Independent Science Fiction Writer Experiments with Revolutionary eBook Distribution

Kris777 · 05-30-2009, 10:54 PM

http://www.pr.com/press-release/155032

Burlington, VT, May 29, 2009 --(PR.com)-- "I'm writing science fiction. Makes sense to be on the cutting edge of content distribution," writer Mike Luoma said as he announced his use of Smashwords.com to distribute five of his titles. "I was tipped off to a great site for ebooks, Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com."

Luoma decided to try it out. "I've uploaded all three books in the "Vatican Assassin Trilogy": Vatican Assassin, Vatican Ambassador and Vatican Abdicator, as well as my collection of poems, lyrics and spells, Synthetic Marmalade, and my book on Gnosticism and early Christianity, NEO-GNOSIS," Luoma said.

Authors and publishers upload books to Smashwords and their software, known affectionately as the "Meatgrinder", takes the original document and converts it into several different formats. Smashwords then makes the ebooks available for sale using PayPal. The author can set a price for their book, allow the reader to pay what they feel like, or offer it for free. As Smashwords says on their website, they offer "...multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device."
"I've set all five books to allow the reader to pay whatever they like for them," Luoma said. Luoma's Smashwords profile page is at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mikeluoma .

When Amazon will start offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device?

tomorrow

in one year

never

What is your opinion?

sirbruce · 05-31-2009, 01:21 AM

I don't think any of those are valid choices.

Andybaby · 05-31-2009, 02:23 AM

yeah. I think they are atleast 2 years away.

they arent gonna do it until the Kindle looses market share.

Roy White · 05-31-2009, 02:27 AM

Never of course. Might as well ask when Starbucks will start giving away their coffee for free. An unknown sci fi writer takes this risk in hopes that people will read him that otherwise would never read him and just maybe buy his books creating his readership. Amazon or Statbucks will never give the store away to hooked customers. We can always dream though.

khalleron · 05-31-2009, 09:43 AM

Roy,

DRM-free does not mean free. Fictionwise, one of the oldest retailers of DRM-free books, has been in business for almost a decade. It's a business model that *works*, or else why would Amazon sell DRM-free music?

But I do say the poll's timeline is too short. I say 'five to ten years.'

Kate

Phogg · 05-31-2009, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andybaby

yeah. I think they are atleast 2 years away.

they arent gonna do it until the Kindle looses market share.

/sign

JSWolf · 05-31-2009, 09:24 PM

I think Amazon will open up the Kindle once Bezos sees that ePub is taking over and I think it will with more and more devices coming out with such and more and more libraries adding ePub support and more and more publishers making eBook in ePub format.

Format C: · 06-03-2009, 05:48 AM

Amazon will buy Smashworld and keep numbers low.

;-)

Andybaby · 06-03-2009, 06:21 AM

who knows whats gonna happen to the Ebook world once Barnes and Noble Step up to the plate.

plus with Google planning their own Ebook Store, If there is No clear Winner, DRM free is gonna become the winner.

Google and Amazon both have good track records when it comes to DRM free, or in googles case, Open Information. so if they start losing money because of the fact that they have a bad policy on DRM. they will remove it.

but what happens will have to be this. the publisher will have to be strong armed into using a drm free system, because if one person goes DRM free before everyone Else, publishers will pull their books and run to the DRM system.

so there are 2 things that I can think will happen.

1. Amazon Needs to Win, and after a few years, they will go DRM free.

2. Google Needs to Win. without their own reader, their DRM store will need to be compatible with alot of devices, which currently. is kinda crazy, as everyone is different. the only way google can win is if they go DRM free Early, Enough to pull Market share away from Amazon and competitors, While retaining publishers.

How will google retain publishers in a DRM free system? Offer them more money.

Amazon takes like 40% or more off the top of ebooks (I don't remember the exact numbers, only one that sticks in my mind are the NYT subscription pricec of 66-70% for AMZN and SPRT), Google can do it for 5% and win.

This is the way I hope it works out.

Amazon makes 9.99 or less the standard price of ebooks.

Google comes along, they let publishers charge what they want, Publishers make no money cause nobody wants to pay more than 10 bucks for an ebook, so they drop the price to 10 bucks, but they will still make more with google due to cheaper off the top prices from amazon (hopefully. I have no real numbers, but google is the sort of company that takes 1 penny from every transaction, they make money by just having more transactions then their competitiors)

At this point, Google, Or Amazon go DRM free to open their books for all readers.

some publishers pull their books and go with the other One.

But hey, wait a minute, now all those people who stuck with the DRM free force, they have more customers, they are making more money now. and the other store will now be making more money because of the larger customer base.

the Music Industry happened by 1, I think 2 will be what happens to the ebook industry.

View Poll Results: When Amazon will sell multi-format,DRM-free ebooks readable on any e-reading device?
tomorrow	0	0%
in one year	7	14.29%
never	42	85.71%
Voters: 49. You may not vote on this poll

05-30-2009, 10:54 PM	#1
Kris777 Banned Posts: 1,767 Karma: 2520493 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: Nexus 7, jetBook-Lite, jetBook mini, Toshiba Thrive, JETBOOK COLOR	Independent Science Fiction Writer Experiments with Revolutionary eBook Distribution http://www.pr.com/press-release/155032 Burlington, VT, May 29, 2009 --(PR.com)-- "I'm writing science fiction. Makes sense to be on the cutting edge of content distribution," writer Mike Luoma said as he announced his use of Smashwords.com to distribute five of his titles. "I was tipped off to a great site for ebooks, Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com." Luoma decided to try it out. "I've uploaded all three books in the "Vatican Assassin Trilogy": Vatican Assassin, Vatican Ambassador and Vatican Abdicator, as well as my collection of poems, lyrics and spells, Synthetic Marmalade, and my book on Gnosticism and early Christianity, NEO-GNOSIS," Luoma said. Authors and publishers upload books to Smashwords and their software, known affectionately as the "Meatgrinder", takes the original document and converts it into several different formats. Smashwords then makes the ebooks available for sale using PayPal. The author can set a price for their book, allow the reader to pay what they feel like, or offer it for free. As Smashwords says on their website, they offer "...multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device." "I've set all five books to allow the reader to pay whatever they like for them," Luoma said. Luoma's Smashwords profile page is at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mikeluoma . When Amazon will start offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device? tomorrow in one year never What is your opinion?

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05-31-2009, 01:21 AM	#2
sirbruce Provocateur Posts: 1,859 Karma: 505847 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Columbus, OH Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS	I don't think any of those are valid choices.

05-31-2009, 02:23 AM	#3
Andybaby Wizard Posts: 1,279 Karma: 1002683 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: New York Device: PRS-700	yeah. I think they are atleast 2 years away. they arent gonna do it until the Kindle looses market share.

05-31-2009, 02:27 AM	#4
Roy White Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 7696 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Turner, Oregon Device: Sony Reader	Never of course. Might as well ask when Starbucks will start giving away their coffee for free. An unknown sci fi writer takes this risk in hopes that people will read him that otherwise would never read him and just maybe buy his books creating his readership. Amazon or Statbucks will never give the store away to hooked customers. We can always dream though.

05-31-2009, 09:43 AM	#5
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,700 Karma: 3605799 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: MeeBook, Kobo Libra Colour	Roy, DRM-free does not mean free. Fictionwise, one of the oldest retailers of DRM-free books, has been in business for almost a decade. It's a business model that works, or else why would Amazon sell DRM-free music? But I do say the poll's timeline is too short. I say 'five to ten years.' Kate

05-31-2009, 09:24 PM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,064 Karma: 144284144 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I think Amazon will open up the Kindle once Bezos sees that ePub is taking over and I think it will with more and more devices coming out with such and more and more libraries adding ePub support and more and more publishers making eBook in ePub format.

06-03-2009, 05:48 AM	#8
Format C: Guru Posts: 753 Karma: 1496807 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: The Third World Device: iLiad + PRS-505 + Kindle 3	Amazon will buy Smashworld and keep numbers low. ;-)

06-03-2009, 06:21 AM	#9
Andybaby Wizard Posts: 1,279 Karma: 1002683 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: New York Device: PRS-700	who knows whats gonna happen to the Ebook world once Barnes and Noble Step up to the plate. plus with Google planning their own Ebook Store, If there is No clear Winner, DRM free is gonna become the winner. Google and Amazon both have good track records when it comes to DRM free, or in googles case, Open Information. so if they start losing money because of the fact that they have a bad policy on DRM. they will remove it. but what happens will have to be this. the publisher will have to be strong armed into using a drm free system, because if one person goes DRM free before everyone Else, publishers will pull their books and run to the DRM system. so there are 2 things that I can think will happen. 1. Amazon Needs to Win, and after a few years, they will go DRM free. 2. Google Needs to Win. without their own reader, their DRM store will need to be compatible with alot of devices, which currently. is kinda crazy, as everyone is different. the only way google can win is if they go DRM free Early, Enough to pull Market share away from Amazon and competitors, While retaining publishers. How will google retain publishers in a DRM free system? Offer them more money. Amazon takes like 40% or more off the top of ebooks (I don't remember the exact numbers, only one that sticks in my mind are the NYT subscription pricec of 66-70% for AMZN and SPRT), Google can do it for 5% and win. This is the way I hope it works out. Amazon makes 9.99 or less the standard price of ebooks. Google comes along, they let publishers charge what they want, Publishers make no money cause nobody wants to pay more than 10 bucks for an ebook, so they drop the price to 10 bucks, but they will still make more with google due to cheaper off the top prices from amazon (hopefully. I have no real numbers, but google is the sort of company that takes 1 penny from every transaction, they make money by just having more transactions then their competitiors) At this point, Google, Or Amazon go DRM free to open their books for all readers. some publishers pull their books and go with the other One. But hey, wait a minute, now all those people who stuck with the DRM free force, they have more customers, they are making more money now. and the other store will now be making more money because of the larger customer base. the Music Industry happened by 1, I think 2 will be what happens to the ebook industry.

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