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Day: April 3, 2008

Publishers Believe Kindle Has Helped eBook Market

The eBook reader hasn’t actually revolutionized the market, but some publishing officials are willing to concede that they’ve seen increased eBook sales.

Sales for the most popular books are in the hundreds, comparable to the number for the Sony Reader, which came out in 2006.

“The Kindle has increased awareness. Publishers have told me that in some cases the Sony numbers were double or triple to what they had been,” says Michael Smith, head of the International Digital Publishing Forum, which tracks e-book sales.

While Kindle owners are loving the device and reading more because of it, the eBook reader hasn’t come close to reaching critical mass just yet, most likely due to its steep price. The Kindle sells for $399.

Public sightings of eBook devices like the Kindle remain rare compared to iPods and even iPhones. But, the industry has jumped in. Companies like Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Random House use Sony Readers to review book manuscripts.

eBook sales are growing. The market was $6 million in 2002 and is now measured at around $33 million. Still, eBook sales are less than 1% of the $35 billion dollar publishing business.

More: Why eBook readers don’t stand a chance.

Technorati Tags:
eBooks, Publishing, Amazon, Kindle, Industry, Sony Reader

New Global Publishing Program?

Or yet another publisher driven internet strategy bound for failure?

Hyperion President and founding publisher Robert S. Miller is bailing on that company to “launch a new global publishing program based on a non-traditional business model” at HarperCollins.

According to the press release, “Miller will publish approximately 25 popular-priced books per year in multiple physical and digital formats including those as yet unspecified, with the aim to combine the best practices of trade publishing while taking full advantage of the internet for sales, marketing and distribution. Authors will be compensated through a profit sharing model as opposed to a traditional royalty, and books will be promoted utilizing on-line publicity, advertising and marketing.” Translation, probably: Whatever it is that Bob will be publishing will be printed on demand, or you will be able to read it on your Kindle-type device, or, eventually, by using implanted technology in your eyeballs that will allow you to turn pages by blinking.

Knowing as much as I do about the publishing industry, Emily at Galleycat probably isn’t too far off with her guesstimate of Miller’s plans. Here’s hoping though that whatever Bob Miller accomplishes at HC, it leans heavily toward the new business model side of things. New ideas are few and proactivity is low in publisherland. I’ll be watching…

UPDATE: You gotta love this headline from the Wall Street Journal. Is that a way to freak out authors or what?

More: P.Viktor chimes in with an authors opinion on HarperCollins’ new program.

Technorati Tags:
Bob Miller, Hyperion, HarperCollins, Publishing

Obama Bribes Voters

If you were a University student and you had a choice to go listen to Bill Clinton, or get free Dave Matthews concert tickets courtesy of Barack Obama, what would you do?

(IndyStar) It was an unexpected showdown of surrogates for Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton here Wednesday, and it sure looked like Obama’s representative whipped up the most excitement.

As former President Bill Clinton was extolling his wife’s credentials, Obama’s campaign office in Bloomington began giving away tickets to Sunday’s Dave Matthews concert at Assembly Hall.

Jason Schechtman, 19, Deerfield, Ill., a student at IU, got his tickets about 8 p.m. after waiting more than three hours. He met folks in line who said they’d left the Clinton rally to wait for tickets.

“I was leaning toward Obama, but this sealed the deal for sure,” he said. “The Obama campaign announced this right as (Bill Clinton) was about to speak, and it brought everyone from over there to over here.”

Barack Obama, a president for the shallow and superficial.

Technorati Tags:

2008 Election, Barack Obama, Bribe

Even Steven

Obama pulled even with Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials.

Obama yesterday won the backing of Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, who became the sixth head of a Republican-leaning state to come out for him in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. In the past week, Obama picked up support from first-term Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Clinton, backed by two governors from Republican states, gained no superdelegates in that time.

Obama, 46, is endorsed by 16 U.S. House freshmen to Clinton’s 6, and 40 percent of his congressional allies are from “red states,” or those that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004, compared with one-quarter for Clinton. That bolsters the Obama campaign’s argument that he would have broader backing in the general election.

At the end of the day, do endorsements really matter anymore? Sure it signals party solidarity, but in the voters mind, is one endorsement more significant than another? The media goes crazy when a party stalwart like Ted Kennedy decides to align with Obama, but we now know it really didn’t matter that much to the voter. The same might be said about Bill Richardson’s endorsement. Will Hispanics suddenly love Barack just because Bill does? I don’t think it works that way anymore. Mostly, I think the public’s disconnectedness is to blame. Not enough people follow the primary race, or current events in general. They have name recognition with the candidates, but they aren’t necessarily familiar with the daily jousting. I just can’t believe the media pomp and circumstance around this endorsement or that one really amounts to much, today.

Technorati Tags:
2008 Election, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Hispanics, Voters, Electorate, Endorsements