost always a wait in the checkout line even with multiple cashiers. Some people still like the experience of walking around a book store.

It has been mentioned that Fictionwise has been working with Astak (an therefor Jinke) on this effort. And it is likely fairly far along with lots of assistance. I would expect that once eReader software runs on Linux the door will be open.

Dale

[jaxx6166]

This sounds like really good news. I'm excited.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mjh215

I never said it was unprofitable. I said that B&N would say that when they closed it. Companies do this all the time, sometimes to kill competition, sometimes to hijack technologies and other times to just have it in their coffers for the future. Not to mention just appeasing stockholders with a news blurb. That alone can be worth $16 million. It actually fell nearly a point since the announcement, but Reuters already has it in their "Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions".

-MJ

People have been "predicting" the demise of MobiPocket since the day that Amazon bought it. Guess what - they are bigger and more popular than they ever have been. Companies really don't spend that sort of money just to "pull the plug" on a business. What FW brings to B&N is a world-wide loyal customer base as a valuable supplement to their US-only "bricks and mortar" store business. Why on Earth WOULD they want to close it?

[mdibella]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

ha okay, i missed that. anyway, i suspect that B&N will want to encourage *other* devices since this really sets them up as direct competition to amazon. so they would be wise not to neglect sony / cybook / jetbook / etc. owners.

You're probably right, and isn't that dumb?

You only buy the reader once, but you buy books often. Why should it matter to the bookseller what brand name is on the reader?

Oddly enough, for example, my Panasonic DVD player is quite happy playing Sony movies. And I have a Betamax in the basement somewhere, dead forever because it lost the format war. Yes, of course, it's not the exact same situation because there were physical differences in the hardware, but really this situation should be EASIER...no hardware differences, just software!

A truly wise ebook marketer would encourage that the readers become universal so you can buy their books without getting involved in a format war...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by mdibella

You're probably right, and isn't that dumb?

You only buy the reader once, but you buy books often. Why should it matter to the bookseller what brand name is on the reader?

Oddly enough, for example, my Panasonic DVD player is quite happy playing Sony movies. And I have a Betamax in the basement somewhere, dead forever because it lost the format war. Yes, of course, it's not the exact same situation because there were physical differences in the hardware, but really this situation should be EASIER...no hardware differences, just software!

mine too ....

A truly wise ebook marketer would encourage that the readers become universal so you can buy their books without getting involved in a format war...

hence a certain lady's argument for ePub ....

[mdibella]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

hence a certain lady's argument for ePub ....

I am devoutly against DRM, but only because it limits my future options! If I buy a new reader, I do not expect to have to repurchase my ebooks in a different format.

If ePub became universally used, I would be very happy. I admittely remove DRM from my own ebooks, but not so I can 'share' them with anyone but myself! If one format would play on all readers, I have no problem with it being a format that provides piracy protection to the publishers. It's the best of both worlds, I would say...

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by mdibella

You're probably right, and isn't that dumb?

You only buy the reader once, but you buy books often. Why should it matter to the bookseller what brand name is on the reader?

Oddly enough, for example, my Panasonic DVD player is quite happy playing Sony movies. And I have a Betamax in the basement somewhere, dead forever because it lost the format war. Yes, of course, it's not the exact same situation because there were physical differences in the hardware, but really this situation should be EASIER...no hardware differences, just software!

A truly wise ebook marketer would encourage that the readers become universal so you can buy their books without getting involved in a format war...

Originally Posted by GeoffC

hence a certain lady's argument for ePub ....

heh. geoff said it before i could. but yes, exactly ; thus the importance of a standard format, why everyone should get behind it, why it's such brilliant news that so many manufacturers are supporting it (almost all of them already, even if only on future models), and why it's so great to see epub taking off in the publishing world (in europe for instance publishers just starting to get into ebooks are almost exclusively supporting the epub format). a standard format means you buy the device you like and buy your books wherever you want.

[GeoffC]

Somehow the term "when hell freezes over" springs to mind - but yes the sentiment and the justification for the 'one meets all' has a lot going for it.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by mdibella

I am devoutly against DRM, but only because it limits my future options! If I buy a new reader, I do not expect to have to repurchase my ebooks in a different format.

If ePub became universally used, I would be very happy. I admittely remove DRM from my own ebooks, but not so I can 'share' them with anyone but myself! If one format would play on all readers, I have no problem with it being a format that provides piracy protection to the publishers. It's the best of both worlds, I would say...

that's how i feel too. that's why i'm so thrilled that adobe's epub drm has been broken ; now i can buy my favorite format, support the standard, and still know my library is safe for the future until the publishing world finally gets a clue and drops drm (soon, i hope).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

a standard format means you buy the device you like and buy your books wherever you want.

We already have that situation with MobiPocket. It's not a "formal" standard, but every eInk device on the market except Sony supports it. Buy a Mobi book and you can read it on a Kindle, a CyBook, a BeBook, an iLiad, a Hanlin, a JetBook, etc etc., not to mention hand-held devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, etc, pretty much all of which can read the format.

I know that you're a big fan of ePub, but the simple truth is that, in today's market, MobiPocket is much more of a widespread and popular format than ePub is. Perhaps that will change in the future when more devices support ePub (which, as you know, should be happening within the next few months), but MobiPocket is today's "buy it once, read it anywhere" format.

ePub is certainly a much more "advanced" format in terms of its formatting capabilities, but that really doesn't matter for the typical novel.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We already have that situation with MobiPocket. It's not a "formal" standard, but every eInk device on the market except Sony supports it. Buy a Mobi book and you can read it on a Kindle, a CyBook, a BeBook, and iLiad, a Hanlin, a JetBook, etc etc., not to mention hand-held devices such as PDAs, mobile phones, etc, pretty much all of which can read the format.

It almost like it is a "de facto standard".

BOb