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Kindle MatchBook

amazon.com

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Re: Kindle MatchBook

#181

Post by gcb0 »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #25
gdilla wrote: post #11

This is awesome for the consumer, absolutely. And it's only made possible by the recent DOJ trial that effectively allowed Amazon to set prices of ebooks (wholesale vs agency model). Recall that agency model, the publisher sets the price (the same as apps on the app store). But now that Amazon can set any price they want for ebooks (and take a loss on them if they want to, which they have done before), Amazon can do…

I think Charles Stross writings on ebooks is interesting and insightful. He should know: he's a tech-savvy best-selling author. (He hangs around here too: [1]) He wrote a couple of posts a year and a half ago, they still apply. In them, he explains how Amazon is making itself a monopoly, and that isn't good for anyone but them. What's been most informative to me is how tiny publishers actually are, and how little mon…

Everything about this is retarded. The work the author did is the same regardless of where it's printed.

Yet hisincome depends on deadtrees and gasp... Hardcovers. This is exactly which should be used to generate more profit for the publisher alone... Adding value to what the author already provided.

Everything in all media business is idiotic to say the least.

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#182

Post by Havoc »

fwr wrote: post #82
Havoc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In one of the recent Elon Musk articles it mentioned that he reads on his iphone, so the notion isn't that far out. Not that the iphone is exactly tiny...

Elon Musk does this? THE NEW BIG THING

haha. No it just struck me as strange that someone clearly not constrained by finances would chose to read on an iphone.

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#183

Post by [deleted] »

hga wrote: post #140
res0nat0r wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also why I buy my books hardcover now: more cash for the author. Isn't this true, Amazon or not? Hardcovers cost the customer more than paperbacks or ebooks, so the author should be getting hopefully a larger cut of the sale. I think this program (if it has enough titles that I've bought in the past) is going to be awesome. I've never bought a Kindle because paying almost the same price for the Kindle version…

Copied from the other topic on this: That would be way too easy to game. I.e. set up an Amazon Marketplace account, "sell" yourself and/or accomplices lots of books for "reasonable" prices, with the money minus some vig including Amazon's charges going back to the "buyers", then they buy el-cheapo Kindle copies for real.

[deleted]

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#184

Post by mratzloff »

dsuth wrote: post #161
mratzloff wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like saying that the iOS App Store provides us with amazing games at a cheap price, so it hasn't been a net negative to the games industry on the whole. It has. A handful of creators can make a living from that model, but most can't, because the glut of games drives down the prices substantially. It's a race to the bottom. And the App Store pays out 70% of the proceeds to creators. Amazon's Kindle publishing p…

Then again, the iOS App Store has also allowed a huge number of amateur developers to produce apps, and has basically instantiated an entire industry around App development. Sure, it sucks for the incumbents like Nintendo, whose Gameboy devices are now a tough sell. But essentially this democratisation of the publishing chain has led to a widespread increase in publishing of creative works(apps, books, art & craft vi…

Yes, more people are publishing, but the glut means nobody can make any money. Prices have crashed; apps hover around $0.99, and $2.99 is now considered a tough sell. It's had a negative overall impact to the industry, both creators and publishers.

Anyway, I've said my piece. Long threads tend not to be terribly interesting to anyone except the participants. ;-)

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#185

Post by epo »

hga wrote: post #140
res0nat0r wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also why I buy my books hardcover now: more cash for the author. Isn't this true, Amazon or not? Hardcovers cost the customer more than paperbacks or ebooks, so the author should be getting hopefully a larger cut of the sale. I think this program (if it has enough titles that I've bought in the past) is going to be awesome. I've never bought a Kindle because paying almost the same price for the Kindle version…

Copied from the other topic on this: That would be way too easy to game. I.e. set up an Amazon Marketplace account, "sell" yourself and/or accomplices lots of books for "reasonable" prices, with the money minus some vig including Amazon's charges going back to the "buyers", then they buy el-cheapo Kindle copies for real.

A hint as thinking doesn't appear to be your strong point. If something seems to be "way too easy", even to you, perhaps they thought of it first. That might explain why this applies to purchases from Amazon only.

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#186

Post by phaus »

dsuth wrote: post #117
phaus wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be awesome, if they weren't charging you for something you already purchased.

The convenience of having an ebook version of a $100 textbook would be worth a few bucks. Especially if I was still at Uni, lugging around 3-4 such books. I frequently buy technical books for my business now, which requires that they be hardcopy (since I haven't found any way to share ebooks legally). Having the option to also get a softcopy licence would be incredibly useful.

It's not the money, it's the principle. Including a free ebook with physical book purchases should have been established as a standard practice a long time ago.

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#187

Post by TrunkleBob »

zeckalpha wrote: post #116
ctdonath wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value proposition of a physical book is that is a physical artifact with concrete ownership; you can sell it, lend it, put it on a shelf for guests to see, forget it and rediscover it a decade later, or have your grandchildren find it in your attic in 80 years. This. I have a bookcase filled with "me". Those books constitute what molded me, and (if unread) what I hoped would. My longevity being in some doubt, my…

Perhaps Amazon should offer a program where you demonstrate you have a physical copy (not purchased via Amazon) and get a digital copy for some reduced rate.

This. I would ship every bookcase in the house tomorrow if someone gave me credit toward the corresponding e-books.

The files go into my Box account, and I never lose another book.

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#188

Post by marcamillion »

pdpi wrote: post #178
marcamillion wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the principled stance, but Amazon won't ever have a monopoly on retail. The internet is too big, and retail is too big, for that. Walmart, etc. would never let that happen. Besides....as much as people like online, I don't think Brick & Mortar stores will all go away. Some may, but everything won't.

You clearly don't live in the UK. The High Street is dying, and it's online shopping that's playing headman.

You're right....I don't live in the UK. Either way....the OP didn't say "Amazon will be a monopoly in the UK"...he implicitly said it would have a 'monopoly on retail'.

For all intents and purposes, I assumed he was talking about in Amazon's home country (or even globally given Amazon's distributed nature).

Re: Kindle MatchBook

#189

Post by VikingCoder »

apalmer wrote: post #83
VikingCoder wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the principal of never having to turn a profit. There should be no barrier between a writer, and a consumer. The margin, everywhere in between, should be effectively zero. The only value adds, any more, are Discovery, and sharing Reviews. Oh, and having a decent printing process, for people who like physical books.

Ehhhhh, honestly I am not fundamentally opposed to the concept but realistically our whole economic model that the US has run off of the last 100 years. If every job that is not directly producing a tangible good is eliminated frankly their wont be enough consumers to make producing economically viable. Beyond that, one could argue a brick and mortar provides ample oppurtunity for discovery, previewing, and discussio…

You mean, it's almost as though a few humans working with machines and genetically modified crops are able to provide for most of Maslow's hierarchy of needs for all of human kind, thus making labor completely irrelevant, while the people who own the machines and the corporations that run them are profiting?

And almost like the people who want to operate and maintain those machines have to take out huge student loans and gamble on being employable?

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