Kindle Books Outsell Hardcovers

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

What is it with the Apple and Amazon haters in these forums?

In case you hadn't noticed, some people (particularly some Americans) hate anything Big. Big publishers, big retailers, influential critics, big software manufacturers. One day it's Apple, the next it's Amazon, another day it's Microsoft or IBM. In the olden days before the Internet was in wide use, it was Barnes and Noble that got everyone's knickers in a big twist in its position as the biggest retailer, and epitomized by attempting to merge with Ingram (the biggest distributor, who worked with many of B&N's competitors). When Amazon showed up, they were the scrappy upstart that "got it" while B&N did not.

Many folks say they want things that are locally made and small scale, and decry big companies. Then they buy Doritos at Wal-Mart. Go figure.

Unfortunately you may need to just get used to it, since it's inevitable that even if Amazon and/or the Big 5 go under, some company or institution will become the major player and will become the new target of their ire.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader.

Actually ages ago Bezos said he'd allow Kindle on other ereaders, as long as they were willing to hook into Whispernet.

Maybe he was sincere, maybe not; even if he was, a company like B&N would strangle their entire Nook department before allowing Amazon to run Whispernet on their devices. And regardless of DRM issues, Kindle without Whispernet is hamstrung.

Of course, all it will take is for someone to make, say, an Android-based e-ink or e-paper device with 3g, and voila, you're all set. It may happen, it may not, but it is quite conceivable.

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books.

If the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android devices and Windows-enabled devices (including future tablets) wind up making, say, 75% of the market then they're pretty well covered.

I might add that as restricted as you view this situation, it's 100 times better than Apple's iTunes music for the first few years, where content purchased from the iTunes store only worked on iPods and iTunes -- which didn't even run on Windows at first. A situation, I might add, which Apple is replicating with iBooks.

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

Both, their strategy is to sell and profit off of the ebooks, Kindle devices and paper books.

They also want control over the experience. Spend a little time with an Android phone, and you'll see some of the issues inherent in a completely open system.....


Oh, by the way, for all two or three of you who are eschewing Amazon and the Big 5 et al, supposedly ebooks have leaped from ~3% of the market to closer to 8% this year. Stick to your guns if you prefer, but I'm guessing most people do not share your concerns.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

Kindle has knocked just about everyone on the mat with a very simple philosophy--fair prices and easy access.
Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

I agree mobi books are still a popular format, but when the likes of fictionwise reduce their offerings of mobi, one begins to wonder ....

[Scott Nicholson]

Geoff, that's a function of Fictionwise being owned by B & N, who naturally want to promote the ePub format of the Nook. B & N basically just threw money at the "problem" instead of addressing a sound digital strategy. They've been playing catch-up but only look to be falling farther behind. They won't give Kindle any bullets for its gun but Kindle won't need it because B & N is playing Russian roulette with Kobo and Sony and there's five bullets in already.

Scott Nicholson
http://hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com

[afa]

According to Jeff Bezos, it's not just hardbacks that the Kindle ebooks will outsell.

In an interview with USA Today, this is what Bezos had to say (emphasis is mine):

Q: Amazon is selling more Kindle e-books than hardcover books. When will you pass paperbacks?

A: I predict we will surpass paperback sales sometime in the next nine to 12 months. Sometime after that, we'll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover. It stuns me. People forget that Kindle is only 33 months old.

That's a pretty bold prediction, I must say. Personally, I'd be surprised if it comes true; but then again, I'm not the founder and CEO of one of the world's largest book sellers.

Oh, and since everyone always brings up ePubs when discussing Kindle, here's what Bezos said about that:

Q: Why doesn't Amazon support the popular "e-pub" standard used by your competitors and many libraries?

A: We are innovating so rapidly that having our own standard allows us to incorporate new things at a very rapid rate. For example: Whispersync (which uses wireless connections to sync your place in a book across devices) and changing font sizes.

Other standards over time may incorporate some of these things. But we're moving very quickly to improve the state of the art. It's very helpful not to have to wait for some third-party standard to catch up.

Thoughts?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by afa

Oh, and since everyone always brings up ePubs when discussing Kindle, here's what Bezos said about that:

Thoughts?

Neither of those examples are related to the book format, seems like a non sequiter to me.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

And indie authors (which will be almost ALL authors in five years) can leave their files unprotected if they choose. Amazon doesn't care--it's the big publishers that are forcing locks on the material.

Actually, Amazon's inability to offer non-DRM books from a "big publisher" is why Baen books are not yet available at the Kindle store. This has been mentioned several times by Toni Weisskopf at the Baen Bar. I'm not sure what's the problem - technical, legal or something else but there you are.

[Genaro Zamora]

Sounds like great news for the Indie Authors.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader. If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books. If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

As long as the Agency 5 publishers insist on DRM, those authors who own their own stuff and are willing, even eager, to issue it DRM-free on multiple platforms...well, that's one teeny-tiny thing in our favor. If Amazon, B&N, and the publishers wised up and opened up, that one teeny-tiny advantage would disappear. But still, the whole industry would be much bigger and my itsy-bitsy piece of it would be bigger, too, maybe.

I have to disagree with your first point. Amazon developed kindle software for the iPad, and that has been great for iPad users. Development is a lot of work, and expecting amazon to develop software for every reader out there is unrealistic. I am not familiar, from a programming standpoint, what is necessary to do to display kindle ebooks. But if amazon releases all relevant information on the ebook format so that developers can write programs to display that format, that should be enough. If encryption is involved and their algorithms are secret, then binary libraries could be released for different environments.
DRM really sucks, and I see little benefit in it. Consider that almost every book published can be found a few weeks after release on pirate sites in image .PDF format, what is the sense anyways? Fast scanners have made conversion into .pdf's easy and very fast. All DRM does is piss off paying customers.
Convenience and pricing are the two big factors in the ebook market. Make it easy for customers to get books onto their readers, and price those books fairly- say for the same price as a paperback book, and people will buy. Price them at the same price as a hardcover book, and it will piss people off and they will not buy.
Amazon has made a good start with 3G service and 9.99 pricing. Those factors alone remove much of the incentive for people to pirate. There have been some encouraging signs recently that publishers might be pulling their heads out of their rear ends, too. Recently I bout 10 or so books on iPhone programming from various publishers. Average price $40 or so in paper versions. Checked on kindle store and saw the prices were almost the same for a kindle version. Stupid, very stupid. But I checked on a couple of these books a week ago, and found that the kindle version was about $17 for each. If these publishers would wake up and price realistically, they would sell a lot more ebooks.

[wgrimm]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

No, they're trying to protect the hardcover best sellers. Those are the crown jewels of the industry. They generate the most revenue, carry the highest margins, and make the most profit. If people buy ebook editions instead of the hardcover, the publisher doesn't "make it up trimmed because there are simply too many books chasing too few readers.
______
Dennis

Technology changes, but publishers don't want to change with it. Their business model was developed in the 19th century- maybe it's time they updated it.

And, if a person really wants to read a newly released hardcover, they can do it for free. Just go to the library, or find it on a pirate site. High speed scanners make it really easy to transform a new hardcover into an image based .PDF, in just a minute or two.

The publishers are having a hard time learning that ebooks will account for a substantial portion of their revenues. And there are two keys to winning in this market- pricing and convenience.

And no, publishers won't be able to take their traditional business model and pricing schemes into this market. The publishers who can adapt will be around in 10 years. Those who prefer to whine and cannot adapt will be gone. And in 10 years, people will still be reading books, whether on ereaders or in paper form or whatever......

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Amazon needs to get over its obsession with exclusivity. They've created "Kindle for PC" for every conceivable device except the thing you most want to read on...your non-Kindle reader. If every reading device on the market could display Amazon books, they would sell more books. If the Kindle could read ePub files, they'd sell more Kindles. What does Amazon want to sell, Kindles or books?

Books.

Think of the Kindle as a device to prime the eBook pump. eBooks are a natural fit for Amazon. They are already the world's largest catalog retailer, and (I believe) the world's largest book retailer. They already had the infrastructure in place to display the catalog and take the order. Adding fulfillment, in the form of an immediate download as soon as the CC authorization happens, was a relatively trivial exercise. And ebooks don't have warehousing and distribution costs. For Amazon, what's not to like?

You can assume the Kindle makes money, but the Kindle barely scratches the surface of the potential ebook market. It's why Kindle apps started appearing for the PC, the iPhone, Android, and other platforms. Amazon wants to sell you ebooks.

As long as the Agency 5 publishers insist on DRM, those authors who own their own stuff and are willing, even eager, to issue it DRM-free on multiple platforms...well, that's one teeny-tiny thing in our favor. If Amazon, B&N, and the publishers wised up and opened up, that one teeny-tiny advantage would disappear. But still, the whole industry would be much bigger and my itsy-bitsy piece of it would be bigger, too, maybe.

Good luck.

Amazon doesn't use DRM to prevent unauthorized copying and sharing. They use it to lock you in to Amazon as the vendor. If you use a Kindle or a Kindle app, you have to buy your ebooks from Amazon. You can't buy them from another vendor, because Amazon uses a proprietary form of DRM.

If your Mobi formatted book is not encumbered by DRM, you can procure it from any source and side-load it to a Kindle, but the vast majority of commercial titles are encumbered. To buy a title from anyone else, you must strip the DRM to read it with a Kindle or Kindle app.

Amazon has an enormous selection, good pricing, and generally good customer service, so Kindle users don't normally see vendor lock-in as an imposition, but vendor lock-in is the point of their exercise.
______
Dennis

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Amazon has an enormous selection, good pricing, and generally good customer service, so Kindle users don't normally see vendor lock-in as an imposition, but vendor lock-in is the point of their exercise.

Agreed. I doubt Amazon has an innate desire to get rid of DRM merely because it's best for us. They made that play in music to compete with iTunes but I expect no altruism or even internal continuity from any corporation. Amazon has a business philosophy of being very customer-centric but a business plan is not a personal ethic in the way that you or I might apply one. They are still primarily dedicated to their fiduciary responsibility of providing maximum profit to their shareholders. Corporations, despite having legal person-hood, are obviously not people. Sony didn't move to ePub and promoting Overdrive compatibility until they were being outdone by Amazon and desperately needed a differentiator. It was a smart business move on their part given the state of the market.

Amazon does allow publishers to sell DRM-free books in their store. So far, no major publisher has decided to go that route. The market is nowhere near large enough for any retailer to try to push the issue, either. It's my not-particularly-educated-but-nonetheless-audacious guess that publishers are entering the ebook world kicking and screaming at this point and actively trying to slow things down while they retool. I do think we'll see an open market eventually but it will be awhile. In the meantime, Amazon will do its best to get ebook buyers in the habit of buying from them. They will cover every major OS and try to provide the most competitive stand-alone device (while such devices are still relevant) to get us looking to them first for a book.

tl;dr: Capitalism

[J. Strnad]

<<Actually ages ago Bezos said he'd allow Kindle on other ereaders, as long as they were willing to hook into Whispernet.>>

Since he's backing off Whispernet with the Wi-Fi Kindle, I wonder if there's any chance he'll soften that stance.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

<<Actually ages ago Bezos said he'd allow Kindle on other ereaders, as long as they were willing to hook into Whispernet.>>

Since he's backing off Whispernet with the Wi-Fi Kindle, I wonder if there's any chance he'll soften that stance.

Would it matter if he did?

Amazon wants to be the sole source for ebooks. You can read them with a Kindle or Kindle app for whatever platform, but you have to buy them from Amazon.

The Big 3 in the dedicated reader market at this point are the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, and the Barnes and Noble nook. There are other players, but they have small fractions of the market.

Barnes and Noble is in direct competition with Amazon as a book retailer, and wants you to buy ebooks from them. Can you really see them adding Amazon Kindle software to the nook, or Amazon giving them a license? I can't.

Sony is a greater possibility, since their desire is to sell you the Reader, but I still don't think it's likely.

Amazon bought Mobipocket and uses their software as the basis for the Kindle and the Kindle apps. Mobi always insisted that their ebook software was the only one doing DRM on the device before agreeing to issue a license to a reader vendor (which is why the Bookeen Cybook has Mobi software, but the Bookeen Opus uses Adobe's ePub/PDF viewer software. They weren't allowed to have both on the same device.)

I don't see Amazon changing that stance, and I don't see Sony issuing another reader model using Mobi viewer software that can only read purchased content from Amazon.

And dedicated readers are a niche market in any case. It's quite likely that for more people will actually read Kindle editions on an iPhone, iPad, Android device or PC than than on an actual Kindle reader. That's fine by Amazon, because they want to sell you the books.

I can see where being able to read Kindle editions on other readers would be a convenience for people who preferred dedicated readers, but I don't see what's in it for Amazon to make that happen.
______
Dennis

[carld]

It's quite likely that for more people will actually read Kindle editions on an iPhone, iPad, Android device or PC than than on an actual Kindle reader.

Eventually perhaps, or perhaps not. Currently 80% of Kindle ebooks are read on actual Kindles.

Edit: Or perhaps that's sales, I'd have to look up the actual quote to be certain.