Amazon: New $189 Price Results in Tipping Point for Growth

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by leebase

I'd like to see how many kindle books are read on a kindle vs. ipad/iphone etc.

It would be interesting to see.

Amazon’s vision is to move the Kindle format (and experience) onto every logical platform; with significant segmented presence in domestic US, regional and global markets; in English and other languages; and link everyone back to a community experience driven by “always on” 3G connectivity.

One of the reasons it outsells everyone else -- Nook, iPad, Kobo, Sony -- is the reading experience is device agnostic. Sure, Amazon wants to offer the best e-reader for those who want a dedicated device. But it also wants to make the experience best in class on every device its software is available on and as seamless as possible. No other vendor is truly following that path.

[BVLarson]

Those are some good numbers you posted, SensualPoet, thanks for them. And I like your hugging kittens, too. I'll be eyeballing Amazon's sales info July 22nd.
-BVL

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by TGS

I wonder of this is more about "Amazon can sell stuff" than it is about "ebooks are taking off". I'd like to think it's the latter but I suspect there is no straightforward read-across from what Amazon's doing to what is happening in the rest of the ebook market.

Try this:
It is about ebooks and reader gadgets becoming mainstream products in the US. (Thank you, Oprah Winfrey!) The most mature and *competitive* bookselling market on the planet sees no problem with walled-garden DRM'ed ebooks. That is significant, methinks.

It is about ebooks outselling Hardcovers, the sacred cow of the big publishing houses, by almost two-to-one. (It's pretty obvious now the price-fix price hike was about squeezing ebook buyers to make up for hardcover losses.)

It is about Kindle ebooks outselling the annointed industry standard by four-to-one.

It is about Amazon saying, in effect, "Enough with the Apple-FUD (20-plus percent market share? Really?), the Adobe-FUD about standards, the B&N price-cutting. Everybody's taken their shot at us and we're still ahead four-to-one where it counts; the money."

Amazon leads, the rest follow...far behind.

With those numbers, it's time for the competition to take a long hard look at their business models and decide what needs changing, because what they're doing isn't working.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by BVLarson

I can attest to this. The sales numbers are amazing. As an author, my best title alone sold 40 copies yesterday (MECH). When listed with the bestsellers in all SF books, not just Kindle, I'm right in there at about the same slot level as any bestseller in print. I mean that being #4 in SF adventure = #5 in all SF adventure. Logically, the Kindle books are selling faster as the print books.

Also, I've worked out with a spreadsheet that they must be selling about 100k ebook titles a day. Or more. The top 100 books are selling 200+ copies a day. A few months ago, the news was in 2009 they were selling about 10k a day. That is a 1000% growth in titles sold.
-BVL

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Debbi Mack, author of Identity Crisis, reported on her Facebook page that she has sold 5,600 copies of her book on Amazon in Kindle format and 84 in Smashwords. That's the power Amazon brings.

What I find interesting is that Amazon must REALLY be selling a lot of Kindles, or A LOT of people must be buying from them and then removing the DRM.

For those numbers to be right, non-Kindle readers must be a very small minority.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

What I find interesting is that Amazon must REALLY be selling a lot of Kindles, or A LOT of people must be buying from them and then removing the DRM.

For those numbers to be right, non-Kindle readers must be a very small minority.

Not necessarilly.
All it takes is a lot of Smartphone users buying Kindle books.
(Aren't there supposed to be a hundred million iPhones? Plus Blackberries, Androids, etc To sa nothing of PCs.)
Remember, Kindle is a reader app too, not just a gadget.
Still, Amazon *is* selling a lot of Kindles. (Remember their brag, earlier this years about having sold *millions* of Kindles? Nobody stood up to say "me too!")

And the numbers *have* to be right or the SEC is going to want to know why not; they are very specific about authors and sales. No smoke and mirrors in that part of the release.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Not necessarilly.
All it takes is a lot of Smartphone users buying Kindle books.
(Aren't there supposed to be a hundred million iPhones? Plus Blackberries, Androids, etc To sa nothing of PCs.)
Remember, Kindle is a reader app too, not just a gadget.
Still, Amazon *is* selling a lot of Kindles. (Remember their brag, earlier this years about having sold *millions* of Kindles? Nobody stood up to say "me too!")

And the numbers *have* to be right or the SEC is going to want to know why not; they are very specific about authors and sales. No smoke and mirrors in that part of the release.

Looked at that way I see little chance of them opening up to other reader formats such as ePub.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

Looked at that way I see little chance of them opening up to other reader formats such as ePub.

It's entirely possible we will see Overdrive start to offer Kindle books, along with Adobe DRM ePub, by the end of 2010 or sometime in 2011. The Library market is currently out of step with the majority of its customers. Some libraries, like the one in West Vancouver reported in another thread, have resorted to buying Kindles and pre-loading them with 50 titles. It would be a major coup if Amazon could devise a deal with Overdrive to make Kindle ebooks available through its service.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

What I find interesting is that Amazon must REALLY be selling a lot of Kindles, or A LOT of people must be buying from them and then removing the DRM.

I'd be willing to bet, notwithstanding the sentiments and inclinations of the readers, posters and lurkers at Mobileread, that most purchasers of DRM ebooks leave the DRM as is and simply enjoy the content. In fact, I'd bet a tiny percentage of DRM purchased ebooks are left in their pristine state. DRM is only a nuisance, like the appreciation of beauty, in the mind of the beholder.

For just about everyone, as long as a DRM ebook works -- like your car -- it doesn't matter how it works.

[banjobama]

I wonder how many more ebooks Amazon would have sold if they offered epub format. On the other hand, the Kindle makes it so easy to buy their ebooks that it might not matter. They don't even say "ebooks," do they? They say, "Kindle edition." No Joe Schmoe Kindle owner has to worry about file formats or DRM at all.

[HappyMartin]

The ease of use is a huge issue for me and the primary reason I buy most of my books from Amazon. I used Fictionwise for years but with the tightening up of geographic restrictions I gave up on them in frustration. If I can see the book at the Amazon store via my kindle then I can buy it. Not so buying online from Fictionwise.

Often when I feel like buying a book I am at home and usually I dont have a computer with me and when I do the last thing I want to do is boot up, launch the browser and go online. It is all about ease of use for me.

For those that love paper books and are surprised by the figures quoted in this thread, all I can say is enjoy your trip to the bookstore or the wait for delivery from your online purchase. I will enjoy my reading while you are doing all of that running about.

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by BVLarson

I can attest to this. The sales numbers are amazing. As an author, my best title alone sold 40 copies yesterday (MECH).

+1 today

Cheers,

m-reader

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by mikij

I would just like to know how many ebooks would Amazon sell if they were DRM-free and for multiple devices. Their numbers would increase exponentially.

As much as I dislike DRM (wouldn't touch a Kindle even if Amazon gave them away free) and Kindle's lack of open-format (read: EPUB) support, my hat's off to the Bezios golden touch; he's done what no one else has been able to do -- blown the barriers to ebook adoption wide open. Even if the Amazon effect hasn't (yet) had a major overall impact on ebook adoptions, Amazon has given ebooks mindshare and credibility. I guarantee there isn't a publisher on the planet that isn't taking ebooks more seriously than they were three years ago. And that tide will lift the whole ebook ecosystem.

To be honest, I don't think disencumbering ebooks would have much positive effect on Amazon's sales. First, I doubt most Kindle users spend much time thinking about DRM to begin with.

Second, while I suspect for some Kindle users $9.99 isn't too much to pay just for the convenience of instant download, I guess a lot more would forego the convenience if the same book were freely available elsewhere -- say, from their friends or some Russian website.

Deconstructing Amazon's assertions, one is left wondering just what the real significance of "more ebooks than hardcovers" is. But I have to say I think Amazon has done more for ebooks in the past couple of years than anyone this side of Michael Hart.

--Nathanael

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Nathanael

To be honest, I don't think disencumbering ebooks would have much positive effect on Amazon's sales. First, I doubt most Kindle users spend much time thinking about DRM to begin with.

It's not Kindle users buying other books, but what about other users (without a Kindle-book able device)?

I know I'd have bought at least a dozen books this year (compared to the 0 now), I'd have bought, if those books were DRM-free or in a format I could read on my reader(s).

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

It's not Kindle users buying other books, but what about other users (without a Kindle-book able device)?

I know I'd have bought at least a dozen books this year (compared to the 0 now), I'd have bought, if those books were DRM-free or in a format I could read on my reader(s).

It's worth mentioning that not all Amazon books are DRM-ed.
I just bought a book on Amazon by our very own MR member BVLarson. It's in PRC format (MOBI), no DRM.
I synced up my Amazon account with Kindle4PC, found the book in My Kindle Content. I imported it into Calibre and straight and onto my PRS-900.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by m-reader

It's worth mentioning that not all Amazon books are DRM-ed.
I just bought a book on Amazon by our very own MR member BVLarson. It's in PRC format (MOBI), no DRM.
I synced up my Amazon account with Kindle4PC, found the book in My Kindle Content. I imported it into Calibre and straight and onto my PRS-900.

Problem is that it's not clear if a book is DRM'd or not.

(oh, and DRM'd mobi isn't too much of a problem, but that Topaz is)