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Two intersting aricles on eBooks:
S&S Puts Almost 5,000 Titles On Sale At Scribd.com
In a release originally set for announcement today that hit the wires last night after Business Week violated the embargo, Simon & Schuster is offering almost 5,000 of their titles available for sale on Scribd.com through a branded "storefront" on the site, including books from some of their bestselling authors. The books are priced at 20 percent below print retail, and the site provides the publisher with 80 percent of the revenue. S&S is also providing free previews with links to purchase print books from the publisher's website.
Scribd's files are viewable online and download only as protected PDF files that the WSJ says are not currently viewable on Kindle, but will be viewable on the iPhone OS after a software update from Scribd.
A Scribd spokesperson declined to provide information on sales so far of books in general following the launch of their beta store a few weeks ago. But Kathleen Miller indirectly acknowledged our assessment based on the site's own displayed "views" that sales of books have been modest at best. She told us "it's been our experience (with "pre-commerce" documents) that it often takes a while for things to take off." Miller added that "'views isn't a good snapshot right now. We've experienced a glitch that undercounts views by up to 50%. We are in the process of fixing it."
S&S chief digital officer Ellie Hirschhorn says in the announcement "we're pleased to offer them this convenient, user-friendly option for discovering, sampling, and purchasing Simon & Schuster books, any time and anywhere." Scribd uses the release to remind publishers of their "Copyright Management System," said to "help prevent the upload of unauthorized written works" by comparing them to legitimate files already provided to the site. Indeed, Hirschhorn tells the AP "It's a way for them, in terms of technology, to match our files against any have been uploaded, to identify those uploaded files and then tell whether they're legitimate. If you're not in their program, the entire onus falls to the publisher, or to the author, or to the agent, for finding a pirated book. And now it's a shared responsibility."
But Carolyn Pittis at HarperCollins says of that system, "Theoretically, it sounds great that technology can, in real time, alert Scribd about a pirated copy and prevent someone from actually uploading it. But I don't know how sophisticated that system is and whether it can work on a large scale."
The Daily Amazon Story
Next week's Time magazine considers Amazon's expansive publishing ambitions in a long piece. They conclude: "Imagine a world where publishing has two centers rather than one: a conventional literary center, governed by mainstream publishing--with its big names and fancy prizes and high-end art direction--and a new one where books rise to fame and prominence YouTube-style, in the rough and tumble of the great Web 2.0 mosh pit. The two centers will affect each other gravitationally and swap authors back and forth between them, but they're not likely to eat each other. With any luck, they'll energize each other.
"Which is why the future of books won't be purely Amazonian. It's not an either/or future. It's both/and. It will have publishers and self-publishers and books and Kindles and probably other devices in it too. The rise of a new model doesn't require the death of the old one."
Time
Separately, author JA Konrath blogged about his Kindle sales experience. Echoing other posts, he has found that low prices (generally $1.99 or less) stimulate sales. (But he also found little differentiation when priced between $1.50 and $1.99.) Posting his own backlist and keeping the 35 percent of list price that Amazon provides, he has made about $3,000 in two months from eight titles, though two books comprised well over half of the sales.
He notes that "my intent is to use these books to hook readers and get them to buy my other, in-print titles. I give these same books away on my website for free, so charging Kindle users more than a few bucks doesn't seem fair." He also advises that "being active on the Kindle forums, in newsletters, and on Amazon, may do more for sales than your cover, your description, your reviews, or even your writing. The key is to make people aware of your books. The more awareness there is, the more you'll sell."
Peace and Blessings
S&S Puts Almost 5,000 Titles On Sale At Scribd.com
In a release originally set for announcement today that hit the wires last night after Business Week violated the embargo, Simon & Schuster is offering almost 5,000 of their titles available for sale on Scribd.com through a branded "storefront" on the site, including books from some of their bestselling authors. The books are priced at 20 percent below print retail, and the site provides the publisher with 80 percent of the revenue. S&S is also providing free previews with links to purchase print books from the publisher's website.
Scribd's files are viewable online and download only as protected PDF files that the WSJ says are not currently viewable on Kindle, but will be viewable on the iPhone OS after a software update from Scribd.
A Scribd spokesperson declined to provide information on sales so far of books in general following the launch of their beta store a few weeks ago. But Kathleen Miller indirectly acknowledged our assessment based on the site's own displayed "views" that sales of books have been modest at best. She told us "it's been our experience (with "pre-commerce" documents) that it often takes a while for things to take off." Miller added that "'views isn't a good snapshot right now. We've experienced a glitch that undercounts views by up to 50%. We are in the process of fixing it."
S&S chief digital officer Ellie Hirschhorn says in the announcement "we're pleased to offer them this convenient, user-friendly option for discovering, sampling, and purchasing Simon & Schuster books, any time and anywhere." Scribd uses the release to remind publishers of their "Copyright Management System," said to "help prevent the upload of unauthorized written works" by comparing them to legitimate files already provided to the site. Indeed, Hirschhorn tells the AP "It's a way for them, in terms of technology, to match our files against any have been uploaded, to identify those uploaded files and then tell whether they're legitimate. If you're not in their program, the entire onus falls to the publisher, or to the author, or to the agent, for finding a pirated book. And now it's a shared responsibility."
But Carolyn Pittis at HarperCollins says of that system, "Theoretically, it sounds great that technology can, in real time, alert Scribd about a pirated copy and prevent someone from actually uploading it. But I don't know how sophisticated that system is and whether it can work on a large scale."
The Daily Amazon Story
Next week's Time magazine considers Amazon's expansive publishing ambitions in a long piece. They conclude: "Imagine a world where publishing has two centers rather than one: a conventional literary center, governed by mainstream publishing--with its big names and fancy prizes and high-end art direction--and a new one where books rise to fame and prominence YouTube-style, in the rough and tumble of the great Web 2.0 mosh pit. The two centers will affect each other gravitationally and swap authors back and forth between them, but they're not likely to eat each other. With any luck, they'll energize each other.
"Which is why the future of books won't be purely Amazonian. It's not an either/or future. It's both/and. It will have publishers and self-publishers and books and Kindles and probably other devices in it too. The rise of a new model doesn't require the death of the old one."
Time
Separately, author JA Konrath blogged about his Kindle sales experience. Echoing other posts, he has found that low prices (generally $1.99 or less) stimulate sales. (But he also found little differentiation when priced between $1.50 and $1.99.) Posting his own backlist and keeping the 35 percent of list price that Amazon provides, he has made about $3,000 in two months from eight titles, though two books comprised well over half of the sales.
He notes that "my intent is to use these books to hook readers and get them to buy my other, in-print titles. I give these same books away on my website for free, so charging Kindle users more than a few bucks doesn't seem fair." He also advises that "being active on the Kindle forums, in newsletters, and on Amazon, may do more for sales than your cover, your description, your reviews, or even your writing. The key is to make people aware of your books. The more awareness there is, the more you'll sell."
Peace and Blessings