Amazon Dropping Non-Amazon Ebook Formats (Sort of)

Andrew Savikas
January 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (12) | Listen

Via Publishers Weekly, Amazon announced Monday it will stop offering ebooks in formats other than Kindle and Mobipocket:

In the future, the online retailer says it plans to offer only e-books in the Kindle format (for wireless download to its Kindle reading device) and the Mobipocket format, both of which are owned by Amazon.

A contact at Amazon has clarified that apparently this change only applies to the Kindle:

This does not apply to eDocs because they are not DRM-protected. This only applies to DRM-protected eBooks.

A follow-up question about Kindle support of EPUB resulted in a polite but firm redirect to "the Kindle team."

I know Amazon is a big company, and I know all too well how difficult intra-office communication can be even at a much smaller company like O'Reilly, but with Amazon in particular it's really easy to get the sense that the left hand has very little idea what the right hand is doing (or perhaps "third left tentacle doesn't know what the right tentacle is doing" is more appropriate).

Related Stories:

• Ebook Format Primer
• How to Read any Type of Document on the Kindle (Almost)
• Amazon Ups the Ante on Platform Lock-In
• Point-Counterpoint: On Digital Book DRM
• Point-Counterpoint: Digital Book DRM, the Least Worst Solution

"Kindle Killer" Might be Hyperbole, but a Lot to Like About Shortcovers

Andrew Savikas
January 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7) | Listen

The email invitation I received to check out shortcovers -- a new hybrid Web/mobile reading site from Canada's Indigo Books & Music -- touted it as a "Kindle Killer." While there's a lot to like about shortcovers, there's some shortcomings to that moniker. First, it's not a device, it's a Web site with a companion iPhone app (presumably wending its way through Apple's approval queue) and eventually other mobile apps as well. Second, while I was very impressed with their execution, I didn't see much that Amazon couldn't match with a similar mobile App.

That said, I really liked what I saw of shortcovers (though to be fair, it's hard to truly judge something you've seen only via Webex -- my comments are based on a brief demo, and apply primarily to books). In particular:

• iTunes-style previews and a la carte purchasing. Buying single chapters won't make much sense for some kinds of content, but we know from experience at Safari that a lot of readers like that kind of chunking.
• Online/offline options. Adding "buy the print version" to the iPhone equation might be shortcovers' biggest contribution to the mobile reading market. Sure you can buy books from Amazon's iPhone app, but you can't also buy/read an electronic version at the same time. A lot of our ebooks are sold bundled with the print version, and it's a great option to offer customers. (Print orders are fulfilled by Indigo in Canada, and by an as-yet-unnamed partner in the U.S.)
• Cloud-style syncing. Buy from your phone, and the book appears in your online "Library" accessible from a browser. Offline downloads won't be available initially, though apparently are on the way.
• Recommendation and annotation. This was key to Amazon's rise to dominance in online book retailing -- its database of reviews and recommendations, a system that got smarter the more people used it.
• Support for the EPUB standard, and the option for publishers to make their content available without DRM. As long as there's a choice, the market should take care of the rest.

Overall, shortcovers probably isn't the revolution they're implying, but it is a big next step for mobile reading and ecommerce.

For additional viewpoints, The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg recently reviewed shortcovers, and Chris Meadows on TeleRead has this counterpoint.

Related Stories:

• Cloud Computing's Potential Impact on Publishing
• Open Question: Standalone iPhone Ebooks vs. E-Readers
• Format Comparison: PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Downloads from Ebook Bundles
• To Chunk or Not To Chunk?
• Technology's "Killer" Distraction

Format Comparison: PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Downloads from Ebook Bundles

Andrew Savikas
January 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5) | Listen

We've been selling PDFs of our books on oreilly.com for several years, but this summer began selling "ebook bundles" of many titles, which include PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket versions. Here's some weekly data (I can't share the vertical scale) on the relative breakdown of actual downloads from those bundles (PDF, Mobi, and EPUB are Light, Medium, and Dark respectively). PDF is still the format of choice for most people, though EPUB is getting respectable usage, with Mobi in third:

The numbers at the bottom are weeks (200901 is the first week of 2009). This is only among titles offered in all three formats -- the majority of our ebooks are currently still only available as PDF, though we expect to release several hundred more in bundle form over the next few months (not that you should wait to buy of course -- you'll get all the formats as they come available ...).

An important point to note, via Allen Noren, our VP who runs oreilly.com, is that a substantial portion of our electronic sales come from overseas, where getting a print version is often difficult or cost-prohibitive:

I know you've heard me say it before, but we became an international publisher, in a way we were not previously, when we started selling books in digital format. We're in a unique position vs most publishers, who only have US or NA rights, but it's worth nothing.

Duly noted.

Related Stories:

• O'Reilly Ebooks: 130 Top Titles Now Available, Plus an iPhone App and Head First PDFs
• Ebook Format Primer
• Keep Your Eye on the epub Ball (But Do Play Nice)

iPhone App Outperforms Most Print (Computer) Books This Holiday Season

Andrew Savikas
January 7, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (20) | Listen

Conventional wisdom suggests that when choosing pilot projects, you pick ones with a high likelihood of success. It's hard to argue that iPhone: The Missing Manual was a reasonable choice for testing the iPhone App waters. But while we knew it would do well, we've been quite pleased with just how well:

• If the iPhone App by itself had been a book, it would be a top 10 seller in BookScan for Computer Books this holiday season, based on just 17 days of sales
• The print version appears to have been unaffected, retaining a solid position in the top 3 for Computer Books in BookScan
• A full 1/3 of those buying the app are outside the US, mostly in countries where the print book is not readily available

There are certainly some who don't care for the book-as-app approach, preferring the library model (where one app enables reading multiple titles). It's also clear there's substantial customer interest in both options, and we strongly believe that offering a variety of options and letting customers choose is the right approach. This is a time for experimentation, and we'll be doing quite a bit more of it (format, pricing, content) in the digital -- and especially mobile -- space in the coming months.

Related Stories:

• iPhone Updates: Missing Manual Already #2; More Book Apps Hit iTunes
• O'Reilly Ebooks: 130 Top Titles Now Available, Plus an iPhone App and Head First PDFs
• Experimental O'Reilly Ebook iPhone Integration with Stanza
• Open Question: Standalone iPhone Ebooks vs. E-Readers