one little cog

I know. Everyone and their great-grandmother has been blogging about the Amazon Kindle today. I figure I might as well jump on the bandwagon so that my two cents can be heard or ignored. More likely to be ignored amongst so many voices.

Being in the publishing industry, I hear a lot of opinions on e-book readers. A lot of negative opinions that almost make it seem to me as if people want the device to fail before anyone really tries it out. I think it’s possible that a lot of people may feel threatened by this device to some degree. The decrease in the price of books, the potential devaluation of a printed book or figuratively speaking, the product as a whole. I disagree — I believe technology has been the key factor in preventing books from reaching even larger audiences than before. I believe that technology is the threshold that prevents or allows any individual book from becoming a bestseller. (Hint: Chris Anderson’s Long Tail)

There are many arguments about why books are so difficult to sell, one primary argument being made by book publishers is the fact that most consumers find little appeal in books by comparison to other products. That is not to say there is no appeal (think relative), but the fact that most consumers find that they would much prefer to spend a hundred dollars on say, a digital camera (alas, a potentially crappy one) than spend $19.99 on a paperback. Consumers also compare movies and music to books. Unfortunately, books tend to have a high production cost and the fact that book publishers decided to print their list price on every book makes life rather difficult for themselves.

One peculiar behaviour of mine (I don’t know about anyone else) is that price is a huge decision indicator in the purchase of a book. Well, not quite but hear me out. If I were to say, see a book that is $29.99 and it was of interest to me, there would be some potential that I may just purchase it. Nevertheless, it’d really really need to be interesting to me.

Now compare that with an e-book that is being sold online for around $9.99 - $15.99. You’ve got my attention. As long as I am interested in the content of that book, I will likely buy it. If I had an e-book reader, I would definitely buy it. Make it wireless — I am so there!! Why? I don’t know but I think that like many consumers, I may view content and data differently than I do a printed book. Similar to consumer reactions to fluctuations in gas prices except that we’re a little more stubborn. Sad? Yes … but perhaps this is a positive outcome for book publishers (who will soon be referred to as content creators or managers) because the profit margin may actually widen. Could this mean better pay for myself and industry colleagues? Possibly … but I won’t touch that topic anytime soon … ha!

Honestly, I really like the Amazon Kindle. I love the idea, the concept, the launch and even it’s damn-ugly appearance (which isn’t really that ugly now that I think about it). But there are five things that I feel I need addressed before I would be willing to dish out the chunk of change for this quality piece of literary hardware.

1. No Wi-Fi capability — I am sorry. Those who suggest it is not a big deal don’t understand that it’s a global issue.  I want to be able to use Wi-Fi hotspots if I want to, rather than the cell phone carrier frequencies.  Especially in Canada where carrier frequencies don’t necessarily have absolute coverage of the country (hello… Canada?).
2. No Colour (yet…) — I want to be able to see vivid colour photographs in the book and online! I know I am picky but for now it’s okay I guess.
3. No Open Access — If I am going to buy an e-book reader, I don’t only want to buy books from Amazon or read books from Amazon. I want to be able to download a document from work and read it too! Don’t tell me to buy a PDA or else why would I spend $399 USD on a Kindle?
4. No Book Cover Display — One of the things that makes a book … a book is it’s cover. Being from the publishing industry, a ridiculous amount of time goes into the book cover. Why couldn’t their be a display panel on the back or a top flap that closes on top of the main reading panel which would display the cover image in vivid colour to the reader and those who are in awe of the person who is going through his or her selection of books! (Hint: Think of what happens when someone opens up a book on the subway and the cover is facing outwards to the public.) Okay so more wishful thinking, I don’t mind if this is still black and white but still!
5. No ability to surf the web freely — This one’s a popular one it seems. Why am I paying for access to various parts of the web that I could get for free? If you are going to offer a function, either make some form of value-added content that would entice people to pay or just don’t offer it at all. There’s just no point!

The Amazon Kindle is definitely a major step for the publishing industry and Amazon as a bookseller (or seller of content). Regardless of what people may think of the Kindle itself, the fact that the device is so connected to the online retailer makes it a much more potent agent of change than the Sony Reader.

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