Sunday, 6 March 2011

Love my kindle

I got a kindle for Christmas and have spent a lot of money on Amazon since then. Amazon has reported that their eBook sales have now overtaken paperback sales (Guardian 2011). Some publishers are doing well, Bloomsbury are seeing an increase in eBook sales (FT 2011). Bookshops are having problems, although say that this is due to the bad weather just before Christmas. Waterstone’s parent company the “HMV Group has "substantially" backed a social networking site called aNobii, which aims to help readers find buy and share books.” (Bookseller, 2011) They’re planning on selling books and ebooks via the website. A commentator on the Guardian post added the comment:

“Note to publishers and bookstore owners:
Please work out a system where I can browse in your high street store, then purchase a digital format at the counter that works on my kindle instead of just stocking the paper format.
You’ll get more sales.”

I like this idea and would definitely buy from bookshops for my kindle. This could also help booksellers in rural areas, especially when tourists arrive with their kindles. I’m looking forward to traveling with my kindle, especially for the long flight to America when I can have lots of books with me, and no extra weight in my hand baggage.

Writers are also benefiting, they can publish directly to Amazon without the need for a print publisher, some have been very successful in this, Stephen Leather has stayed at the top of the kindle charts for three months, and made lots of money from it (Guardian, 2011). He has priced his books to attract buyers, but still has made money from it. For Gaelic writers this could be a way of making their books available, since their small sales don't make them attractive to print publishers.
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3 comments:

  1. Nelly Papazova7 March 2011 at 13:02

    I was just thinking of buying a Kindle when I read your post. It's really amazing that eBook sales now outnumber paperback sales, it seems Kindle is making a revolution. I hate it when I have to read a lot from my laptop screen, but Kindle is quite different.
    As you point out the benefits are numerous and it seems a lot of trees will be saved from ending up in bookshelf collecting dust.

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  2. Michael Smith8 March 2011 at 12:33

    I think many publishers have been caught out by this growth in the market of e-book readers and much like the music industry have not been able to respond quickly enough to changing demand in the global marketplace for their core product.

    I know people who also got Kindles for xmas and have been reading and buying more books than they have ever done in years. Is this a fad or a seismic change in demand?

    Will it be long before illegal file-sharing of e-books takes place (if it is not happening already) and how will the publishing industry be placed to deal with this?

    A fascinating example, but one typical of what should be expected in the global information society!

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  3. Shirley Grant21 April 2011 at 17:15

    This Guardian article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/apr/19/amazon-not-small-publisher-enemy - is positive about the effects of ebooks and internet publishing for independent publishers - I guess that it is now the printers who should be worried.

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