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Kindle vs Sony Reader: Battle of Distribution Channels
Mac Slocum
September 17, 2008
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The face-off between Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader is broadening beyond tech specs and ebook formats. Now it's a battle of distribution channels.
Sony started selling its PRS-505 e-reader and related accessories in Target stores earlier this week. Sony Readers are also available through Borders, Waterstone's, and Web retailers, including third-party sellers on Amazon.
Amazon's Kindle push is limited to one very large Web channel: Amazon. But will that be enough to seize the e-reader market? Joe Wikert recently touched on this topic:
... Amazon has an awareness problem. They might be thrilled with the device's sales rate up to now. It may have exceeded their greatest expectations. They apparently insist on capturing 100% of the revenue for it though, hence their direct-only sales model. Meanwhile, Sony is chipping away by embracing the EPub format and striking distribution deals with Borders and now Target.
The Web has a tendency to amplify messages beyond their natural boundaries, sometimes to the point where Web hits are incorrectly projected as surefire mainstream blockbusters -- be they devices or movies or anything else that generates ample Web interest. Amazon's reach and the Kindle's technology -- especially its wireless capabilities -- have painted the Kindle as the dominant device in Web circles. But hit products need to resonate with the millions of people who don't pour through RSS feeds on an hourly basis, and Sony knows a thing or two about nurturing the mass market. Assuming we eventually receive confirmed e-reader sales figures, it'll be interesting to see how Amazon's mix of online publicity and Amazon-only distribution stacks up against Sony's traditional approach.
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[TOC Directory] Recent Additions
Mac Slocum
September 16, 2008
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20 new listings have been added to the TOC Directory in the last week, including:
Visit the TOC Directory to add your own listings and events.
"Spore" Backlash: Is DRM Officially Bad for Business?
Mac Slocum
September 16, 2008
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If the backlash to Electronic Arts' new game "Spore" serves as a sign of things to come, strict digital rights management (DRM) restrictions are transforming from consumer annoyances into full-fledged business mistakes. From Forbes:
In just the 24-hour period between Wednesday [9/10] and Thursday [9/11], illegal downloaders snagged more than 35,000 copies, and, as of Thursday evening, that rate of downloads was still accelerating. "The numbers are extraordinary," [Eric] Garland [CEO of Big Champagne] says. "This is a very high level of torrent activity even for an immensely popular game title."
Electronic Arts had hoped to limit users to installing the game only three times through its use of digital rights management software, or DRM. But not only have those constraints failed, says Garland, they may have inadvertently spurred the pirates on.
On Amazon, "Spore's" one-star customer rating is driven by anti-DRM sentiment rather than analysis of the game itself. It's likely only a small percentage of "Spore's" potential customer base knows or cares about DRM, but Amazon's star-system shorthand makes no distinction between reviewers passing judgement on the game and those engaging in DRM activism. Deserved or not, a one-star rating averaged from thousands of reviews is the very definition of caveat emptor, particularly for casual shoppers who encounter "Spore's" listing down the road.
The combination of "Spore's" long history on the gaming world's radar and the publicity push surrounding its release will undoubtedly lead to good sales in the early going (anecdotal evidence suggests this is already the case). But "Spore" is one of those hyper-immersive games that's shaped by its users, and this DRM flap may ultimately limit adoption and future product opportunities.
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Open Question: All-in-One Devices or Single Use E-Readers?
Mac Slocum
September 15, 2008
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Comparisons between the Kindle and the iPhone often touch on functional differences: the Kindle is a dedicated reading device with a few extra features; the iPhone is a bundled gadget that can serve as an e-reader.
The gap between single- and multi-use devices raises key questions about the future of e-readers and ebooks:
- When it comes to reading digital books, do consumers prefer a dedicated device or an all-in-one gadget?
- Is the market big enough to support both types of devices?
On the Print is Dead blog, Jeff Gomez says dedicated e-readers work well for book reading:
One thing that I don't mind about the Kindle is that it's an extra device. I used to think that I wanted an integrated device -- one thing that did everything -- and that I wouldn't want to carry around yet another device or gadget. But I actually like the fact that the Kindle is (more or less) just a device for the reading of content. Maybe this harkens back to the fact that every book is a destination; you get into bed and pick up a book because you want to read. You don't pick up a book to take pictures, record video or get your voicemail. So the fact that I don't use the Kindle to play solitaire is fine with me. True, that means I can't read something if I leave the house and have just my cell phone in my back pocket. But then again, a cell phone screen is too small, and most books are too big, so carrying a Kindle seems the right compromise.
Alison Flood from The Guardian casts a vote for bundled devices:
I'm waiting for an e-reader that bundles many uses into one: music player, phone, BlackBerry, internet, ebooks. That's what will really make the market take off. Of course they won't ever replace books, but then they're not meant to. It'll be something new and different and very exciting. Just don't drop it in the bath.
Which type of device do you prefer? Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
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StartWithXML: Why and How
Andrew Savikas
September 12, 2008
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XML-related sessions and tutorials have proven quite popular at our annual TOC Conference, and recent developments including the introduction of the Kindle, the iPhone 3G, and the IDPF's EPUB standard have made understanding XML more important than ever for smart publishers.
But to get the most from an XML workflow, it must be seen as much more than just a tool or a technology: there are serious organizational and cultural issues that are in many ways even more challenging than the technology itself. To better understand these issues and to help publishers deal with them, we've teamed up with the Idea Logical Company on a project we're calling "StartWithXML: Why and How."
StartWithXML is an effort to understand and spread the knowledge publishers need to move forward with XML. It's about the business issues driving the "why" of XML in publishing and the technical and organizational issues, strategies, and tactics underlying the "how" of getting started. The project includes:
- An open online survey meant to capture a broad overview of the issues surrounding XML for publishers.
- A one-day forum scheduled for Jan. 13, 2009 at the McGraw-Hill Auditorium in New York. Through panels and presentations, you'll spend the morning understanding the "why" of XML, and the afternoon learning about "how" to move forward. (Space is limited, so save your seat now.)
- A research report that will include background info, case studies, best practices, technology and vendor profiles, and interviews discussing the factors that make a "StartWithXML" workflow both useful and tricky.
- An online conversation, including a blog, an open comments area for you to weigh in on the report's outline while it's in progress, and a general discussion forum (built out as a group within the new TOC Community).
Idea Logical CEO Mike Shatzkin is detailing the project at today's annual meeting of the Book Industry Study Group, which is providing support for the project and forum. Mike will be blogging on the StartWithXML website, alongside Brian O'Leary, Ted Hill, and Laura Dawson, who are all participating in the research behind the project.
We're trying to cast a wide net with the survey, so even if you're not currently doing much with XML, we want your input.
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News Roundup: Sony Reader Arrives in UK, Google Scanning Newspaper Archives, Blanket Copyright Licenses vs Fair Use
Mac Slocum
September 12, 2008
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UK Reaction to Sony Reader Release
Sara Lloyd discusses the impact of the Sony Reader's recent release in the United Kingdom:
Anecdotally, Waterstones store staff report a great deal of interest from customers, and the rumour mills (or well-planned leak??) put a 6 figure number on the Sony Readers sold by the morning of Thursday 4th September.
As I'm sure all of those working in the digital publishing departments of trade publishing houses will agree, it's nice finally to have a major high street bookselling brand pitch itself into the ebook ring so wholeheartedly - and the Sony device is the most compelling (and competitively priced) there is of the dedicated devices so far available here in the UK. I must say it did make my heart leap just a little bit to see huge POS displays promoting the Sony Reader and the associated ebook catalogue from Waterstones in the Tottenham Court Road and Picadilly branches, and it was fun to go in and do some underground detective work to discover that the Waterstones staff seemed quite clued up about it all. (Continue reading)
Google Scanning Newspaper Archives
Google is extending its scanning efforts to newspaper archives. From the New York Times:
Under the expanded program, Google will shoulder the cost of digitizing newspaper archives, much as the company does with its book-scanning project. Google angered some book publishers because it had failed to seek permission to scan books that were protected by copyrights. It will obtain permission from newspaper publishers before scanning their archives.
Google ... will place advertisements alongside search results, and share the revenue from those ads with newspaper publishers. (Continue reading)
Colleges Weigh Blanket Copyright Licenses vs Fair Use Rights
The Copyright Clearance Center is extending its offer of blanket licenses to larger universities. In a 2007 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), some school administrators expressed concern about the implicit waiver of fair use assertions:
But some librarians are ambivalent about blanket licenses, Mr. Rehbach [Jeffrey R. Rehbach, the library-policy adviser at Middlebury College] says, because they fear that colleges will pay for copyright licenses instead of asserting their rights under fair-use doctrine. "We debate back and forth whether this is the best model for us," he says. "As we move toward more licensed products, are we giving up basic rights under the law?"
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TOC Recommended Reading
Mac Slocum
September 11, 2008
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Digital Newspapers and Digital History (Adam Hodgkin, Exact Editions)
A Kindle for books, a Plastic Logic napkin for newspapers, and no doubt an iMag reader of some kind for magazines. That way lies madness. Google have a better plan [to] try to deliver everything through a web browser. That should work in the direction of universal access. I hope Plastic Logic realise that their device needs to run a standard web browser before they commit everything to a Kindle-like proprietary device.
I Am Trying To Believe (that Rock Stars aren't Dead) (Jim Stogdill, O'Reilly Radar)
... "sell records" was not some complex business model come down from on high. I can't help but think that if there was an equally effective replacement someone would have thought of it by now. That's not to say I don't think new and better music distribution and monetization models won't be invented, I just don't think they will capture and concentrate as much value as the one that is dying before our eyes did. I suspect the balance between linear (touring) and leverage (selling stuff while you sit at home) has simply and irrevocably shifted toward the linear.
A unified field theory of publishing in the networked era (Bob Stein, if:book)
Reading and writing have always been social activities, but that fact tends to be obscured by the medium of print. We grew up with images of the solitary reader curled up in a chair or under a tree and the writer alone in his garret. The most important thing my colleagues and I have learned during our experiments with networked books over the past few years is that as discourse moves off the page onto the network, the social aspects are revealed in sometimes startling clarity. These exchanges move from background to foreground, a transition that has dramatic implications.
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[TOC Directory] Recent Additions
Mac Slocum
September 10, 2008
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18 new listings have been added to the TOC Directory in the last week, including:
Visit the TOC Directory to add your own listings and events.
Join the TOC Online Community
Andrew Savikas
September 10, 2008
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If you've been to the TOC Web site lately, you might have noticed the link up top labeled "Community." We recently did a quiet launch of a social networking site built with Ning. It's meant to provide additional ways to communicate and connect with other folks facing the same challenges around the future of publishing and paid content.
In addition to standard features like Forums and Member Profiles, there are also Groups -- public and private spaces for conversations on specific topics. You can also upload photos and videos, as well as "friend" fellow community members.
When you sign up, you also get your very own blog (we'll be featuring posts from members here on the TOC blog).
I'm thrilled to say that there's already a small but impressive membership list, including Peter Brantley, Joe Wikert, David Rothman, Mike Shatzkin, Laura Dawson, Michael Cairns, and of course Tim O'Reilly. There will be a lot of opportunities for discussion in advance of the 2009 TOC Conference, and we're also cross-posting our "Open Question" blog posts there for additional feedback.
Like any Web community, it's a work-in-progress, but we'd love to have you join the conversation. For the time being, we're moderating new signups to minimize spam. Also note that during signup, you're asked for your age and gender -- these questions are part of the Ning registration, and aren't seen by me or anyone else in the community unless you choose to share them.
What Does Esquire's E Ink Cover Mean for Print Publishing?
Mac Slocum
September 10, 2008
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I've been noodling on the implications of Esquire's E Ink cover (video available here), and for the life of me I can't see how this is anything more than a small change in a mature technology. It's on par with terrestrial radio's embrace of HD Radio and the music industry's attempts at super-high-fidelity discs (SACD and DVD-A).
Esquire deserves credit for experimenting with E Ink, and I certainly think E Ink itself has a variety of uses (Kindle and Sony Reader owners would agree). But the merging of E Ink displays and traditional print formats garners the same level of interest as National Geographic's hologram covers: neat idea ... nice execution ... but beyond the publicity and potential newsstand sales, what's the long-term point?
Future E Ink screens are projected to be ultra-light, interactive and updateable via Web connections (the Kindle offers a variation on this), but millions of consumers already own mobile devices with the same functionality. Even if these features come to pass, why would I purchase a print-digital hybrid or a separate digital-only device when I have easy access to content on a device I already own?
Bolting digital elements onto an analog medium may yield new ideas -- and there's value in that -- but there's something to be said for adaptation within a format. Radio has survived by adapting its content. Television, newspapers and magazines are in the midst of their own adaptations, and what these formats become will be influenced by the content they deliver, not the technological add-ons they incorporate. E Ink may someday emerge as a vital aspect of print material, but only when it furthers the essential elements of storytelling, information delivery and clear consumer value.
What's your take? Do you see opportunities in the merging of E Ink and print material? Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
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Maintaining a Web Community is as Hard as Building One
Mac Slocum
September 9, 2008
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Finding the balance between the content you take from users and the value you give back is tricky business, especially since "value" and "money" are rarely synonymous in the user-generated space. Yelp, a volunteer-driven hub of local business and restaurant reviews, is one community that seems to have struck the right chord with its most active members. From the New York Times:
Yelp identifies its most consistently praised, prolific and witty reviewers as members of the "Yelp Elite Squad." The company says it looks for those possessing "a certain je ne sais quoi -- we call it Yelpitude." I find that it saves time to read the reviews submitted by the Elite Squad and ignore the rest.
Singling out the best and the brighting contributors in the early days of a community is putting the cart before the horse. You need critical mass -- or a route toward critical mass -- before the natural audience strata appear. Nonetheless, it's smart to develop a notoriety plan in the off chance you catch lightning in a bottle. This could be a complicated mechanism like Yelp's Elite Squad or Slashdot's moderation system, or it could be driven by organic relationships between community moderators and promising users.
Note: Some community systems associate coy user types with users who've met certain thresholds -- i.e. post 100 comments and become a vaunted "Senior Member." Auto-generated user types have a degree of value, but a true notoriety initiative requires a lot more effort.
Even with adequate notoriety tools, the most successful communities still suffer from turnover and diminished interest among key users. When I developed my first few communities I mistakenly assumed that once the audience was in place, the natural organization within the community would replace my development efforts. But that's not how it works. Most members have a lifecycle within a community -- it's a linear progression with an endpoint, not a constant user pattern. It's important to acknowledge this natural line and counter inevitable user drift with ongoing user development.
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Open Question: Do You Re-Read Books?
Mac Slocum
September 8, 2008
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Proponents on both sides of the ebook debate point to the archival/re-read nature of their chosen format, but I'm curious to see if re-reading is a common activity or one of those things we'd all like to do but can't find the time. Here's a few questions toward that end:
- Do you re-read books?
- If yes, how often? (i.e. You re-read 1-2 titles per year.)
- Which titles or genres do you re-read?
- Does a book's format -- print or digital -- make you more or less inclined to re-read a title?
Please share your thoughts in the comments area.
News Roundup: Digging Around Amazon's Topaz Format, Twitter Novels, June Ebook Sales Up 87% Over '07
Mac Slocum
September 5, 2008
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Digging Around Amazon's Topaz File Format
Late Night Code is popping the hood on Topaz, that mysterious "other" file format used on the Kindle:
Mobipocket files purchased from Amazon have an AZW extension (which presumably stands for Amazon Whispernet - the name of the Kindle wireless download service). Mobipocket files from other sources will have a MOBI or PRC extension. Topaz files will have an AZW1 extension if downloaded directly to the Kindle, and a TPZ extension if downloaded from Your Media Library on Amazon.com.
ReadWriteWeb has a brief survey of mini serialized novels in the U.S.:
In Japan, mobile phone novels called "keitai shousetsu" have become so successful that they accounted for half of the ten best-selling novels in 2007. Here in the Western world several would-be novelists are attempting to use Twitter to create the same phenomenon. Some of the novels tweeted so far have been interesting and engaging, but others, sadly, appear to be abandoned. Will micro-format fiction ever take off here as it did in Japan?
June '08 Ebook Sales Up 87% Over June '07
Wholesale trade ebook sales accounted for $4.9 million in June '08, according to industry stats from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). This is an 87 percent increase over June '07. Year-to-date ebook sales are up 43 percent over last year.
Note: The AAP/IDPF stats aggregate information from 12-15 trade publishers and reflect wholesale sales figures in the U.S.
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TOC Recommended Reading
Mac Slocum
September 4, 2008
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Create Digital First (Martyn Daniels, Brave New World)
Today we are the start of a digital consumer offer but it is in the main based on yesterday's physical cost model, processes and perceptions. Merely taking the finished book and generating a digital rendition that mirrors the physical one is what music did with CDs. Is it logical to merely replicate the book and create just another rendition? We don't envisage the same demand change as music experienced in selling just fragments (tracks), but it is possible to see the selling of installments or part works, where all the complete 'book' may not be bought.
(Via the Reading 2.0 list)
The Elements of a Perfect eReading Device (Dear Author)
I think that there is a technological gap between what readers would like in the perfect ereader and what can actually be done. If you don't like LCD screens, then you are limited by refresh rates and the inability of eink technology to actually perform some multi function device programs. If you don't like to be limited by refresh rates, want a backlight, and ability to play video, browse the web, and even do a lot of typing (or editing of manuscripts), then eInk devices aren't for you.
(Via Electric Alphabet)
Google Chrome is Bad for Writers & Bloggers (Edward Champion, Edward Champion's Reluctant Habits)
Anyone who uses Chrome will technically own the copyright, but who needs copyright when the Chrome user effectively gives up her right to distribute this content in all perpetuity and without royalties? So if Joyce Carol Oates is using Chrome and types an email to someone, she "owns" the copyright. But Google has the right to use anything that Ms. Oates types into Chrome for any purpose. Google responds. (Via Jose Alonso Furtado's Twitter stream)
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Levels of Quality and Revenue Streams
Mac Slocum
September 3, 2008
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In a New York Times piece looking at a new batch of Web shows, Mike Hale writes:
Oddly enough, waiting through the commercials at the beginning of each snippet didn't bother me. I could have avoided them by going to YouTube, but the lower video quality and ugly viewing environment there -- still insulting after all these years -- made the ads at the CBS site seem palatable.
Last month, experts at the RBC Capital conference said advertisers were still wary of associating their brands with user-generated videos, but there's a demand for professional content. From News.com:
Video ad executives said that while YouTube has a lot of inventory that's hard to monetize, sites with professional content such as Hulu.com don't have enough inventory to serve demand from brand advertisers.
Consumers are also interested in professionally produced material. A 2007 report (pdf) from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found:
Overall, 62% of online video viewers say that their favorite videos are those that are "professionally produced," while 19% of online video viewers express a preference for content "produced by amateurs." Another 11% say they enjoy both professionally-produced video and amateur online video equally.
Connecting the dots, it seems there's an opportunity for publishers to link ad-based revenue streams, levels of download quality, and audience experience. For example:
- A studio could post low-fi versions of its Web shows to YouTube, social networks and other Web destinations. The free videos would include branding and links to higher-quality versions of the same material on different sites. These low-quality videos would act as a brand campaign for the show, reaching out across a broad base of users to increase awareness and (hopefully) motivate a percentage of the viewing audience to access the high-quality videos. This is the same technique TV networks use when they advertise upcoming shows during popular broadcasts (e.g. anyone watching Fox lately knows the network is hedging its bets on "Fringe.").
- High-quality downloads would be available through a studio's own site or through upper-tier services like Hulu. These videos would include pre- and post-roll advertising from sponsors. If the show proves successful, studios could take a note from Joss Whedon's recent Web effort, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and sell related downloads, soundtracks and merchandise.
This process extends to other media areas. On the print side, publishers could push basic material out to a wide audience through Scribd and other text-centric services, while also driving a percentage of the audience toward high-quality digital and print editions available through established retail channels (Web-based and otherwise). Earlier this year, Trent Reznor employed a similar tiered strategy with the Nine Inch Nails album "Ghosts I-IV" and the results were positive.
I realize this is back-of-the-envelope analysis, but this emerging mix of low-fi brand building and consumer/advertiser demand for professional-level content bodes well for publishers experimenting with digital delivery.
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