The Danger of the Kindle Lending Library

Will Kindle lending create a monopoly?

A few days back, Amazon announced that it would allow its ebooks to be available for lending via Overdrive and, consequently, Kindle owners would be able to borrow ebooks from their local library’s ebook service.  Of course, for those of us that have been keen to support ebook availability in public libraries, this was good news.  Kindles are the most popular ereader on the market, mainly because they are cheap and have an appealing user-friendly purchasing system.  Much as I like my Sony Reader, it is not the easiest for purchasing books (although it sure looks a damn sight more attractive than the Kindle).  However, it is not all good news, and some aspects of the announcement should cause alarm amongst information professionals.

A number of concerns have been raised by librarians, particularly in terms of the addition of an extra format to the Overdrive catalogue set against a backdrop of budget cuts.  Would libraries have to purchase another file format?  Apparently not.  A whole host of other questions have been raised too:

• Will this represent a change in pricing and licensing models for titles?
• Will self-published authors on Amazon’s platform have a chance of being on library “shelves” now?
• Can library patrons opt out of linking their Amazon accounts to their library account?
• How much check out information will Amazon have access to? How will that change if someone purchases a title they’ve borrowed?

But a far more important question is raised as Kindle becomes ever more dominant.  As Mike Cane (a fellow Kindle hater) put it last year:

How many Kindles are now out there vs ePub devices? If there are MORE K, then isn’t *K* the goddammed “standard” for eBooks now!?

He went on to add in the comments:

How long will it be until Amazon wakes up to public libraries offering Kindle eBooks — as they have with Adobe DRMed ePub? Will we soon see an agreement between Amazon and OverDrive? Or will Amazon snub OverDrive and directly woo public libraries?

The iPad cannot borrow eBooks from public libraries. They use Adobe DRM.

If Amazon gets public libraries on board, it would be the death of ePub. [my emphasis]

This is the really big question behind Amazon’s announcement.  The fact that Amazon does not support the open standard has always been a fundamental objection of mine.  The fact that this deal could effectively end the attempts to establish an accepted open standard is a very worrying development indeed.  Amazon already have close to a monopoly of the ebook market.  The death of ePub would effectively rubber stamp Amazon’s monopoly.

It goes without saying that a monopoly is a very bad thing for consumers in any market.  A monopoly in the provision of information could be a very dangerous thing indeed.  We have already seen Amazon remove books and journals from people’s devices without warning, can they really be trusted to act responsibly with such a monopoly?  I’m not sure we can.  A monopoly in the provision of access to information is a very dangerous thing.  Unless Amazon decide that the Kindle should support ePub, I see no reason to end my personal boycott of the device.  In fact, as futile as I know this is, I would encourage others to do the same until such time that Amazon supports ePub and encourages an ebook market that truly benefits the consumer.  As Mike Cane writes on his blog:

Amazon now has more power than any other book company on earth. And yes, you damn well better be afraid of this.

I am. Are you?

The ‘Thoughts….’ Annual 2010 – Part I

As 2010 is drawing to a close, I thought what better way to commemorate the passing of one year and the beginning of a new one than to look back over the past year and revisit some of the events that I have blogged about and some of those things that I hadn’t.  There probably are better ways (getting blind drunk and dancing in the street singing Lady Gaga’s greatest hits for example – quick little 2010 cultural reference there….my finger is practically stroking the popular zeitgeist and tickling its soft underbelly), but I’ve decided to do this now so there is no turning back.  So, without further ado, here begins Part I of my review of 2010.

January

January saw my usual sceptical take on the Kindle and a bunch of statistics that Amazon had thrown at us in the immediate post-Christmas period.  Strangely enough, almost a year later, Amazon are still throwing out statistics about the strength of Kindle sales. Yet here we are, a year down the line, and I am still far from convinced that a Kindle is the right option.

January also saw me make a decision about my option modules for my course.  Looking back I still believe I made the right choices, as I think skills in both marketing and digitisation are going to be very important.

I also blogged about CardStar, an application for smartphones that allows library users to recreate their library barcode on their phone.  This had some interesting ramifications for libraries and pointed to the need for staff to be on top of developments to ensure that service delivery isn’t compromised.  That said, I haven’t used CardStar at all since I blogged about it (but then I don’t have many storecards either), but I still think awareness is key.

Finally, I also blogged about the announcement of the iPad and it’s potential to seriously rival the Kindle.  To date that post has had over 5,000 views and is by far the most viewed post on my humble little blog.  It also holds the record for most viewed post in a single day (over 500). Not bad going!

February-April

Seville's Feria de Abril

These were very quiet months for my blog……so quiet I didn’t write a damn thing!  That said, it wasn’t exactly a quiet period in other respects.  First of all, April saw my very last study school come and go.  It was kind of a weird feeling back then.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of my study schools and they certainly brought back memories of my student days.  However, upon completion of this study school I knew that I was heading towards the final straight and a long hard slog was ahead of me.  I will miss the schools and the connections they provided (I met several previously unseen Tweeters at this last study school which was quite weird…..the collision of the virtual and the real always sends me into a spin), but I am looking forward to getting the qualification under my belt and moving on professionally.

April was also fairly traumatic as my wife and I had intended on taking our daughter to the fantastic Feria de Abril in Seville for our little girl’s first birthday.  Unfortunately, Eyjafjallajökull decided to kick off and any chance we might have had disappeared before our eyes.  A sad end to April, but hopefully we will rectify this in 2011.

May

And with a quiet few months behind me, the blogging began again in earnest.  First off, I blogged about my experiences at the study school I went to in April (see above).  I hoped it might prove useful for those on the distance learning course to see what lies ahead of them.  Of course, I may have just freaked them out, but that’s the chance you take!

May also saw some exciting news on the job front.  I had been successful in applying for a library systems post at my local university and I was about to straddle that line between librarian and shambrarian (a libshambrarian if you will).  I have to say i have thoroughly enjoyed the new challenge that this has brought me and I certainly do not look back with regret and my decision to move on and try something different.

I also blogged about privacy concerns on Facebook (something I am sure will continually creep around ad infinitum) and a post about marketing in libraries wondering whether they should focus on those that use the service or those that do not.  A problem I still struggle over and I have yet to come to a satisfactory answer.

June

Gardens of the Real Alcazar in Seville

And so we reach June (or does June reach us?) and my utter annoyance at the coverage of library closures on Newsnight. So throughly cheesed off was I that I devoted a rather lengthy post to defending the library service and attacking those that fail to see its value (and indeed those that fail to defend it sufficiently). What infuriated me at the time, and continues to do so to a certain extent (although, like the Icelandic volcano, my initial eruption has subsided somewhat, causing only slight discomfort to those in my immediate vicinity), was the fact that the defence was put forward by someone with a tenuous grasp of libraries and their role and that a series of middle-class assumptions were made (everyone has broadband/internet……tell that to the 9 million people who have never….let me repeat that…..never even experienced the Internet firsthand).  Furthermore, it set in motion the narrative that has seen councils ignore the local people’s demands of a comprehensive library service (surely the Big Society is all about meeting the demands of the local community?) and force them (yes, force) to run the service voluntarily without professional guidance.  The horror.  Ironically, the Big Society seems to involve government forcing people to provide services that they feel are better provided by their local councils.  Not so much Big Government, more Bullying Government.

On the flip side, June also saw a long-awaited trip to Seville and my birthday.  See, it’s not all doom and gloom

End of Part I

So, that’s where we leave it at the end of Part I.  Our hero is sat in front of his computer, over the festive period no-less, tearing his hair out in frustration at some events that he has voluntarily decided to re-visit.  Let’s hope things pick up a little in Part II or else this experiment in creating my first blog review will remain an ill-advised experiment.  And not one worth repeating (are any ill-advised experiments worth repeating?).

Google Editions on the way…….

Could Google change the ebook market?

Now, I’m well-known for being a bit of a fan of the Sony Reader and not so keen on the Kindle.  The reason for this?  I think that all the players in the ebook market should gather around ePub as the standard format for ebooks.  Sony has certainly got onboard with this, Apple sort of have, but Amazon so far have not.  The main drawback to being a non-Kindle fan?  The price of compatible ebooks.  Sadly, well for me anyway, Amazon offers fairly good deals on ebooks (although this may come to an end with increased agency pricing – see earlier post).  Owners of Sony Readers on the other hand are stuck with slightly more expensive ebooks via Waterstone’s or WHSmiths.  Although I shouldn’t forget that ePub is also the format that library ebooks are delivered in – that’s quite important! Well, there could be some good news coming after Christmas.

It looks very likely that Google are going to announce details of their (much delayed) Google Editions service after Christmas.  From InformationWeek:

Google Editions are digital books with digital copying restrictions; they look like what’s currently offered through Google Books.

Purchasing a Google Edition will give the buyer the ability to access that book from most devices that support Web browsers and devices offered by an as yet undisclosed set of supported device partners. This marks a significant point of differentiation from Apple and Amazon, which limit purchased e-books to proprietary hardware.

In another departure from what Apple and Amazon are doing, Google is taking a federated approach, allowing Authorized Resellers to sell Google Editions through their own online book selling sites.

Pretty good news, and could almost certainly prove a serious challenge to Amazon if it takes off (Google Wave anyone??).  What makes this all the more exciting is that Google has already done a deal with Sony for its scanned Google Books, and that deal is likely to be extended to Editions too.  This means that Google Editions books may also be downloaded onto a Sony Reader, as well as iPads and iPhones.  Really good news for Sony Reader owners.

Of course, a lot can change between now and the launch, but it is an exciting prospect.  Let’s just hope it isn’t another Google flop akin to Wave.  That would be really disappointing.

Kindle, ebooks and agency pricing

Is agency pricing the future for ebooks?

This is not the post I was originally going to publish today,  I was actually going to post a blog post comparing the cost of ebooks on Amazon and WHSmiths – to see what the price difference was between ebooks for the Kindle and the Sony Reader (it worked out, over 29 random books to be just under 30p more expensive for the Sony Reader btw).  But you know what?  I’m bored of posts filled with numbers, so I thought I’d fill one full of text instead!  This was mainly prompted by the following story on The Bookseller:

WH Smith has began selling Penguin and Hachette e-books at agency prices, with the retailer’s digital offer falling into line with Amazon.co.uk and Apple.

The retailer had been at an impasse with Hachette since it switched to agency pricing in September. Until now, Hachette titles were removed from sale from WH Smith’s website, as well as Waterstone’s and Tesco’s digital offer. Penguin implemented agency pricing, along with HarperCollins, on 1st November, leading to their books also becoming unavailable at online retailers, with the exception of Amazon and Apple.

The agency pricing model seems set to be the standard pricing strategy for the delivery of ebooks in the future.  Under the ‘agency model’ system, publishers set the retail price for books which booksellers are then obliged to sell at.  The ramifications of this are obvious.  If publishers set the price for books, then there is no room for suppliers to offer a variable pricing strategy and one format will not be able to steal a march on any other (naming no names *ahem*).

Of course, this is not exactly good news for the consumer either.  It will prevent ebooks from being more realistically priced in comparison to their print counterparts.  That is hardly going to persuade huge swathes of people to ditch print and take up ebooks.  Handily for consumers, Amazon have made it very clear that they are completely opposed to the agency pricing model:

“We believe [the publishers] will raise prices on e-books for consumers almost across the board. For a number of reasons, we think this is a damaging approach for readers, authors, booksellers and publishers alike.

“In the UK, we will continue to fight against higher prices for e-books, and have been urging publishers considering agency not to needlessly impose price increases on consumers.”

Although, obviously, Amazon aren’t exactly in this solely to protect the consumer, oh no.  There’s the question of a monopoly to consider.  As author Charlie Stross explains:

“…..to customers, Amazon would like to be a monopoly (i.e. the only store in town). To suppliers, Amazon would like to be a monopsony (i.e. the only customer in town). Their goal is to profit via arbitrage, and if they can achieve those twin goals they will own everyubody’s nuts — the authors, the customers, everyone. They are, in fact, exactly the kind of middle-man operation that the internet tends to squish, gooily.”

Interestingly, he also adds:

“Just before Apple announced the iPad and the agency deal for ebooks, Amazon pre-empted by announcing an option for publishing ebooks in which they would graciously reduce their cut from 70% to 30%, “same as Apple”. From a distance this looks competitive, but the devil is in the small print; to get the 30% rate, you have to agree that Amazon is a publisher, license your rights to Amazon to publish through the Kindle platform, guarantee that you will not allow other ebook editions to sell for less than the Kindle price, and let Amazon set that price, with a ceiling of $9.99. In other words, Amazon choose how much to pay you, while using your books to undercut any possible rivals (including the paper editions you still sell). It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the major publishers don’t think very highly of this offer …”

I think this gets to the heart of the problem and is one of the reasons why I am unlikely to be converted to Kindle any time soon.  Essentially, they want to stitch up the market so that they are the sole provider of ebooks.  This would be fine in principle if they employed a format that worked across all products.  They don’t.  Instead of supporting an open format like ePUB (which doesn’t, incidentally, mandate DRM – vendors add that), they utilise only their own format which is incompatible with others (unless you push it through some conversion).  The agency model is bad news for them (as it is for the consumer of course) because it becomes a level playing field and they no longer have the advantage over Apple, Sony etc.  This means that there is starting to emerge a straight choice between AMZ and ePub.  With the latter having the added advantage of being the format that library ebooks are delivered in.

Amazon have two choices, either adopt ePub as a standard format for the Kindle, or try to fight off the inevitable leveler.  It’s interesting that, in recent weeks, they have been employing some aggressive marketing (particularly attacking Apple’s iPad – Apple being the driver behind agency pricing) – with ads all over the newspapers, billboards and regular TV spots.  Maybe they are trying to get people to buy Kindles before agency pricing is applied across the board.  Once it is widespread, it is hard to see what advantages there are to having a Kindle at all.  Interestingly, agency pricing could be a good thing for libraries….just a thought.

Of course I could add that this the agency model is regressive and flawed, but that’s another post for another time.  In the meantime, for that argument, check this post out on FutureBook.  I’ll be interested to hear people’s thoughts on what agency pricing means for ebooks, Amazon, ePub and, of course, us consumers.  Good for some and not for others?  Bad across the board? What do you think?

Not just ebooks but eAudiobooks too……

eAudiobooks are beneficial for the housebound....and the middle class office worker .

Well, what a weekend of ebook related revelations that was.  Despite campaigning tirelessly for libraries against ebooks, it became clear over the weekend that ‘Perkins’ doesn’t really understand the subscription model that is most often employed by public libraries.  The cat commented on the weekend about his (its?) major concern regarding the provision of ebooks – the need to continually re-assess every year whether you want to continue to offer a particular ebook and, if so, the need to pay for it again.  Yes, that’s right ‘again’.  Obviously such a model would be cause for concern.  Why should a service effectively pay for a new copy of a book every year?  And why are librarians championing something that will cause them more work?  Well, the truth is they are not.

The model most often used by libraries is that of a one user-one title service (most frequently through Overdrive who are the market leader at present).  Libraries pay a one-off fee for the service, followed by a regular maintenance fee.  Once this is set up, libraries populate their online library with whatever stock they see fit (with very little difference in cost from a print edition).  And, this is the crucial point, once bought that is it.  It will remain there forever, theoretically as it would if it were a print edition.  Although, as we all know, what with publishers cutting costs there has been a marked decrease in the quality of print editions of late.  It was not unknown for me to come across books that virtually crumbled in your hand after only one loan when working in public libraries.  Ebooks never crumble.  Once they are in your catalogue you never have to worry about buying replacements – unless, of course, you wish to purchase a more recent edition of a particular title (or if the supplier goes bust of course).  Genius eh?

However, even this is not enough to put Perkins off his stride.  No, ebooks are underused and only serve a tiny fraction of library users.  That rather sounds like the voice of the private sector does it not?  Public libraries are paid for by everyone and so should try to meet the needs of their users wherever possible, not simply focus on the needs of an elite few.  Without the users libraries wouldn’t exist.  We should, at all costs, try to meet their needs, not tell them what we think is best for them.  Unless we want the library service to hark back to the Victorian era, or maybe Stalin’s Russia – centralised and rigidly sticking to prescribed dogma scribbled on the back of fag packets by our superiors.  Whoops, sorry, diverted into a bit of a rant then.  Back to the plot…..

The truth is that ebooks have been very popular, as my local authority has demonstrated.  When searching for new ebooks to borrow on their system it is quite amazing how many are out on loan (maximum of 6 can be loaned to a borrower at any one time) and how many reservations are in place.  Clearly they are proving popular.  It certainly seems that users are demanding a quality ebook service from their local library service.  The very fact that my local authority (Kent since you are asking!) has had to up the limit from 3 to 6 electronic titles (ebook or eAudiobook) due to public demand rather suggests that it has been very popular.  Which is a very good thing.  If there were only a dribble of loans then I would accept that now is not the time.  However, when you have all six copies of a title on loan and a further 6 reservations, you need to start thinking that maybe there is a demand here.

And herein lies the problem.  Amazon has just announced that ebooks will be able to be loaned between Kindle owners.  This is quite a major development and one that should concern libraries.  There is a very real chance that libraries will miss the boat on this one.  If companies allow their ebooks to be loaned, while libraries are trying to decide whether it is for them or not, they will find it very difficult to successfully launch when Amazon et al have an established service.  Why bother with your local library if you can just exchange books via Amazon?  The only chance is if libraries can establish their service now, bed it in and make the library the first place to go to borrow ebooks for free.  It should be the first stop for them as much as it should be the first stop for print editions.  If libraries can establish themselves as providers of borrowable ebooks, then it has a chance of surviving the digital age and coming out the other side stronger than before.  If not, well, let’s not kid ourselves that they can just stick with a determined focus on print editions for ever more and survive, let alone prosper.  If that were to be the case, we may have to face the reality that, in the future, people will exchange quaint memories of a free service that once enabled you to borrow things made out of some curious thing called ‘paper’ – replaced by a number of private companies offering digital publications at a price.  Whither equal access for all then?

eAudiobooks

Oscar Wilde mp3 from Kent County Council.

Well, I took a while getting there, but I did promise to talk about eAudiobooks too!  Before I explain my discovery at the week-end, some context.  I have recently moved into my first office based role.  Up until now I have always worked in a customer facing role, first in retail, then in public libraries.  As a result, the office environment was a bit of a new one for me.  Previous to now my only experience had been some work experience at a publishing company in London.  I have learnt, relatively quickly, that my iPhone has become my best friend (as if it wasn’t already!).  The thought of turning up to work and forgetting my headphones fills me with dread.  I wake up in the night in a cold sweat just thinking about it.  Ok, maybe not.  But it is essential.

The only drawback is that, as someone who listens to mainly rock (have I mentioned my love of Pearl Jam?!), it can be a bit heavy going on the ears all day.  Every now and then I like to break it up with a podcast or some radio so that I have something different to entertain me whilst I work (should I be entertained while at work??).  Which is where eAudiobooks come in (capital ‘A’ or small ‘a’??).

Now, my authority offers (as I may have mentioned) ebooks for loan.  They also, however, offer eAudiobooks – audiobooks in a digital format so that they can be played on mp3 players, computers etc etc.  I hadn’t bothered with this too much as I thought that I would need to download them to my PC, sync with my iPhone and transfer them over – far too much hassle.  Besides, I have never really got into the idea of having someone read to me, at least not in my adult years!  However, turns out I was wrong (mark this date in your diary!).  Overdrive offer a free application for your iPhone (and other smartphones too!) so that you can download eAudiobooks direct from your library website onto your phone! No syncing, no connecting to a computer…..awesome!

As a result of this magical discovery, I instantly downloaded the app and hunted around for titles to download on KCC’s library website.  I discovered, as you might expect, that it was a very popular service with Kent’s borrowers.  In fact, out of the first 100 mp3s I looked at on the site (there are 169 in total), only 22 were available.  78% of the county’s eAudiobook stock is out on loan!  Now I don’t know about you but that is what I call a popular service!  I also call it a genius service when you work in an office all day working at a computer – which is possibly why it has proven so popular.

However, this service is not only good for office workers and alike.  It is also a wonder for the most vulnerable in society.  Let’s face it, the ability to access eAudio at home is massive step forward on this level.  Typically libraries keep a fairly small selection of audio titles as they are expensive and take up a large amount of space.  By providing them virtually you are providing a much wider range of stock without taking up any space in the building.  Not only that, but for the housebound it is particularly beneficial.  A whole new world is opened up to them.  And isn’t that something we should strive for?  Shouldn’t we ensure that library users have access to a wide range of resources?  Shouldn’t we ensure that we do what we can to assist those who are least able to use the library service by providing a range of resources online?  Of course we should.  Libraries overriding role in society (in my view anyway) is to ensure equality of access to information for all.  That is why they were established – so that information wasn’t solely in the hands of a privileged elite and that the workers could have a taste of the knowledge that was once solely the preserve of the wealthy.   I for one hope that authorities that do not currently offer ebooks and eAudiobooks look at the example of Kent and others and decide that it most definitely is the time to offer these services to our users, before it is too late.

Will the iPad Kill the Kindle?

So finally, after months of speculation, Apple’s iPad has finally been unveiled. Although there is much to discuss about Apple’s latest device, the aspect that is most interesting to me is its use as an ereader. What was particularly intriguing about this development was the announcement that the iPad would support the ePub format. This could have massive implications for the ebook market, and is potentially disastrous for one market player in particular.

The iPad - Apple's Kindle Killer?

I have been fairly sceptical about the Kindle for some time. On a number of occasions I have questioned the wisdom of Amazon’s decision to pursue its own format rather than embrace ePub which has quickly become the industry standard format. Whilst they have had fairly limited competition in the ebook market, they have been able to getaway with backing their own proprietary format. However, now Apple have entered the fray, Amazon’s Kindle could be in real trouble. By supporting the ePub format, Apple have left Amazon nowhere to turn. Surely no-one will seriously consider a Kindle when it doesn’t support a format that has pretty much become standard? Although speculation is a dangerous game, it seems hard to see much of a future for the Kindle unless it adopts the ePub standard as soon as possible. If it does not, it is dead. And even if it does, it could be too late. The Kindle has not been able to get a foothold in Europe due to various technological issues (Amazon’s Whispernet cannot be used in Europe). Should the iPad launch over here before the Kindle gets a proper Europe-wide release (which is pretty much a nailed on certainty), the Kindle won’t have a chance.

However, Amazon may have one thing in its locker. The one drawback with the iPad, in terms of ebooks anyway, is that users could suffer from eyestrain as it is has a backlit screen. Reading from a screen using e-ink is far more comfortable than reading from a backlit screen as it puts no strain on your eyes whatsoever, and comes close to the experience of reading a ‘real’ book. That said, more and more people seem to comfortable reading text from their iPhone/Touch. I have even heard people suggest that they will ditch their ereader in favour of reading from their iPhone. So maybe it isn’t that much of an advantage after all!

As well as sounding the death knell for the Kindle, the iPad could have a very positive impact on the ebook market as a whole. With Apple’s current strength, is it unlikely to see the cost of ebooks come down and for this new format to finally take-off? Could it be that 2010 will see real growth for ebooks? It’ll be interesting to see how things develop in the light of Apple’s foray into the ebook market.

Update

Looks like my initial excitement may not have been well founded.  Just discovered this on an Adobe blog:

It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple’s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.  And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.

I do hope this isn’t the case.  If the iPad was to adopt an ePub standard compatible with other readers then, as I said above, we could really see the ebook market take-off.  Maybe this will change before launch, if it does not it’s not the step forward I hoped it would be.

Those Christmas Kindle Statistics…..

It’s not very often that I write a sceptical blog post about ebooks, so brace yourself, I am about to break a habit of a lifetime (well, maybe not a lifetime….it’s not like ebooks have been around for ever…where was I..).  As you may be aware from the flood of tweets and media stories, on the 26th December, Amazon announced the following:

SEATTLE, Dec 26, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that Kindle has become the most gifted item in Amazon’s history. On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books. The Kindle Store now includes over 390,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases.

Now, normally when reading such a press release I would be filled with optimism about what this means for the future of ebooks.  However, in this instance, I greeted the statistics with a healthy dose of scepticism.  I could not believe that with the sight of ebook reader owners still a rarity, it would be even remotely conceivable that ebooks could have overtaken their paper companions.  Of course, as is very often the case, the statistics are a little misleading.

The problem with Kindle books is that they are quite unlike any other product on their website (or websites).  Although the Kindle is now available to customers outside the US (including the UK), ebooks can only be purchased via the US site (ie Amazon.com) and not via a local Amazon site (ie Amazon.co.uk).  Consequently, as all sales are routed through the .com site, it will produce higher than expected results.  For example, sales of The Lost Symbol in hardback on Amazon.com would reflect only sales to US consumers.  Likewise, sales on Amazon.co.uk would only reflect sales to UK consumers.  However, sales of the ebook version of the same title on Amazon.com would actually include buyers from around 100 countries, including both the UK and the US, as Amazon.com is the only Amazon site that offers ebooks.  Consequently, if sales only reflect those on Amazon.com, it seems fairly likely that ebook sales will outstrip those of paperbooks.  In short, the statistics are a little misleading.  This is not the tipping point that the industry has been waiting for. It is merely an attempt by Amazon to big itself and its products up.  Sad as it is for me to admit…I so wanted it to be true.

Anyway, in truth, the only way we will really get to the bottom of the strength of the current ebook market would be for all ebook reader manufacturers to come clean about how many readers they have sold as well as for retailers to detail the sales of ebooks.  It is only through transparent statistics such as this that we will really know where the ebook market is.  As Bobbie Johnson points out on his Guardian blog, transparency is not only essential for Amazon, but potentially the whole ebook industry.

More eBooks…..

As promised, I thought I would share the results of my recent (entirely unscientific) ebook poll.  Much as I expected, the cost of the technology (both for the readers and the ebooks themselves) was the primary concern of many who voted.  In total, around 40% of the votes cast reflected the need for cheaper ebooks and cheaper readers. Range was also a factor with 15% of votes counted suggesting that the limited range of titles at present is a hindrance to making the move to the electronic format.  A further factor was DRM (Digital Rights Management) with 13% of votes cast indicating that the removal of DRM would be desirable.   However, it was encouraging to note that only six votes flatly refused to even contemplate the idea of ebooks – although given that this poll was primarily circulated via Twitter, one has to consider the type of person who was partaking (generally tech-savvy types who would likely give serious thought to purchasing an eReader).  Consequently, it is impossible to extrapolate these results across the general population (which makes you wonder why I bothered in the first place!), but it is fair to say that there is a high degree of interest in ebooks and certainly the poll suggests that a number of people could be persuaded to buy an eReader if the price is right.  The interest is there, it is up to publishers and manufacturers to meet the demands of the consumers.

Ebooks, audiobooks and VAT

One of the factors keeping both ebooks and audiobooks high in price is the application of VAT at the full 15% rate.  Printed books have been zero rated for VAT for sometime now and it is about time that a reduction in VAT was also applied to audiobooks and ebooks.  Given that both formats have huge advantages for those who suffer from visual impairments, it seems hugely unfair that they should be penalised in this way.  The EU has already voted to reduce VAT on these items, but it is entirely optional as to whether member states apply this ruling.  In order to give the government a gentle nudge, there is currently a petition running at the No10 website urging a reduction on VAT on these items.  At present there are only 21 signatures and there needs to be over 200 for there to be an official government response, so there is some way to go to reach the target.  The petition closes on 20th November so that doesn’t give a lot of time.  I would urge people to Tweet about this poll, spread the word and get as many people as possible to sign the petition.  These technologies can be of great benefit to those who would otherwise be excluded, so I would urge everyone to support a reduction in VAT on them.

Facebook Group

Finally, I have set up an ebook Reader group on Facebook to share experiences with ebooks in whatever format they come in (including on the iPhone).  If you are interested/curious/sceptical about ebooks, feel free to join the group and share your thoughts.  With the imminent release of the Kindle over here, ebooks are going to get bigger and bigger and there will be much to ponder in terms of how their growth will affect libraries and retailers in the future.

The New Kindle

As you may be aware by now, Amazon have announced that their Kindle ebook reader will now be available in 100 countries across the globe.  Couple this announcement with Sony’s recently released readers and things are getting very interesting in the ebook world.  Of course the Kindle news isn’t without a downside.  It will only be available to UK users through the US website at a cost of £200 once import duties are taken into account.  Sadly, affordable ereaders are still a pipe dream at the moment.

That said, it is still exciting news.  With the imminent UK release of the Kindle we will see some much needed competition in the ebook market over here.  Sony has been by far and away the market leader, holding a fairly dominant position in the market for sometime.  The release of the Kindle could, however, lead to a price war with the cost of the hardware decreasing and the appeal of owning a machine increasing.  An added benefit may well be an improvement on the retailing side of ebooks.  The current offering is still pretty poor with prices still not markedly different from paper copies.  A new name on the market (and a leader in the largest ebook market – the US), could kickstart a revolution in the retailing of ebooks and make for a fare better customer experience (I get rather frustrated with the current offerings, Waterstone’s in particular has a poor site), as well as reduced prices for ebooks.

I remain optimistic about the future of ebooks and, when getting people’s views on ebooks, I sense that there is a lot of interest in them once a number of problems have been resolved.  I believe that they will really start to take-off once Amazon fully enters the market here.  For that reason, I think it is essential for public libraries to get onboard (in a considered way of course) as soon as is feasible.  How great would it be for users to be able to ‘borrow’ your books and take them on holiday with them without physically taking the book?  Borrowers wouldn’t have to worry about either losing their book while they are away or the baggage allowance (although admittedly losing the reader would be a major worry – although not for the library as the books will not be lost!).  As for the ability to alter the size of the font, the advantages for those that rely on large print books are obvious.

In response to the growing media interest in ebooks, I have set up a twtpoll to see what would convince people to invest in an ereader.  The poll closes on Sunday and I will post the results at the beginning of next week.

Ebooks – Is A Breakthrough Near?

With the press coverage that has accompanied the release of the latest Dan Brown ‘novel’ (I’m not a fan!), I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to look once more at ebooks and share a few thoughts of my own experiences, as well as what I think publishers need to do to ensure the success of the format.

It has been nine months now since I first got my hands on my Sony Reader.  Although I have always read a great deal, I am not particularly precious about hard/paperbacks.  The thing that has always been of primary concern to myself is the actual content.  Now, some may say that there is nothing like the smell and feel of owning a book, and that may well be true for them but I don’t buy books for smell and appearance, I buy books because the content interests me.  That’s not to say that the opposing view lacks legitimacy, it’s all about personal preference.  At this point I feel I should re-iterate my position on ebooks and their place in the publishing world.

In my view, ebooks are simply an alternative format for the delivery of text.  They will not replace paperbacks or hardbacks anymore than audio books have displaced paper copies.   My attitude to ebooks is much the same as it is to MP3s.  Some bands I set out to purchase hard copies of everything they release (in my case everything by Pearl Jam or Radiohead).  Some other bands I will mainly buy hard copies, but the odd EP/single I will download (for example, I own all Bloc Party’s albums, but I only have digital copies of their EPs), whereas some others I will simply buy the digital download and that is all.  For me, this is the same with ebooks.  Should it be a book by Bret Easton Ellis, I will purchase a hard copy without hesitation.  If it is an author I am less interested in, I will simply download a copy of the text (I have recently downloaded Slaughterhouse 5 having never read a Vonnegut before).  To me, it is not a case of either/or, there is much more to it than that.

Anyway, I digress.  I have been very happy with my Reader since I received it as a gift.  I find it exceptionally easy to read from the screen and although there is a slight delay when turning pages, it has become barely noticeable with time.  I like the way that I can carry a whole library of books around with me and dip in and out of any of them at any moment (aided by the fact that you can have multiple bookmarks on as many books as you like).  I like the fact that I can organise them into collections (such as ‘non-fiction’, ‘fiction’ and ‘classics’ – you can categorise however you see fit) just like I was carrying my own personal library.  One of the biggest benefits, however, has been when travelling.  On my last trip to Spain I had read all the books that I had taken with me, leaving me nothing to read on the flight home.  However, instead of rushing to the nearest bookshop and hunting down an English language text (both hard to find and ridiculously expensive), I visited the WHSmiths ebook store, found an appropriate title and downloaded it, all in a matter of minutes.  Thus I ensured that I didn’t have to endure the flight home without something to read.  Overall, my experiences with my Reader over the past 9 months have been very positive and it has become one of my best loved gadgets.

Despite my attachment to my Reader, there are a great many people out there who are very sceptical about ebooks.  A recent poll in The Guardian suggested 77% of people would not consider using an ebook reader (although the poll itself is flawed as it uses the common either/or dichotomy which is not appropriate as I have already indicated).  The comments that follow certainly seem to support this viewpoint (although they are perhaps misled by the false dichotomy of the poll in question).  Whilst a number of comments relate to the physicality of books and an emotional attachment, there are a number of valid comments from people regarding the format itself.

Although the potential for ebooks is great, there are still a number of factors that need to be addressed for the sceptics to be won over and for ebooks to become a popular alternative:

1. Reduce the price of ebooks and readers – The cost of ebooks is still far too high compared to paper copies.  When you also factor in the cost of the equipment needed to read ebooks, it is clearly an expensive option.  A case in point: Dan Brown’s heavily promoted novel is retailing for £13.29 in ebook format and the hardback is available for £4.99 at Amazon.
2. Publish more ebooks – Although more and more ebooks are coming onto the market all the time (and perhaps more will after the release of Dan Brown’s latest), there is still not enough choice to warrant the purchase of a reader.  Even now, it is quite a rare thing for me to find something that I really want to read in ebook format.
3. Support one format -  The best way for ebooks to succeed is for one solitary format to be the preferred method of delivery.  Amazon are still promoting their format over all others for obvious reasons.  EPUB would be the preferable option (in fact that format is pretty much accepted as standard now so one wonders how Amazon intend on proceeding with their format).
4. Address DRM – Digital Rights Management is still a concern.  Whilst some ebooks have been relaxed regarding DRM (Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science allows 35 copies every 7 days) others off no such relaxation.  If ebooks were to take off, the DRM issue needs to be seriously considered and addressed, particularly with the associated danger of losing your entire collection.
5. Improved retailing – At present, ebook retailing in the UK is pretty poor at best.  There is a very limited choice of retailers (at present you can only purchase through Waterstone’s, WHSmiths and Borders) and the actual purchasing experience through any of these retailers is pretty poor (the fact that WHSmiths of all places is the best tells you all you need to know about the state of ebook retailing in the UK).  There needs to be a dedicated UK based ebook retailer who can provide a much better purchasing experience).

Although addressing these issues would not necessarily ensure a bright future for ebooks on their own, they would remove some of the doubts in people’s minds about the rationality of purchasing an ebook reader.  If these issues are not addressed, ebooks are in danger of becoming very much a niche product that will never break into the mainstream, no matter how hard manufacturers try to appeal to the iPod generation.