I’ve been testing out some social reading apps on the iPad in recent weeks, and while I hope to post something more in-depth in the near future, I read some items today that corroborate a general disappointment I’ve been feeling. Too many restrictions About a week ago, a study about ebook buying and reading habits [...]
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Here’s how a local bookseller tried to get my future business
In my recent counter-tirade against the emotional outbursts that booksellers are frequently guilty of when they should be discussing retail strategies, I mentioned that the last time I contacted a local bookstore to offer feedback on what I want as a customer, I was ignored. I thought it might be nice to publish that email [...]
The biggest threat to local bookstores? Crazy booksellers and their fanboys
Last week, Amazon tried to train consumers to openly treat local retail stores as showrooms for Amazon merchandise. It was a ballsy but ethically shaky move; I believe customers who participated helped Amazon steal resources and sales from competitors for very little compensation. It was, at the very least, retail dirty pool. But then—even though [...]
It’s the Day Against DRM; does anybody care?
Why isn’t the Day Against DRM a bigger deal among ebook consumers?
Are readers growing more concerned about DRM? (Please?)
A highly informal survey hints that maybe DRM’s biggest enemy is the growing popularity of ebooks — the more you read, the more likely you are to be annoyed by lending and platform restrictions.
Dear Hachette, you’re doing it wrong
Hachette disables all highlighting in Kindle books, tells authors that piracy is to blame for low royalties, and brags about it to the press. Wtf?
Ebook prices in 2004 vs 2011: what’s changed?
On Monday I wrote in a post that I think prices for ebooks have gone down since 2004. Over on Teleread, a couple of readers called bullshit on that statement and argued that actually prices have been creeping up thanks to greedy publishers. Okay, it’s true I was basing my statement on my own experiences [...]
Do printed library books really fall apart after 26 uses? (No, they don’t.)
Yeah, I’m still posting about HarperCollins’ new ebook library policy. It’s not just that it’s such a damned greedy, destructive move to make against libraries, the publishing equivalent of clubbing a highly literate seal. It’s that HarperCollins is using this policy change to try to push a 500%+ increase in the frequency with which libraries [...]
How your next ebook loan might sap your library’s book budget
For all their good qualities, and there are almost two, publishers sometimes have really bad traits as well, and one of the worst is a hatred of public libraries. Last week, HarperCollins revealed the extent of this hate when it announced a new ebook lending policy: after 26 check-outs, the ebook’s license expires, and the [...]
One way ebook retailers might be able to get around Apple’s 30% tax
Remember Stanza? It was among the first and brightest ebook apps when the iPhone App Store started to really take off, which is why Amazon bought the developer in April ’09. Stanza’s good reviews and press coverage were well-deserved; it handles DRM-free ePub books quite well, it provides in-app access to a number of different [...]
Here’s how Apple’s 30% commission might affect ebook apps
Update: It seems Apple has somewhat confirmed that ebook apps are included in the new requirements. My two predicted changes below remain fairly accurate, but now you can add two more potential changes: either the apps will go away completely, or ebook prices could rise. Last week I was convinced that Apple wouldn’t try to [...]
How Kindle’s new Public Notes could change the way we read ebooks
Someone else may have already noted this, but it took me four days to realize the game-changing potential of the upcoming Public Notes feature Amazon is bringing to the Kindle. If authors and celebrities take to it the way they’ve taken to Twitter, they could create entirely new marketing angles (bleh), as well as entirely [...]