Comments for Publishing Frontier

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:30:46 +0000

Hi, Dave. The Amazon website is already available on the iPhone via Safari, of course, but wouldn’t releasing an iPhone app undercut the whole point of the Kindle? If they do release one, it would suggest to me that they’re re-thinking the Kindle strategy.

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Dave Jensen

Dave Jensen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:43:38 +0000

Why doesn’t Amazon release a Kindle reader software app for the iPhone? They could sell a zillion of their Kindle books via the iPhone. I’ve already spent about $200 on eReader books, and that company feels so low-tech to me. I’d love to have access to the Kindle library, but there is NO WAY I am going to haul another device around with me. I already have my laptop and my iPhone.

Comment on ebooks and the iPhone by bowerbird

bowerbird — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:06:40 +0000

hi bill! collaborative filtering
will eventually lower the cost of
“marketing” to next-to-nothing, so
there will be plenty of potential
to make money off iphone e-books.

-bowerbird

Comment on ebooks and the iPhone by jcohen

jcohen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:26:59 +0000

fine analysis except one key obstacle:

Like watching TV on a 2 inch screen, would you want to read small chunks of a page and have to constantly shift the view to the end of the sentence or next paragraph?

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:20:10 +0000

Ami: thanks for the feedback!
Katie: yes, I’ve tried Stanza too, and I like it.

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Katie

Katie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:38:53 +0000

There’s an iPhone app called Stanza (by Lexcycle) that is just fantastic. Absolutely the best aspect of it is the ability to load free books from feedbooks.com wherever you are, via EDGE, 3G, or WiFi. To flip pages, you can either tap the side of the screen (right to go back, left to go forward), or swipe your finger. The screen is pretty small for a book reader, but you can adjust the font size, which helps somewhat. But it works for keeping myself occupied while waiting for the bus, as it’s pretty hard to hold a paperback and a coffee cup at the same time!

Comment on The ISBN as SKU by Imma Wildcard

Imma Wildcard — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:42:33 +0000

There’s one real easy and quick fix to the multiple copy problem, and one that would require only a slight modification to computer programming that both creates and checks a barcode. AND one that would save publishers money and headaches.

The checksum number offers the possibility of 9 variations if it is discarded as a checking device (a rather quaint use, in some ways) and used instead as an ID number. Thus, one ISBN can now ID nine variations of the same book.

Checking the ISBN for error during entry? Well, if the title on the book doesn’t match the catalog, we know something’s wrong, right? And if it is being read by a machine, just how common are errors today — I would bet very low. I’d prefer to double-check my numbers as I enter them and have an occasional glitch in inventory and have an instant nine possible variations on one ISBN.

And for books sold only through Amazon.com or the like, the need to be scanned without error is almost non-existent. For a small publisher, these “bootleg ISBNs” make perfect sense (for the reason I’m about to show below).

There are other advantages: I can instantly call up ALL the variations of a title if I know just one ISBN whethr for the print, PDF, Kindle, talking book, or whatever version I might have in hand. I can just enter the ISBN for one version and a wild card in the checksum (now ID) space, I can see all the versions in one nice column.

Try finding the PDF, MP3, Kindle, Hardcover, softcover, etc., etc., with one ISBN number search today and you’re going to have problems. Chances are you won’t discover them all, especially if this or that company has created a version of their own and tacked a new SKU to it (which as someone else noted, causes loss of control for the publisher, yet is done because of the expense of buying yet one more ISBN for the same title).

Of course this change in how the checksum is used would make it so those institutions issuing ISBNs can’t gouge little publishers for 9 numbers when one would do the trick, and do it better for most of us. So those working for big publishing companies should be sure to avoid even considering such a change less small presses have a level playing field. Just saying ;o)

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Ami

Ami — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:59:58 +0000

Wow. I read *a lot* about ereaders, and this is the first time I’ve heard this idea that BOTH devices are about retailing. It’s one of those things that, once you hear it, you can’t help but wonder why EVERYONE doesn’t know it.

Great post. Thanks for the insight.

Comment on ebooks and the iPhone by Stephen Sottong

Stephen Sottong — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:17:48 +0000

Your arguments agree with those I published in “American Libraries” May issue. A bit of evidence to back your article: in years past, the largest ebook seller was Palm. There too, once a person owned a Palm PDA or phone, it made some sense to add functionality to it by buying books for the device. If ebooks ever take off, it will be on multi-purpose devices and not on dedicated readers like the Kindle.

Comment on the Kindle and the iPhone dance by Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:23:24 +0000

Frank: sorry you’re unhappy. Sure, monochrome works for some books, but not all. And reading devices have to be able to show all books. As for Kindle PDF, see http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/07/19/kindle-tip-pdf-and-free-conversions/.

Cartwright: I’m afraid I buried the lede. Neither device is about reading; they’re about retailing.