The ebook experience

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That ship sailed long ago. Agency pricing killed the indie ebook stores and selling devices at near cost killed the profitability in making an ereader not tied to a store.

I don't necessarily agree.

First, there are many store models other than pure price point. Heck, even if you want to compete on price, you can get around agency pricing simply by using things like loyalty discounts or things like cash back. That's what PetSmart does. I get cash back that I can apply to my next purchase when I buy pet supplies. So, pointing to agency pricing simply implies a lack of imagination by the eBook store.

I also disagree with regards to device price points. Amazon has eReader devices ranging from $130 to $180 for the paperwhite and $250 to $350 for the Oasis. Kobo ranges from $120 to $280. So there are lots of price points that people will buy at. That doesn't even include reading on your tablet or smartphone.

Right now, the two biggest eBook stores in the US seem to be Amazon and Apple. The estimated market share varies a lot depending on who you ask. I've seen Amazon's market share estimated anywhere from 67% to 80%, with Apple's market share somewhere around 20% once again, the actual share depends on who is doing the estimating.

I suspect that quality eBook readers could likely compete, the real question is what is the market share of eBook readers verses tables. Is it significant or is it a niche market?

With regards to eBook stores, I think there are a number of factors. First, there is the question of how easy is it to get your purchase into whatever you use to read the eBook. Then you have the how much you spend on eBooks. Also, you have eBook catalog. Then you have customer experience.

I wonder how successful independent eBook stores would be if there was a standardized way of easily getting eBooks on your eBook reading device of choice. If that particular issue was solved, I can see things like genre specific eBook stores popping up.

[leebase]

I’d like to see a paper white kindle for $49. I might buy one then.

I’d like to see Apple and Amazon mature their ebook apps with all the features the independents have pioneered. Amazon didn’t even incorporate the features from Stanza that they bought years ago.

I’d like to be able to sync the ebook and audio book no matter where I bought either one. It’s really nice when I’ve had this feature from kindle/audible

I wish Apple and Kindle automatically knew and organized by series.

I wish the iBooks drm was cracked

I wish FBReader had a normal bookmark feature and could highlight passages.

I wish I wish I could text search an audible book.

I wish for better discovery and recommendations.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by leebase

I wish FBReader had a normal bookmark feature and could highlight passages.

At least some versions of FBReader are open source, so you could offer a bounty on the feature, or even create a crowd funding project if a developer is willing to commit.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by leebase

I’d like to see a paper white kindle for $49. I might buy one then.

I’d like to see Apple and Amazon mature their ebook apps with all the features the independents have pioneered. Amazon didn’t even incorporate the features from Stanza that they bought years ago.

I’d like to be able to sync the ebook and audio book no matter where I bought either one. It’s really nice when I’ve had this feature from kindle/audible

I wish Apple and Kindle automatically knew and organized by series.

I wish the iBooks drm was cracked

I wish FBReader had a normal bookmark feature and could highlight passages.

I wish I wish I could text search an audible book.

I wish for better discovery and recommendations.

You have your wish on a couple of those wishes. iBooks drm has been cracked, however the software only works on Sierra or earlier. The newish books app does recognize series, at least the series for books purchased at the Books eBook store, not for books that you side load. Perhaps it uses a different meta data tag for series, so perhaps it is possible. I haven't really explored it.

The Kobo app does a pretty good job on series as well, however, I don't know of a way to side load in the Kobo app.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The Kobo app does a pretty good job on series as well, however, I don't know of a way to side load in the Kobo app.

You can try hitting ctrl+shift+S (⌘+shift+S for a Mac) while in My Books on the Kobo desktop app. See Kobo EPUB Guidelines for readme.md on the official Kobo GitHub page.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I don't necessarily agree.

First, there are many store models other than pure price point. Heck, even if you want to compete on price, you can get around agency pricing simply by using things like loyalty discounts or things like cash back. That's what PetSmart does. I get cash back that I can apply to my next purchase when I buy pet supplies. So, pointing to agency pricing simply implies a lack of imagination by the eBook store.

Agency doesn't allow discounts by the store. Agency doesn't allow for loyalty rewards to be applied to agency eBooks. That's the problem. That's why stores like Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard went out of business. There business models were unable to work with Agency. That's still the same today. Nothing's changed.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Agency doesn't allow discounts by the store. Agency doesn't allow for loyalty rewards to be applied to agency eBooks. That's the problem. That's why stores like Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard went out of business. There business models were unable to work with Agency. That's still the same today. Nothing's changed.

Of course, one can apply cash rewards to agency eBooks.

You keep repeating the same tired narrative about Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard and I keep pointing out that Fictionwise was purchased in 2009, well before agency pricing went into effect and BookOnBoard closed down in 2013, a time period in which Agency pricing was no in effect due to Judge Cotes 2012 order to the publishers. BooksOnBoard attributed their demise to having to compete with deep pocketed companies like Amazon, B&N and Apple.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You can try hitting ctrl+shift+S (⌘+shift+S for a Mac) while in My Books on the Kobo desktop app. See Kobo EPUB Guidelines for readme.md on the official Kobo GitHub page.

Interesting, thanks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Of course, one can apply cash rewards to agency eBooks.

OK, show me this happening.

You keep repeating the same tired narrative about Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard and I keep pointing out that Fictionwise was purchased in 2009, well before agency pricing went into effect and BookOnBoard closed down in 2013, a time period in which Agency pricing was no in effect due to Judge Cotes 2012 order to the publishers. BooksOnBoard attributed their demise to having to compete with deep pocketed companies like Amazon, B&N and Apple.

Fictionwise was bought, but it still ran the same until agency cause it to no longer be able to keep it's rewards, discounts, and club memberships going.

BooksOnBoard was the same. It was no longer able to keep the rewards, discounts, and such due to agency.

That's why these two went under because their business models were no longer able to be. They then could not compete. So yes, agnecy did take down these two stores.

That is the truth and no matter if you believe or not, it's what is.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Interesting, thanks.

Bummer, I can side load books, but Kobo doesn't sync sideloaded books between devices. For that matter, they don't seem to put sync sideloaded books into the collections either.

[Tomk2]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

For which format? Paperback? Hard bound? I've got several different copies of Jane Eyre and all have differing page counts.

I'd like percentages to be based only on the book itself, not front or back matter.

I've no complaints about finding new books to read. I follow a few authors, and pay some attention to the books they may review or new authors they may mention.

I dont care! And I also agree on your percent commentary.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

I want page numbers to work on every ebook.

That seems a little like requiring that all cars come with buggy whips.

Barry

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

I want page numbers to work on every ebook.

Then read ePub on a Reader or with an app that supports ADE page numbers and you'll have working page numbers on every eBook you read. Problem solved.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Then read ePub on a Reader or with an app that supports ADE page numbers and you'll have working page numbers on every eBook you read. Problem solved.

Or just sideload from Calibre. The Count Pages plugin will also help.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

OK, show me this happening.



Fictionwise was bought, but it still ran the same until agency cause it to no longer be able to keep it's rewards, discounts, and club memberships going.

BooksOnBoard was the same. It was no longer able to keep the rewards, discounts, and such due to agency.

That's why these two went under because their business models were no longer able to be. They then could not compete. So yes, agnecy did take down these two stores.

That is the truth and no matter if you believe or not, it's what is.

Do you have any proof of this or is this more “it’s a fact because Jon says it is”. And no the happenstance of the events occurring near each other isn’t proof of causation