I bought a Kindle.It arrived today.I feel a bit like a pastor caught with a Playboy under his arm.I've been considering (albeit rather idly) a purchase for some time. After all, the reviews and press have been largely positive. Yes, I love gadgets and technology (I'm not quite sure how I checked email before my iPhone). And I really like the idea of being able to carry around enough titles to satisfy most any reading mood that strikes me, as well as the ability to get a book immediatelyfor those times I don't. And I'm as curious as anyone to...
The Book Divide
A colleague of mine recently received this feedback from an Amazon customer:2 out of 5 stars: "Three layers of wrapping for a book! This is expensiveand wasteful. Just stick it in an envelope and send it." Another illuminating example of the wide range of relationships that people have with books. There are those who cherish the book as an object and those that cherish the content and unfortunately, rarely the twain have met.
In Defence of Amazon : Their New POD Strategy as Opportunity.
Much has been written about Amazon's new strategy of offering print on demand titles sold on their website exclusively through their POD company, Book Surge. Cries of monopoly and unfair business practices have permeated the discourse but there are I believe, potential opportunities for publishers and authors within this new paradigm.Just as the arrival of Amazon changed the bookselling landscape forever their new POD strategy is sure to alter the publishing landscape in similar ways and how the publishers respond will ultimately determine their chance of survival. Will we lose as many publishers as we have book stores?I see nothing...
Vendor Satisfaction and Online Bookselling
Last week Which?, a Consumer Reports type organization in the United Kingdom, released the results of a survey focusing on customer satisfaction as it relates to online shopping for entertainment products.Abebooks UK lead the field with a rating of "89% for overall satisfaction and were praised for how easy it was to find products on their site." The sample size for AbeBooks was pretty slight at 89 respondents where Amazon UK had 2812 and, the other company that shared the top spot with AbeBooks, Play.com had 416 respondents. Categories included Price, Availability, Delivery and Returns.I would love to see someone...
Amazon is the "secret buyer" of J.K. Rowlings "The Tales of Beedle and the Bard"
Amazon.com paid a record £1,950,000 at Sotheby's yesterday for one of the seven copies in existence of J.K. Rowling's hand-written and illustrated book of fairy-tales "The Tales of Beedle and the Bard."The Times of London originally reported that the "An anonymous collector, bidding through a dealer who usually specialises in Old Masters" was the high bidder. How that ends up being Amazon is a story of for another day.Amazon boasts that the purchase was a simple thank you to Rowling who recently concluded the record-breaking Harry Potter series. The series was a publishing hi-spot and Amazon sold millions upon millions...