About the whole Amazon\/MacMillion\/iPad thing. (and man, I must say again, I really hate that name…iPad).<\/p>\n
Okay, it’s no big secret that with the kindle and the majority of the $9.99 bestsellers, Amazon has the dominant place, for now, in the digital market.<\/p>\n
And it’s also no big secret that the digital publishing industry is getting bigger. It is. Bottom line. But for now, Amazon’s pretty much been in control. They can afford to sell the books they sell @ $9.99 (even if it’s at a loss to them). They make money from the Kindle-that’s their selling point. But other bookstores can’t afford to sell at a loss. Other places can’t compete.\u00a0 (Although with Apple moving into the game, I suspect things will change.)<\/p>\n
Without competition, the ebook market isn’t going to grow the way it needs to.<\/p>\n
Competition is a good thing for business, right?<\/p>\n
I’m not business minded, but competition is one of things that helps drives the industry, right? Isn’t competition something that drives businesses to create a better product, a friendlier format, etc, etc? Competition will bring (hopefully) about more choices for the reader. Maybe competition will bring more affordable ebook readers to the market.<\/p>\n
Me? I’m not reading on a phone anytime soon (read… never<\/em>), and I know a lot of people are interested in a dedicated device, but they won’t buy one until it hits under $149 or cheaper.<\/p>\n More competition will bring that about.<\/p>\n Does all of this mean I want<\/em> to see higher ebook prices for readers?\u00a0 No-I want fair ebook prices that will allow the publishers to turn the profit they need, and still be affordable to readers. <\/em><\/p>\n I’m<\/em> a reader, and I spend an unreal amount of money on books every year.\u00a0 Unreal…shudder.\u00a0 Don’t ask.\u00a0 And as books are one thing I don’t tend to curb my impulse buys very well, if prices go up, that means I’m spending more money-I’d rather not<\/em> be doing that-if I’m spending more money, I’d rather it because I’m buying more<\/em> books, not spending more money per<\/em> book.<\/p>\n And I’m not saying this because I want to see people buying me hardback over buying me in ebook-I’m not in<\/em> hardback and it will be a few years, at least, before that happens, assuming it does happen.\u00a0 So the price of hardbacks really doesn’t affect me at this point, at all.<\/p>\n I want fair<\/em> prices…but I mean fair…all around<\/em>.\u00a0 Fair means just that… fair. <\/em>Fair all across the board-something that is affordable to the reader, yet still benefits the author, the publisher and the bookseller, because it’s all one big circle.\u00a0 One very big circle, often with overlapping parts-booksellers are often readers.\u00a0 Readers are often authors.\u00a0 Authors are often readers.\u00a0 One big, interconnected circle, so I’d like to see something fair…across the board and I can want fair, all across the board.\u00a0 I’m allowed to do that.\u00a0 Maybe it’s Pollyanna of me to want that, but hey… it’s kind of my blog and if I want to overly optimistic, I can do so.<\/p>\n I’m not entirely sure if $9.99 (for the ebook version of a hardback) ‘is’ fair.\u00a0 I don’t remember where I heard it, but somebody said Amazon openly admit they lose money selling books at that price. I do know that other bookstores can’t afford the ‘loss’ Amazon can, so as long as Amazon continues to sell at a loss, relying on the sale of Kindles (assuming that’s how this works) to make up on those losses, then real competition isn’t going to really happen.\u00a0 Until there’s serious competition, the ebook market isn’t going to become what I think it can become.\u00a0 That’s just my two cents on it, but as long as one major place stays in control, there’s not really any growth.\u00a0 It’s just maintaining the status quo.<\/p>\n Competition is what makes a market thrive.\u00a0 Competition, ultimately, will offer readers more choices.\u00a0\u00a0 Competition will bring about other ebook reading devices, it will hopefully get the focus on issues like DRM and how it doesn’t do crap to solve piracy and all it does is annoy users (me included).\u00a0 Competition leads to growth and as the market grows and expands, maybe the price issue will level out.\u00a0 It wasn’t that<\/em> long ago that Amazon was selling the Kindle for how much?\u00a0 Wasn’t it originally like $399 or $359?\u00a0 Then they dropped it $259?<\/p>\n They’d expanded the market, leveled things out-those who really got<\/em> the device when they really wanted<\/em> it were willing to pay the price and now it’s available at a cheaper price and more are willing to pick it up.\u00a0 It’s likely that price will drop again at some point, especially with the iPad coming out, and there’s also the very cute Barnes and Noble Nook and even though I’ve got a Sony Touch that I love, I may be taking a second look at a Nook (say that fives times fast).<\/p>\n I think once the publishing industry gets a better feel of the ebook market, once things level out, the current turmoil will<\/em> settle down.\u00a0\u00a0 Right now, things are a mess.\u00a0\u00a0 But it doesn’t surprise me, really.\u00a0 As things start to grow, they often get…messy.\u00a0 Anybody who has ever had a kid in their house knows that.\u00a0 The digital age is probably nearing its ‘teen’ years, so to speak, right?\u00a0 Growing pains are to be expected.\u00a0 And as traditional publishing tries to merge with digital publishing, there are going to be bumps along the way.\u00a0 Some people are going to screw up, probably more than others.\u00a0 Unfortunately, some of us just don’t learn without falling down along the way-I can see this honestly because I know-I’m one of those people who see the light once I’m on my butt and looking upward.<\/p>\n And I still like my idea-a ‘fair’ idea, in my mind-pubs could developed a ‘tiered’ pricing system to use with online booksellers.<\/p>\n