Amazon's aim of every book being available on the Kindle

Ben Thornton · 08-08-2010, 04:51 PM

Amazon's stated aim is to have every book available on the Kindle. Their book store claims something like 30 million titles, while Kindle offers about half a million (bit less in UK, bit more in US). Have they got a snowball's chance in hell of realising their aim, or is this just marketing? At first glance, this looks like getting 60x what they already have.

On a related note, "Harry Potter" lists about 7000 titles - about 1000 times the number of actual titles. So, maybe that 30 million is really a lot fewer actual individual titles, with fewer duplicates in the Kindle space. (I know that there are more than 7 books that would legitimately come up under the search, but still there are a lot of duplicates).

carld · 08-08-2010, 05:15 PM

I'd say no, not all books. Some authors and publishers will simply refuse to allow their books to be published as ebooks. Could Amazon eventually make the majority of their catalog available for the Kindle? Yeah, I think so.

McClane · 08-08-2010, 05:22 PM

I hope they are going to start with german books, too. No bestseller is available at the moment at amazon. Just a few thousand books in german at all in the US shop.

shanghaichica · 08-08-2010, 05:46 PM

Well as long as there is a push for it, the number of books available in ebook format will rise. They will probably not get all books, but they can get a lot more than there are now.

HarryT · 08-09-2010, 03:14 AM

The vast majority of new books do seem to be appearing as ebooks. The challenge will be dealing with the enormous back-catalogues that publishers have. The problem here is that in many cases the publisher will not have ebook publication rights to those books, so it will involve new contracts, etc. It's not a straightforward process.

PaulGuy · 08-09-2010, 06:34 AM

It's a goal which they want to work toward. Not just every book, but every book in every language ever made. It won't happen in Jeff Bezo's lifetime. Maybe his grandchildren will see it. Probably not. But it's good to have goals.

Mike L · 08-09-2010, 07:20 AM

Keep in mind that when, as Ben says, Amazon's "book store claims something like 30 million titles", that doesn't mean they are able to supply 30 million titles, even if you take third-party sales into account (as in "Available from these sellers"). And of course it doesn't mean they have anything like that number of titles in stock.

It's more likely that the figure refers to the number of books that have an ISBN for the countries and languages where Amazon operates. In theory, any bookseller can order any book with an ISBN, but that's not much use if a book is out of print and any second-hand or remainder copies on the market can't be traced.

So the figure of 30 million doesn't really mean much, nor does the fact that it's 60 tmes the number of ebooks available.

Sischa · 08-09-2010, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulGuy

It's a goal which they want to work toward. Not just every book, but every book in every language ever made. It won't happen in Jeff Bezo's lifetime. Maybe his grandchildren will see it. Probably not. But it's good to have goals.

LOL i know people who told the same about music maybe 10-15 years ago and now there is not even one music store in our whole town anymore and if i hear some absolutly unknown song at the end of some unkown TV movie i use my iPhone to recognize the song and buy it online in <1 minute on a sunday night ...

Pretty sure Jeff Bezo's grandchildren won't see it, of course

Ben Thornton · 08-09-2010, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sischa

LOL i know people who told the same about music maybe 10-15 years ago and now there is not even one music store in our whole town anymore and if i hear some absolutly unknown song at the end of some unkown TV movie i use my iPhone to recognize the song and buy it online in <1 minute on a sunday night ...

Pretty sure Jeff Bezo's grandchildren won't see it, of course

Did you mean that you can get any music now? Because there's a fair bit of music that I'd like which is not digitally available still. And some that once was but is no longer - so you have to get rare CDs second hand to get it.

If we do as well with books as we have with music, that would be a massive step forward, of course - but that has taken more than 20 years since CDs first appeared.

Alisa · 08-09-2010, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Did you mean that you can get any music now? Because there's a fair bit of music that I'd like which is not digitally available still. And some that once was but is no longer - so you have to get rare CDs second hand to get it.

If we do as well with books as we have with music, that would be a massive step forward, of course - but that has taken more than 20 years since CDs first appeared.

Yep. And let's not forget that it's a lot easier to digitize a recording than it is a paper book.

Ben Thornton · 08-09-2010, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alisa

Yep. And let's not forget that it's a lot easier to digitize a recording than it is a paper book.

Yes, I want one of these!

TomF · 08-11-2010, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Yes, I want one of these!

I wonder how many books got sacrificed before they trusted it with that 16th century book!

08-08-2010, 04:51 PM	#1
Ben Thornton Guru Posts: 900 Karma: 779635 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: UK Device: Kindle 3, iPad 2 (but not for e-books)	Amazon's aim of every book being available on the Kindle Amazon's stated aim is to have every book available on the Kindle. Their book store claims something like 30 million titles, while Kindle offers about half a million (bit less in UK, bit more in US). Have they got a snowball's chance in hell of realising their aim, or is this just marketing? At first glance, this looks like getting 60x what they already have. On a related note, "Harry Potter" lists about 7000 titles - about 1000 times the number of actual titles. So, maybe that 30 million is really a lot fewer actual individual titles, with fewer duplicates in the Kindle space. (I know that there are more than 7 books that would legitimately come up under the search, but still there are a lot of duplicates).

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08-08-2010, 05:15 PM	#2
carld Wizard Posts: 2,698 Karma: 4748723 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I'd say no, not all books. Some authors and publishers will simply refuse to allow their books to be published as ebooks. Could Amazon eventually make the majority of their catalog available for the Kindle? Yeah, I think so.

08-08-2010, 05:22 PM	#3
McClane Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	I hope they are going to start with german books, too. No bestseller is available at the moment at amazon. Just a few thousand books in german at all in the US shop.

08-08-2010, 05:46 PM	#4
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 989 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11, iPhone 13 Pro Max,iPad mini 6, PW5	Well as long as there is a push for it, the number of books available in ebook format will rise. They will probably not get all books, but they can get a lot more than there are now.

08-09-2010, 03:14 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The vast majority of new books do seem to be appearing as ebooks. The challenge will be dealing with the enormous back-catalogues that publishers have. The problem here is that in many cases the publisher will not have ebook publication rights to those books, so it will involve new contracts, etc. It's not a straightforward process.

08-09-2010, 06:34 AM	#6
PaulGuy Zealot Posts: 112 Karma: 520 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Connecticut Device: GDX, K2i, K3 3G, nook wi-fi	It's a goal which they want to work toward. Not just every book, but every book in every language ever made. It won't happen in Jeff Bezo's lifetime. Maybe his grandchildren will see it. Probably not. But it's good to have goals.

08-09-2010, 07:20 AM	#7
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	Keep in mind that when, as Ben says, Amazon's "book store claims something like 30 million titles", that doesn't mean they are able to supply 30 million titles, even if you take third-party sales into account (as in "Available from these sellers"). And of course it doesn't mean they have anything like that number of titles in stock. It's more likely that the figure refers to the number of books that have an ISBN for the countries and languages where Amazon operates. In theory, any bookseller can order any book with an ISBN, but that's not much use if a book is out of print and any second-hand or remainder copies on the market can't be traced. So the figure of 30 million doesn't really mean much, nor does the fact that it's 60 tmes the number of ebooks available.

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