Re: future of the Amazon Kindle

I think Amazon believes that it has to make the Kindle work.
Ultimately, with increasing fuel costs, a model of shipping individual
paper books to homes has got to fail. Digital is the way books will be
delivered--and read. But with digital books, why go through Amazon?
Sure for us small publishers with little-known authors, an aggregator
like Amazon or Fictionwise is critical. But if I'd just published the
latest Nora Roberts, John Grisham, or J. K. Rowling book, why wouldn't
I sell through my own website and keep more of the money for myself?

By offering the Kindle, Amazon ties readers to their store and offers
an incredibly valuable customer base to publishers. I read a Bezos
quote where someone had asked him how much he was prepared to spend to
make the Kindle a success--his answer was "how much do we have." 

For those of us who have been in the business for a while, and
struggled with skepticism, even derision, it's nice to have someone
who believes in the model and is motivated to make it succeed. In
contrast, Sony wants to succeed but wouldn't really be much damaged if
it failed. Devices, not digital content, is the center of Sony's
world. Increasingly, digital content is where Amazon lives.

Rob Preece
Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com


--- In [email protected], "auwg" <auwg@...> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "John Landahl" wrote:
> > At this point it appears to me that the Kindle is becoming
> > established in the market and will be around for years to come.
> > Anyone have good arguments to the contrary?
> 



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