Steven King likes the Kindle

[mdibella]

I wonder how he feels about it today. His new book, which was available from Sony first thing this morning, is STILL listed as 'not yet available' on its Kindle page.

I bought mine in hardcover at the grocery store last night (I expect they put them out by mistake...) and am already well into it, but if I were waiting for Kindle I'd be annoyed.

[rationalbiker]

Originally Posted by mdibella

I wonder how he feels about it today. His new book, which was available from Sony first thing this morning, is STILL listed as 'not yet available' on its Kindle page.

I doubt he feels any different at all. It's likely that the distribution rights to his new book were probably worked out before he had his hands on a Kindle. I wouldn't think he would wake up on the morning of the release of his new book and go "Hey, why isn't my book available to the Kindle?" I imagine he's somewhat more informed about that.

[Alisa]

I doubt a lot of Kindle owners are deciding to never buy his book because of it.

[astra]

I also doubt he cares at all.
Most likely he has already forgotten what a word Kindle means.

[Icarusbop]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

I like the smell of old books.

I like the smell of living trees.

[Just4Fun]

"I wonder how he feels about it today. His new book, which was available from Sony first thing this morning, is STILL listed as 'not yet available' on its Kindle page."

FYI:
Amazon now has Stephen King's new book: Dumas Key @ $9.99

[radleyp]

Stephen King is a fan of ebooks. He started writing a novel something like 2 or 3 years ago (about some carniverous plant) which was to be published as an ebook only, but he never finished it. He thinks the Kindle is a handy device for reading, but not the only way to read, and I agree.

[mores]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Stephen King is a fan of ebooks. He started writing a novel something like 2 or 3 years ago (about some carniverous plant) which was to be published as an ebook only, but he never finished it. He thinks the Kindle is a handy device for reading, but not the only way to read, and I agree.

You had to buy his book per-chapter, and if it sold well enough he'd continue with the next one. He must have been ahead of his time, because it failed miserably, as far as I recall.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by Icarusbop

I like the smell of living trees.

Gross!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by mores

You had to buy his book per-chapter, and if it sold well enough he'd continue with the next one. He must have been ahead of his time, because it failed miserably, as far as I recall.

It probably failed because people could not be sure to get the whole book and therefore did not buy the parts.

[carld]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Stephen King is a fan of ebooks. He started writing a novel something like 2 or 3 years ago (about some carniverous plant) which was to be published as an ebook only, but he never finished it. He thinks the Kindle is a handy device for reading, but not the only way to read, and I agree.

I've never entirely forgiven him for that. He took money for the earlier parts then went off to do other things and never came back, bad form. I do agree with his opinion on the Kindle though. Now, if mine would just ship ...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by tompe

It probably failed because people could not be sure to get the whole book and therefore did not buy the parts.

It failed because King set a minimum level of sales that he wanted to get, per chapter, to continue the project (and readers were informed about this in advance of the project). As new chapters came out, fewer and fewer people bought them. Finally, the minimum level of purchases was reached, so he canned the project.

Slashdot article on Stephen King's online e-book experiment "The Plant"

Wired article on Stephen King's online e-book experiment "The Plant"

Guardian article on Stephen King's online e-book experiment "The Plant"

Not the way I would've done it, myself... I would've finished the project, accepted the loss, and reconsidered my business model or price for the next one. But I'm not Stephen King.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I just finished actually reading the article. I was glad to see these two statements:

The Kindle isn't as gratifying as a good book narrated by a great reader...but for what it is, it's just fine. It's light, holds its charge, is simple to operate. And for a fellow of my years (a less-than-generous reader recently referred to me in his blog as ''that elderly douchenozzle''), the Kindle has one great feature: You can adjust the typeface. In the printed version of In Pale Battalions, the type is readable but small; after an hour or so, I'd be maxed out. At its highest Kindle magnification, though, the narrative looks twice as big as this, and I can breeze along for twice that length of time, my finger stuttering on the NEXT PAGE button.

For a while I was very aware that I was looking at a screen and bopping a button instead of turning pages. Then the story simply swallowed me, as the good ones always do. I wasn't thinking about my Kindle anymore; I was rooting for someone to stop the evil Lady Powerstock. It became about the message instead of the medium, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It failed because King set a minimum level of sales that he wanted to get, per chapter, to continue the project (and readers were informed about this in advance of the project). As new chapters came out, fewer and fewer people bought them. Finally, the minimum level of purchases was reached, so he canned the project.

Yes I know, and as I said I think he did not get the sales because people did not trust that the book would be finished.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes I know, and as I said I think he did not get the sales because people did not trust that the book would be finished.

I didn't get that impression from the articles, but it's certainly possible. The impression I got was that so much time passed between chapters, that readers lost interest or got fed up waiting. And there's the inevitable "I don't like where this story is going" dropouts. And the $2 per chapter complaints.