09-24-2010, 03:05 PM | #1 |
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Thanks Oprah
The US eBook Market For 2010? $500 Million
"Before the Kindle launched, the eBook market was a running joke. Its fans were constantly proclaiming it to be the future, but that future never seemed to come." I beg to disagree. The real turning point was Oprah. Oprah Kuddles the Kindle "The power of Oprah Winfrey’s book recommendations is well-known: if the wildly popular talk show host and business magnate selects a title for her book club, the tome is virtually guaranteed bestseller status " Like her or not, I think that it was her promotion of the Kindle that really kicked started it all. Yes, a great many of you were reading ebooks long before her endorsement of the Kindle and ebooks. But as the article says; "Historically, Winfrey’s endorsement of any product—particularly right before the holidays—has led to an enormous sales spike. If that holds true for the Kindle reader, it’s possible the tech industry will look back at Winfrey’s endorsement as the moment when electronic readers went from being a niche product for technically-savvy individuals to a mainstream product suitable for consumers. " |
09-24-2010, 03:07 PM | #2 |
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Oprah and her hord of lemmings.
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09-24-2010, 03:12 PM | #3 |
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Yes, but the lemmings have credit cards.
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09-24-2010, 06:45 PM | #4 |
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Hey if she helps to boost sales of Ereaders & Ebooks don't knock it! GO OPRAH!!!
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09-24-2010, 08:21 PM | #5 |
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He's just ticked cause no one listened to him when he recommended the Barbie Computer as an ebook reader.
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09-24-2010, 08:38 PM | #6 |
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The Kindle didn't need Oprah. Her endorsement might have helped sales immediately afterwards, but the Kindle already had a ton of press coverage. The Sony Reader didn't have nearly the amount of press, which was probably in part due to the fact that Amazon was entering the electronics biz for the first time. Publicity no doubt had a role to play in the Kindle's success (especially since the Nook and the Sony Reader line have much less name recognition while the Kindle has hitherto not been sold in stores), but it was not just Oprah's doing. Amazon would be in the same position today with or without her.
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09-25-2010, 01:55 AM | #7 |
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Maybe she could troll the boards for the next trend, and for the holidays find a way to get an ebook reader at a really inexpensive price. Like it or not her endorsements work.
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09-26-2010, 05:25 AM | #8 |
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09-26-2010, 05:37 AM | #9 |
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I think she should. Oprah speaks - the world listens. Richard and Judy (for those of us in the UK) don't quite have the same effect.
To my mind anything that gets people reading is a good thing. Dan Brown (like his writing or not) got many people picking up a book for the first time since school, and JK Rowling and Harrry Potter did the same for kids. So if it needs Oprah then petition her to do so. |
09-26-2010, 09:43 AM | #10 | |
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Quote:
I've been wanting to finally read Anna Karenina, and the only title in the Kindle Store from the translation I want (Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) reads "Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)". I downloaded the sample to see if it would read that way on my Kindle. It does, and I won't buy it. While she is entitled to promote reading all she wants, she does not in any way deserve to be part of the title. I must add that I once read that when William F. Buckley Jr, the American conservative author and commentator, was asked about Oprah he said, "Isn't she that woman who is alternately thin then fat?" |
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09-26-2010, 04:56 PM | #11 |
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The only one missing out on not reading the book is you. It won't have the slightest effect on Oprah since she's already read it.
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09-26-2010, 06:07 PM | #12 |
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Hate is an interesting thing. We'll suffer anything to preserve it.
I suppose that you simply have a great deal of distaste for "celebrities". My wife hates ereaders - "It's not a real book". A neighbor's kid likes to read, so I gave him a book that I thought he would enjoy. It turns out that he hates to read from "used" books. What a winner. I don't watch Oprah. But from what little I've seen (and believe me, it's less than 4 or 5 minutes over the years) she seems to be a lot better than the rest. MobileRead has 2 English versions. You'll need something like Calibre to shift to a Kindle format. Good luck. |
09-26-2010, 09:08 PM | #13 |
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09-26-2010, 09:10 PM | #14 |
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09-26-2010, 09:11 PM | #15 | |
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