Amazon is destroying e-reader innovation

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by tompe

That just is not true.

Cite? Or are you making a wild guess?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Cite? Or are you making a wild guess?

I have heard a lot of authors tell how fast they write and having a full time job and writing three books per year is not typical. Even writing full time it is not typical.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by shalym

I would bet that if you really did the research, you would find that there are more (BPH) published authors who write multiple books per year than not. The big publishers, for the most part, do not ALLOW their authors to publish more than one book per year through them. This is why some authors use multiple publishers. (as long as they haven't signed that right away in their initial contract, that is...)

Shari

And having a day job. Please show me your research.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tompe

That just is not true.

Typical doesn't mean all of them.
Here:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/typical

normal for a person, thing, or group : average or usual

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by shalym

This is why some authors use multiple publishers. (as long as they haven't signed that right away in their initial contract, that is...)

Shari

Or aren't so disgusted by the experience they quit writing altogether.
But at point they're no longer active writers.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by tompe

I have heard a lot of authors tell how fast they write and having a full time job and writing three books per year is not typical. Even writing full time it is not typical.

Simply Not True is simply not true. There are numerous authors who are writing 2-3 books/year. Are they making a living? Who knows. Most authors don't make a living. The fact remains there is *more than one* author writing and selling more than one book/year.

Use your google-fu. It's really quite simple to find the answer, even if you don't want to believe it.

Edit: Here's a head start for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prolific_writers

[tompe]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Simply Not True is simply not true. There are numerous authors who are writing 2-3 books/year. Are they making a living? Who knows. Most authors don't make a living. The fact remains there is *more than one* author writing and selling more than one book/year.

Use your google-fu. It's really quite simple to find the answer, even if you don't want to believe it.

Edit: Here's a head start for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prolific_writers

What? The claim was that it was typical that an author with a day job write three books per year. That is not true. I have for example heard 50-100 authors talk about writing and cannot remember any of them claiming to write three books per year while having a day job. Some of the authors that do not have a day job did write three or more books but it was not typical.

The authors I have heard talk is mostly science fiction and fantasy authors.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Can you please post a link to one of these European e-ink tablets?

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U5BER-IcSxA

Android 4.0, blue-tooth, Lighted touch-screen, 1440 x 1080 screen resolution. This is only 6.8", but the 9.7" is coming.

Ahhh, to be part of a small, immature market capable of innovation...

[fjtorres]

Coming soon. Maybe:
http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...ng-to-tablets/

WhiteMagic has two different display modes, one for indoors and one for outdoors. Bright mode for outdoors is roughly twice as bright as the power saver indoor mode, and uses about the same amount of energy as traditional displays. Japan Display claims that overall power consumption is up to 40% lower than existing products.

There appears to be two variations of the new 7-inch WhiteMagic screens. Last week Japan Display’s first announcement spoke of a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. That’s an impressive 431 ppi. Today’s press release describes a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 (323 ppi). Both have 160 degree viewing angles.

Power consumption at 40% less puts battery life for a typical tablet at 12-15 continuous hours.
Outdoor mode would be 8-10 hours.

They actually have a reflective screen perfect for ereaders... but no interested buyers.
http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U5BPuY7D_MI

They also had a reflective LCD screen on display which they launched last year but don’t have in production.

This 7″ screen boasts a resolution of 1200 x 1920. It lacks a backlight, and as a result it only draws about 20% as much power as a regular LCD screen. With a contrast ratio of 30:1, it offers better contrast than Liquavista’s screen tech. It also can display a broader range of color than Liquavista’s screen tech (30% color gamut, in fact).

This screen is visible in sunlight, making it ideal for a number of use cases, but no device maker is using it.

The reflective screen works out to 50hrs battery life (but with a bigger battery than most eink devices) with good color and video capacity. Add a front light and you get a color eink beater. But the business case remains dubious. Not even the niche players are interested.

Incremental improvements seems to be the norm for now.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Just expanding.
I should've just said that 2-3 books is the typical output of an author that hasn't quit the day job.

Originally Posted by tompe

I have heard a lot of authors tell how fast they write and having a full time job and writing three books per year is not typical. Even writing full time it is not typical.

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Simply Not True is simply not true. There are numerous authors who are writing 2-3 books/year. Are they making a living? Who knows. Most authors don't make a living. The fact remains there is *more than one* author writing and selling more than one book/year.

Use your google-fu. It's really quite simple to find the answer, even if you don't want to believe it.

Edit: Here's a head start for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prolific_writers

Tompe is right. While there are many full-time writers who have produced a novel a month, or more, for sustained periods of time, that kind of production is not typical for anyone who has to hold down a full-time day job.

For a person with a day job, something like a novel a year, or maybe three novels every two years is typical.

Originally Posted by Rizla

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U5BER-IcSxA

Android 4.0, blue-tooth, Lighted touch-screen, 1440 x 1080 screen resolution. This is only 6.8", but the 9.7" is coming.

Ahhh, to be part of a small, immature market capable of innovation...

And people in the US can still buy them. If enough people import them, someone will set up distribution in the US. That's just how it works.

You may not be able to find it in local stores, but you can buy one.

[Waylander]

I wish Amazon would develop an e-reader that's as hackable as the PW1, has the same resolution as the Kobo Aura, has page-turn buttons and a touch screen, and has removable storage, and an option to side-load fonts, and 300ppi. It would be good if they could up the battery life to 8 weeks on a charge when reading 2 hours a day as well. Also, it would be good if they could make the screen sit in between the Paperwhite and Aura HD in terms of size. That would be a perfect e-reader, and would show innovation.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Rizla

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U5BER-IcSxA

Android 4.0, blue-tooth, Lighted touch-screen, 1440 x 1080 screen resolution. This is only 6.8", but the 9.7" is coming.

It has been coming for some time....

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by tompe

The authors I have heard talk is mostly science fiction and fantasy authors.

Ahhh there is the qualifier that you deliberately left out! You cannot make such a definitive statement when only thinking about YOUR particular favorite of genre books.

A good many romance writers can crank out several books a year. If they are stuck with a BPH, they are limited to releasing one a year.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Ahhh there is the qualifier that you deliberately left out! You cannot make such a definitive statement when only thinking about YOUR particular favorite of genre books.

A good many romance writers can crank out several books a year. If they are stuck with a BPH, they are limited to releasing one a year.

Actually, many romance writers do release more than one book a year through the major publishers, some by way of pseudonyms, others not.

My own point is that while it's not difficult for a full-time writer to produce two or three novels a year, it is sufficiently difficult for someone holding down a day job to keep up that level of production that for part-time writers it's the exception rather than the rule.

Another thing to remember is that length often depends on genre, and while many category romances come in around 60-70K words, fantasy novels often clock in around twice that length or longer.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Amazon has done nothing wrong. It's not their fault that people don't want to buy anything but a Kindle e-reader.

The problem is that there is not much choice in the US. Basically, it's Amazon, B&N, or Kobo.