John Simkin Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 There is not doubt that technology is dramatically changing book publishing. As a result of the creation of an impressive e-book reader, the Kindle, we will now see a sharp fall in the number of titles from traditional book publishers. The fact that Kindle is owned by the world’s largest bookseller, Amazon, will increase the speed of this process. For example, most authors receive a maximum royalty of 10%. However, if you charge less than £9.99 for your e-book on Amazon, the author receives a 70% royalty. It is now possible for everyone to have their books on the JFK assassination published on e-books. What the Kindle is not very good at is producing visual images. The best solution for this is to put these on your website (the latest versions give access to the internet). In the short-term I think that these changes will increase the market for books that look more like comics and magazines. David Talbot has recently launched a new publisher called Pulp History. The first two titles are Devil Dog (Smedley Butler) and Shadow Knights (Special Operations Executive). I am very impressed with this format and it will be interesting if he plans to bring out a book on the JFK assassination. http://pages.simonandschuster.com/pulphistory/home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Viklund Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 John, Thank you for this info. I need to do some catching up about this, no doubt. Glenn V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 This kind of worries me. Reading books was the last bastion against sitting in front of your computer. But now with Kindle, that may all change. The great advantage of course is the price of the book. The disadvantage is the price of kindle. Once the price of Kindle comes down, the revolution is on. Understandably, Amazon are currently keeping the price of the Kindle high. In a few months it will be in their interest in bringing down the price in order to increase the sale of e-books. These will be provided cheaply to schools and Amazon will take control of the school-textbook market. People will also read their newspapers via their Kindle. All these developments will destroy jobs and will contribute to a future of high-unemployment in the US and Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 This kind of worries me. Reading books was the last bastion against sitting in front of your computer. But now with Kindle, that may all change. The great advantage of course is the price of the book. The disadvantage is the price of kindle. Once the price of Kindle comes down, the revolution is on. Understandably, Amazon are currently keeping the price of the Kindle high. In a few months it will be in their interest in bringing down the price in order to increase the sale of e-books. These will be provided cheaply to schools and Amazon will take control of the school-textbook market. People will also read their newspapers via their Kindle. All these developments will destroy jobs and will contribute to a future of high-unemployment in the US and Europe. I would think that it would create new jobs and opportunities for those young enough to want to develop another sector. And as a writer, I like that 70% of $10 royalities give out rather than the 10% of $20 mainstream publishers give their wriers. I also think there is a more managable distribution that can be kept track of - like that of music - there is an exact number of downloads of a specific song - whether it is requested on a juke box, played on the radio or downloaded onto a computer, - there's a computerized record of the hits the song got. Same goes for books and articles - you know how many people have requested, or paid to read it. There was a notice today that they will no longer print telephone directory books, which was met with little interest and saving a tree seen as a positive light. How is the move from hard copy to soft copy putting anybody out of work except maybe lumberjacks? Thanks for calling attention to this John, BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 This kind of worries me. Reading books was the last bastion against sitting in front of your computer. But now with Kindle, that may all change. The great advantage of course is the price of the book. The disadvantage is the price of kindle. Once the price of Kindle comes down, the revolution is on. Understandably, Amazon are currently keeping the price of the Kindle high. In a few months it will be in their interest in bringing down the price in order to increase the sale of e-books. These will be provided cheaply to schools and Amazon will take control of the school-textbook market. People will also read their newspapers via their Kindle. All these developments will destroy jobs and will contribute to a future of high-unemployment in the US and Europe. I would think that it would create new jobs and opportunities for those young enough to want to develop another sector. And as a writer, I like that 70% of $10 royalities give out rather than the 10% of $20 mainstream publishers give their wriers. I also think there is a more managable distribution that can be kept track of - like that of music - there is an exact number of downloads of a specific song - whether it is requested on a juke box, played on the radio or downloaded onto a computer, - there's a computerized record of the hits the song got. Same goes for books and articles - you know how many people have requested, or paid to read it. There was a notice today that they will no longer print telephone directory books, which was met with little interest and saving a tree seen as a positive light. How is the move from hard copy to soft copy putting anybody out of work except maybe lumberjacks? Thanks for calling attention to this John, BK One possibility is for the Forum to publish that series of seminars on the JFK assassination we produced as an e-book. These could be rewritten based on the comments from other members. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=197 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto B Cornejo Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 The wi-fi Kindle is $139. The 3G is $189. How much lower do you think it needs to go to break into the kind of mainstream that causes what Jim called, a revolution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto B Cornejo Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 (edited) The wi-fi Kindle is $139. The 3G is $189. How much lower do you think it needs to go to break into the kind of mainstream that causes what Jim called, a revolution? Let's see...the first DVD player I bought was around $200...now I can get one for under $20...so I'd say about $15 bucks would be a good prioce for a Kindle... Interesting. Thanks. I think it's going to be a while before e-book readers are so ubiquitous that the cost will be that low. and I wonder if DVD players are that low because the they are outdated by the advent of blu-ray players. which would mean that something better would have to be on the market for e-books to become that cheap. I suppose the iPad and the Sony Reader as well as others have already started bringing competition to the market. we'll see. Edited November 12, 2010 by Otto B Cornejo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Hinrichs Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Interesting. Thanks. I think it's going to be a while before e-book readers are so ubiquitous that the cost will be that low. and I wonder if DVD players are that low because the they are outdated by the advent of blu-ray players. which would mean that something better would have to be on the market for e-books to become that cheap. I suppose the iPad and the Sony Reader as well as others have already started bringing competition to the market. we'll see. The iPad&Co and the future generations of them will become a revolution in the book market, Otto. Imagine you can blow up an image , watch enhanced stable GIF's and walk through virtual scenes....in a book. Nothing can beat that. Greetings from Harry Potter. best to you Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Raymond Carroll Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 In an acknowledgment of the growing sales and influence of digital publishing, The New York Times said on Wednesday that it would publish e-book best-seller lists in fiction and nonfiction beginning early next year. The lists will be compiled from weekly data from publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers and online retailers, among other sources. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/books/11list.html?ref=books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 There is not doubt that technology is dramatically changing book publishing. As a result of the creation of an impressive e-book reader, the Kindle, we will now see a sharp fall in the number of titles from traditional book publishers. The fact that Kindle is owned by the world’s largest bookseller, Amazon, will increase the speed of this process. For example, most authors receive a maximum royalty of 10%. However, if you charge less than £9.99 for your e-book on Amazon, the author receives a 70% royalty. It is now possible for everyone to have their books on the JFK assassination published on e-books. What the Kindle is not very good at is producing visual images. The best solution for this is to put these on your website (the latest versions give access to the internet). In the short-term I think that these changes will increase the market for books that look more like comics and magazines. David Talbot has recently launched a new publisher called Pulp History. The first two titles are Devil Dog (Smedley Butler) and Shadow Knights (Special Operations Executive). I am very impressed with this format and it will be interesting if he plans to bring out a book on the JFK assassination. http://pages.simonandschuster.com/pulphistory/home Kindle is one of a number of outlets that sell ebooks. My new ebook, Watergate Exposed, is being offered by Kindle now and in the next few weeks by the other outlets listed below. So if you are thinking about publishing an ebook, keep in mind these additional outlets for your work: Amazon - Kindle Apple - EPUB Baker & Taylor - PDF Barnes & Noble - EPUB BooksonBoard.com – EPUB, PDF Borders – EPUB, PDF Diesel-ebooks.com - PDF EbookExpress.com - PDF Ebooks.com – EPUB, PDF Ebrary - PDF eFollett - PDF Follett Digital Resources - PDF Ingram Digital – EPUB, PDF Kobo – EPUB, PDF Netlibrary - PDF Overdrive – EPUB, PDF Powells.com - PDF Questia - PDF Sony - EPUB TecKnoQuest - PDF Waterstone’s - PDF WHSmith.co.uk - PDF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 a cheap tiny usb stick, readily distrbuted can contain boooks and can be independent of the internet if necessary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 (edited) I have an e-book (non-JFK) being sold by Amazon for Kindle. But I can't say I'm all that happy about it. I went Christmas shopping last year at the Avenues Mall in Jacksonville, Florida. I was amazed and disgusted to find that in that entire place, there was not a single bookstore. The demise of the printed book is a human tragedy. But I'm just old-fashioned. Edited November 16, 2010 by Ron Ecker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 (edited) There is not doubt that technology is dramatically changing book publishing. As a result of the creation of an impressive e-book reader, the Kindle, we will now see a sharp fall in the number of titles from traditional book publishers. The fact that Kindle is owned by the worlds largest bookseller, Amazon, will increase the speed of this process. For example, most authors receive a maximum royalty of 10%. However, if you charge less than £9.99 for your e-book on Amazon, the author receives a 70% royalty. It is now possible for everyone to have their books on the JFK assassination published on e-books. What the Kindle is not very good at is producing visual images. The best solution for this is to put these on your website (the latest versions give access to the internet). In the short-term I think that these changes will increase the market for books that look more like comics and magazines. David Talbot has recently launched a new publisher called Pulp History. The first two titles are Devil Dog (Smedley Butler) and Shadow Knights (Special Operations Executive). I am very impressed with this format and it will be interesting if he plans to bring out a book on the JFK assassination. http://pages.simonandschuster.com/pulphistory/home http://www.garynorth.com The Four Rules of Good Writing Gary North Nov. 18, 2010 Any non-fiction book or article must meet these criteria in order to be worth reading and implementing: 1. Accurate 2. Clear 3. Persuasive 4. Retainable If it's inaccurate, it's worthless. Accuracy must always be judged in terms of the space available. A longer article can be more accurate than a short one, but if it is so long that no one in the targeted audience reads it, it's worthless. If it isn't clear, not many people will be able to put it to good use. If it is is useless, it's worthless. If it is not persuasive, no one will put it to good use. If it is useless, it's worthless. If no one can recall its main points a week later, no one will put it to good use. If it's useless, it's worthless. Must every written non-fiction piece by designed to take action? Yes, in this sense: "No action" is still action. It is inertia: continuation of an existing course of action. Human action is inescapable. We must act. That is what time forces on us. Do not sacrifice accuracy for clarity. If it is clear and wrong, it is deceptive. Better to be clearly wrong. Do not sacrifice accuracy and clarity for persuasiveness. If an article persuades someone to do the wrong thing, it's a bad article. Doing the wrong thing is likely if the article is inaccurate. Even if it is accurate, if it is unclear, it will lead people to do the wrong thing. If the reader cannot recall what the article said to do, the first three have done no good. It may have entertained him, but it places him in the position of a hearer of the word but not a doer (James 1:23-25). If he cannot remember it, it will not change his behavior. I like the story of General Ulysses Grant's aide. The man was something of a dunce. Grant knew this. He would hand the man an order for a subordinate commander. He would have the aide explain it to him. If the aide did not get it right, Grant would re-write it. Get it right. Make it clear. Make it persuasive. Hope they remember it. Edited November 18, 2010 by Douglas Caddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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