The real story here isn't the Kindle; it's the publishers. They've got paper. They've got audio books. They have movie treatments. Now they've got electronic versions. The exciting chapter is just about to start, as publishers start to ask themselves how else they can monetize a book electronically when they have zero marginal cost of production. Marvel Comics has just moved from being a product company to a service company, offering unlimited reading for a monthly subscription. How long before other publishers follow suit? Random House could offer everything from Del Ray as a Sci-Fi & Fantasy "Channel." Free Press, and other serious publishers with specific topic orientations, could work the very same way.
So then the question becomes, "Why continue to sell (exclusively) through middlemen?" Some publishers have limited, direct, online sales, but why not start to really establish the value of a brand without the intermediary? Some imprints (Penguin Classics, Harlequin Romance) are far better known than nearly all of their specific titles, so why not build on that? It's really just the next evolution of the book club idea. It's also precisely what magazines and newspapers have done since... forever.
Charge me $99/year for access to XYZ Publishing content. If I want the audio recording, I get an mp3. If I want a pdf or eReader or Kindle format, let me have it. I'd even be willing to pay a per-title surcharge to have a paper edition produced by a print-on-demand house and shipped to me. Electronic versions with no marginal cost make all these options possible. The Internet is a decently effective marketing tool, but it's the best distribution tool yet developed. It's time for publishers to take advantage of the Internet's strengths instead of continuing to compensate for its weaknesses.
Aaric Eisenstein
- Aaric Eisenstein
- I've been involved in a wide variety of publishing, technology, and publishing technology companies.
1 comment:
but the problem with numerous "must listen" podcasts is the absence of a visual outline and headlines, and a functionality to skip non-linearly to the desired or relevent parts. Even at only 3-7 minutes, if there are 5 that are on the list for every day, the choice is to skip entirely or burn, sometimes, too much time. They really need to incorporate a method to digest effectively.
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