Bookstores: Digital or paper? Or both? - Page 3

NatCh · 03-23-2007, 09:26 AM

Hey, that'd work for me well enough, as long as the file format was one I could use. Actually, selling a single book on CD would allow enough room to provide pretty much every format you could name.

Alexander Turcic · 03-23-2007, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

Sell them on CD?

Given that virtually everyone can afford USB sticks nowadays (I just bought two 4GB sticks for $25 each), I can imagine that you might use such a stick or some external memory card to carry purchased e-books home.

Robert Marquard · 03-23-2007, 10:04 AM

audiobooks = CDs of books read aloud by professional speakers. Any bigger bookstore here in Germany have a terminal where you can listen to the audiobooks. Just like a CD shop. There are even some audiobook-only shops already.

A terminal where you plug your USB stick or your SD card and your credit card for downloading an ebbok should be simple to build. It can store the ebooks on DVD inside so no problems with flaky internet download.

NatCh · 03-23-2007, 11:32 AM

Heh, it's not the technical difficulty that's stopping them, Robert, but I reckon you already knew that.

Mitchll · 03-23-2007, 01:00 PM

It was a few years ago that there were several stores around town specializing in just audio books. The ease of downloading or buing cd's from the internet vendors put them out of business. I can't help but think that aside from limited sections in bookstores (without limiting selection) that the majority of ebooks will be bought online.

Mitchll

RWood · 03-23-2007, 01:41 PM

Here is a link to InstaBooks. They are one of the companies that make the print on demand equipment.

yvanleterrible · 03-23-2007, 03:26 PM

Say! That brings us to an ebook support media. Remember this?

BooksForABuck · 03-23-2007, 08:34 PM

I don't celebrate the death of the bookstore--quite the reverse. Some of my favorite moments have been spent browsing the shelves and coming across finds--new authors, undiscovered books by favorite authors, books about bits of history that had been mysteries to me. Of course, enjoying a cup of coffee surrounded by books can be a wonderful experience.

And I'm very glad some bookstores are opening their mind to eBooks. It certainly makes sense--eBooks take up no shelf space and that's always short.

Still, I wonder if bookstores won't go the way of record stores. With all of the costs involved in running a retail operation, can they really hope to compete? Can they count on readers buying enough of their books at the stores to cover their overhead. Against amazon with paper, traditional bookstores have the advantage of immediacy and being able to consolidate shipping to reduce costs of delivery. But in the eBook market, immediacy and zero cost of shipping are automatic--just features of the product.

Rob Preece
Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com

RWood · 03-23-2007, 08:59 PM

All the local bookstores I loved for years are gone. "Books & Friends" was the first to go years ago when Crown Books first opened in the Washington, DC area. The last to go was "Book 'n Card" when the rent got higher than the book sales could support. Even converting one-half of the store to magazines with their higher sales and margins could not save it. They are all missed.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-23-2007, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Hey, that'd work for me well enough, as long as the file format was one I could use. Actually, selling a single book on CD would allow enough room to provide pretty much every format you could name.

I'd been giving thought myself to doing on-site sales of my e-books (say, at a convention or bookstore setup) by putting them on mini-CDs or bizcard-CDs, with multiple formats and full-res covers. Either that, or flash presentations given away on bizcard-CDs.

If I had had the chance to go to EpiCon, I would have done it there. Maybe next year...

NatCh · 03-23-2007, 10:43 PM

Bizcard-CDs would be really cool.

But I guess I haven't seen enough of them for the novelty to wear off for me.

nekokami · 03-24-2007, 10:21 AM

I had never heard of bizcard CDs. (I need to get out more.) I can think of many immediate uses. They are still a bit expensive per for giving away, but as a medium for ebook sales, I think they could be great.

Obviously, you should have a laptop or something set up so people can browse a bit before buying. You could have a presentation running with cool quotes in large print to draw people in, too.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 03-26-2007, 10:28 PM

That's their main strength: They are about the cheapest medium out there, especially if you buy them in bulk, and minis and bizcard CDs are small. Normally, they make great company presentation material, and a lot of companies just give 'em away. But for e-books, they can be the product itself. And there's probably plenty of room for the e-books, and presentations for the other books.

For a low-budget operation (like mine), it's probably the best way to put your product on physical media.

The next best option would be to tell customers in advance to bring their own memory (specify a few storage types you know you can handle), and prepare to upload e-books to them on the spot, perhaps at a discounted price.

sea2stars · 03-26-2007, 11:00 PM

Heh. It's funny when people ask you where do you put a bizcard CD into the computer; it's not a disc shape. I used to make tons of them for our marketing department at work for trade shows. They hold 50MB and thats more than enough space for most things.

Azayzel · 03-26-2007, 11:34 PM

I too, think that the BizCard CD's are a pretty novel approach; they're cheap, small enough to fit in a wallet/card case, and they're just large enough to hold a little useful information. There are a few drawbacks to this format though... first and foremost, you cannot use them in all computers; i.e., slot loading CD/DVD drives, this might not seem like a big issue but there are a ton o' PC's out there that utilize the nifty slot-load variety that would be left out (not to mention the poor sap who unheedingly sticks one in his system and can't get it out).

I think that portable media has dropped so dramtically there is no reason you should not be able to get your digital content on them instead; by this I mean SD cards. If I can pick up a 64MB card (not that I need something that small) for >$5 retail, there's no reason they can't use this format for eBook/digital content distribution and claim price is an issue. Granted, they are more expensive to produce than the CD-mini's; I think they're more versatile and easier to carry/use.

03-26-2007, 10:28 PM	#43
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	That's their main strength: They are about the cheapest medium out there, especially if you buy them in bulk, and minis and bizcard CDs are small. Normally, they make great company presentation material, and a lot of companies just give 'em away. But for e-books, they can be the product itself. And there's probably plenty of room for the e-books, and presentations for the other books. For a low-budget operation (like mine), it's probably the best way to put your product on physical media. The next best option would be to tell customers in advance to bring their own memory (specify a few storage types you know you can handle), and prepare to upload e-books to them on the spot, perhaps at a discounted price. Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 03-26-2007 at 10:30 PM.

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03-23-2007, 09:26 AM	#31
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Hey, that'd work for me well enough, as long as the file format was one I could use. Actually, selling a single book on CD would allow enough room to provide pretty much every format you could name.

03-23-2007, 10:04 AM	#33
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	audiobooks = CDs of books read aloud by professional speakers. Any bigger bookstore here in Germany have a terminal where you can listen to the audiobooks. Just like a CD shop. There are even some audiobook-only shops already. A terminal where you plug your USB stick or your SD card and your credit card for downloading an ebbok should be simple to build. It can store the ebooks on DVD inside so no problems with flaky internet download.

03-23-2007, 11:32 AM	#34
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Heh, it's not the technical difficulty that's stopping them, Robert, but I reckon you already knew that.

03-23-2007, 01:00 PM	#35
Mitchll Cave Dweller Posts: 220 Karma: 1986 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Ipad Sony reader prs-505 prs-900	It was a few years ago that there were several stores around town specializing in just audio books. The ease of downloading or buing cd's from the internet vendors put them out of business. I can't help but think that aside from limited sections in bookstores (without limiting selection) that the majority of ebooks will be bought online. Mitchll

03-23-2007, 01:41 PM	#36
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Here is a link to InstaBooks. They are one of the companies that make the print on demand equipment.

03-23-2007, 03:26 PM	#37
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Say! That brings us to an ebook support media. Remember this?

03-23-2007, 08:34 PM	#38
BooksForABuck Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 150001 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Long Beach, CA Device: Color Nook, Kindle 2, Palm III, eBookWise, HP Jornada	I don't celebrate the death of the bookstore--quite the reverse. Some of my favorite moments have been spent browsing the shelves and coming across finds--new authors, undiscovered books by favorite authors, books about bits of history that had been mysteries to me. Of course, enjoying a cup of coffee surrounded by books can be a wonderful experience. And I'm very glad some bookstores are opening their mind to eBooks. It certainly makes sense--eBooks take up no shelf space and that's always short. Still, I wonder if bookstores won't go the way of record stores. With all of the costs involved in running a retail operation, can they really hope to compete? Can they count on readers buying enough of their books at the stores to cover their overhead. Against amazon with paper, traditional bookstores have the advantage of immediacy and being able to consolidate shipping to reduce costs of delivery. But in the eBook market, immediacy and zero cost of shipping are automatic--just features of the product. Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com

03-23-2007, 08:59 PM	#39
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	All the local bookstores I loved for years are gone. "Books & Friends" was the first to go years ago when Crown Books first opened in the Washington, DC area. The last to go was "Book 'n Card" when the rent got higher than the book sales could support. Even converting one-half of the store to magazines with their higher sales and margins could not save it. They are all missed.

03-23-2007, 10:43 PM	#41
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Bizcard-CDs would be really cool. But I guess I haven't seen enough of them for the novelty to wear off for me.

03-24-2007, 10:21 AM	#42
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I had never heard of bizcard CDs. (I need to get out more.) I can think of many immediate uses. They are still a bit expensive per for giving away, but as a medium for ebook sales, I think they could be great. Obviously, you should have a laptop or something set up so people can browse a bit before buying. You could have a presentation running with cool quotes in large print to draw people in, too.

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03-26-2007, 11:00 PM	#44
sea2stars Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 64 Join Date: Dec 2006 Device: eb1150, Sony Reader	Heh. It's funny when people ask you where do you put a bizcard CD into the computer; it's not a disc shape. I used to make tons of them for our marketing department at work for trade shows. They hold 50MB and thats more than enough space for most things.

03-26-2007, 11:34 PM	#45
Azayzel Cache Ninja! Posts: 643 Karma: 1002300 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Device: PRS-500, HTC Shift, iPod Touch, iPaq 4150, TC1100, Panasonic WordsGear	I too, think that the BizCard CD's are a pretty novel approach; they're cheap, small enough to fit in a wallet/card case, and they're just large enough to hold a little useful information. There are a few drawbacks to this format though... first and foremost, you cannot use them in all computers; i.e., slot loading CD/DVD drives, this might not seem like a big issue but there are a ton o' PC's out there that utilize the nifty slot-load variety that would be left out (not to mention the poor sap who unheedingly sticks one in his system and can't get it out). I think that portable media has dropped so dramtically there is no reason you should not be able to get your digital content on them instead; by this I mean SD cards. If I can pick up a 64MB card (not that I need something that small) for >$5 retail, there's no reason they can't use this format for eBook/digital content distribution and claim price is an issue. Granted, they are more expensive to produce than the CD-mini's; I think they're more versatile and easier to carry/use.