Comments on: Kindles for All!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:24:52 +0000

My company offered staff the 40% discount before Christmas and I bought ten of them. Does it say something that I didn’t buy one for myself though?

By: Zoe Winters

Zoe Winters — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:26:19 +0000

It would be really interesting to see short stories find a real audience again with the advent of e-readers. Everything old is new again. And to see the novella perhaps really take off, as it’s a length long enough to develop a good story but short enough to not get lost in, would be cool.

I also think whether or not people abandon ebooks is a moot point. If a story is good no-one stops reading halfway through just because of the device they’re using. That’s asinine. As you say plenty of physical books get abandoned too. And from the publisher’s perspective, I don’t know why they should care what someone does with their purchase after they have it (short of piracy of course.)

What diff does it make to the publisher whether they read it all? If they keep buying ebooks that’s their issue, not the publisher’s.

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By: ami

ami — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:20:37 +0000

I 100% agree with everything you’re saying, Kevin! It’s an unusual thing to say–it’s perfectly fine not to finish an ebook, or a physical book, or every article in every issue of The New Yorker. As you so eloquently said, being deep in reading debt is part of being a book addict.

By: Kevin Holtsberry

Kevin Holtsberry — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:02:38 +0000

I am confused why not reading the book matters in a business context. If they buy the book should publishers care if they finish it? Obviously, authors and those concerned about the art aspect care but not sure it impacts the business model.

I both buy and download a lot of books for my Kindle that I have yet to read. And I am sure I will develop a large backlog of digital books just as I do with physical books. Part of being a book addict I suppose.

And of course, there are vast amounts of people who buy books because it is the hot thing (political tell all, memoir, fiction bestseller, etc.) but then never end up reading it or finishing it. Again, this helps publishers earn money, right?

Bottom line: I don’t see the difference nor the point. Publishers want people to buy books. If they read them all the better …

By: ami

ami — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:58:41 +0000

Well, good to know. I must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn’t hear about it. (Either that, or I was busy hanging garlic to keep Dracula at bay ; )

By: Kate Rados

Kate Rados — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:56:45 +0000

From what I understand, there was some sort of bulk order promotion for publishers, wherein a discount was offered. I can’t speak to who took advantage of it, but have it on good authority it was due to bulk orders and not something that was necessarily public knowledge.

::slinks back into hole::

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:54:16 +0000

@Ami: I imagine each company handled it differently, and wouldn’t be surprised if some opted not to invite Dracula into their house at all, but the offer came from Amazon and had to be submitted as a group.

By: pablod

pablod — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:45:51 +0000

Macmillan gave many employees Sony readers about a year or two ago, but they were netblind and mostly set up for handling manuscripts—part of a corporate green initiative to cut down on paper. While laudable, this hardly exposes publishers’ staff to the actual consumer experience associated with ereaders. This largely reflects the type of attitude I’ve seen corporations take towards electronics: the corporation will go through many steps to set up a bespoke system which, while easy to manage and understand for its employees (after the mandatory training session, of course), completely divorces their users from any actual, practical, and real consumer experience. The net result is that even those employees who use ereaders on a daily basis are completely sequestered from the actual ebook buying-and-consuming customer experience, and utterly ignorant to the very real hoops that ereader owners have to jump through on a daily basis.

By: ami

ami — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:04:03 +0000

Good point, Guy. Just out of curiosity, does anyone remember where the discounting was promoted? I bought my mom a Kindle for Christmas and would have absolutely taken advantage of it if I’d know. Did I miss an email, or was it on Amazon?