- Image by keithlam via Flickr
I was planning to move on beyond Kindle and iPhone talk today and to tackle how writers can conveniently publish their work in the new electronic formats. However, Dan Costa of PC Magazine online has just written a column that fits right into what I’ve been saying and serves as a useful bridge between my topics. Titled Amazon’s Kindle Secret is in the Software, Dan underscores the sudden breakthrough nature of what’s going on. Exciting as the hardware is, it’s the software that should excite writers. We now have an extraordinary new route to publication, with potentially millions of readers. Dan’s article is important. Please READ IT.
POST SCRIPT: There’s more. You do know, don’t you, that PC Magazine is no longer available in a print edition? The magazine has abandoned print and is now available only in an electronic edition. You can read magazine articles in piece-meal fashion at the PC Magazine website. OR you can subscribe to a full electronic issue available online via Zinio.
You should also visit Zinio for a couple more surprises. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and on the left, you will see two significant links. Digital Classics takes you to a bookshelf of over 100 “leather” bound classics. Click on a book spine, fill in the user info, and look at the beautifully rendered e-Books, with an eye-popping page-turning feature. From this site, you can also browse textbooks and magazines. And Zinio is beginning to build up its digital bookstore as well. The iPhone link takes you to Zinio’s “mobile newsstand,” still in incubation stage.
While preparing the post, I also did additional poking around at the PC Magazine website and came up with another article worth reading: Six Alternatives to the Amazon Kindle 2.
PC Magazine also reported last week that magazine and newspaper publisher Hearst is developing an e-reader especially for periodicals.
Finally, you may recall my post several weeks ago announcing my subscription to the PC Utilities electronic edition, via Exact Editions in England. In fact, earlier today, I read through the new issue.
EVEN MORE: Another breaking news story, just released today by Publisher’s Weekly. Barnes & Noble has bought the major e-book retail outlet Fictionwise, and its related reader E-Book Reader. Barnes & Noble says that Fictionwise will become a major part of its strategy as it moves into the future. You can read the Publisher’s Weekly article HERE. I’ll have more to say about Fictionwise next week, with a post I’ve already been planning. I’m amazed at how fast the new developments are moving, just as I start to write this series.
QUESTION: What do you make of all this activity? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Comment by
Sébastien B.
15 Mar 2009
Hello Tom,
I don’t share your views about ebooks. My comments below:
1) A text is short or is printed:
I think ebooks are ideal for short articles, newspaper, sports, politics, etc, but – as for me – it can’t replace a novel. I don’t know anyone (even in the youngest friends of mine) having read more than 10 pages in an ebook. At the office, when a document is too long to read, it’s printed. Period. And all those who are doing so are below 30. So, that’s not the old school behavior. In fact, ebooks are like texts on the internet: I wouldn’t print them if they are too long.
2) The endless irrational attachment to paper:
But the most crucial point against ebook is elsewhere: the relationship we have to paper is insanely irrational. Especially for readers. Huge readers can’t imagine to read on anything but on paper. Maybe this can change over time, but as long as kids learn at school with printed book, and raise themselves to reading and literature via real books, I wouldn’t give a buck to ebooks future…
In other words, I strongly feel that ebooks are condemned because paper is simply perfect to readers. And you can’t replace anything once you’re in heaven.
3) Uploading is burying:
Finally, sorry to say so, but the publishing platform of ebooks is simply a non-sense (in your post, this is done via Kindle, but that’s the common tale of self-publishing when a new support comes in). Publishing is all about selection, that’s not a media question. Once everyone has his two or three novels on Kindle, Amazon will do what they do on the main webstore: select the novels in the frontpage. This would be the new hope of authors: getting lost on a portal and *hope* that word-of-mouth will bubble up them to the homepage. Tomorrow, you won’t just upload your books there, you will bury them there.
Sébastien B.
Comment by
Tom Colvin
15 Mar 2009
Sebastien, I actually agree with your three points. But there’s more to the story, which I will post sometime this week.
On another topic, I’m pleased to see that Chapter By Chapter now works with Open Office. Any possibility of compatibility with Softmaker Office, which I understand is very popular in Europe? I’m using it from time to time and like it.
Comment by
Sébastien B.
15 Mar 2009
Can’t wait reading what’s next. I’m always delighted by your posts Tom. Thank you for putting so much efforts to the benefit of the community.
Chapter by Chapter now accepts “alternate editors”, like Open Office. But MS Word is still mandatory for some operations (gathering the docs in one doc file, etc.). So, don’t expect using CbC without MS Word installed…
Sébastien
Comment by
Sébastien B.
15 Mar 2009
To answer your question: Yes, CbC works with SoftOffice TextMaker (while it still need MS Word installed).
I’m not sure TextMaker is that popular, at least in France. Everybody tends to use either Word (on the main computer) and OpenOffice (on other secondary computers, to limit the global cost on MS products).
Comment by
Tom Colvin
25 Mar 2009
Just discovered a clever and information video comparing the Kindle 2 and the Sony E-Reader from CNET. Go to: http://cnettv.cnet.com/2001-1_53-50005463.html?tag=nl.e415