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Blogs, Books, Mags Compete Equally on the Same Device

November 21st, 2007 | writing

In one sense, I’m a few days late on this Amazon Kindle thing. Newsweek already reviewed it for goodness sakes. I’ve been scooped by the lethargic print media. What can I say? It’s been a whole week squeezed into two and half work days. In another sense, I saw it coming months ago. (Not that is was so hard to see this one coming.)

Publishers are going to compete with free content.

Bloggers, for the first time, we’ll be able to build a platform for short fiction (and presumably long fiction) by publishing long stories and manuscripts in progress on our blogs.

Don’t believe me, watch the video. If you haven’t already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKUKQ7QqOHw

(HT to Michael Hyatt and Heather Goodman for saying this in a way that I could finally hear this morning.)

I have to say this, though. The price is totally out of my range. But I’m sure that’s intentional.


Viewing 6 Comments

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    Just a small musing here... is there any way in which publishers have already been competing with free content? Say, like with TV and radio? And does it therefore matter that blogs deliver free content?
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    I did some e-book reading using my old PDA. I loved it. You HAVE to get something that is formatted to look like a real page, but if you have that, the ability to bookmark and to carry multiple books around with you is amazing.

    but yeah, too expensive for now.
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    The fact is that there was nothing to prevent us from posting works in progress on the Internet before. The important thing is being able to make money from the work we do. When we make content available for free, people are more likely to read what we have written, but that does not mean that they will feel the need to pay us for our efforts. Kindle doesn't change that. It is just another computing device that is connected to the Internet.
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    Thanks for the comments folks. It's possible I got excited by Amazon's really effective marketing campaign, but I stand by the statements. : )

    Sure, Timothy, we could post works in progress online, but people don't read online the same as they read a book. No one curls up at their computer desk to read Stephen King. It will never happen. That's why most blog posts are 500 words or less.

    But, Amazon Kindle (and other devices like it) for the first time is trying to create a device that disappears when we use it. The device becomes a window into the text. The internet is a really bad window. But if I know my content can get downloaded to someone's reading device where they expect longer content, suddenly I can post longer content.

    Suddenly, posting an entire book online doesn't seem like the colossal waste of time that it was twelve months ago.

    L.L., true there has always been competition to reading, but never free books or free content competing with books and content for sale on the same device.

    Although perhaps this is evidence that free can never compete. In our capitalist society, it may automatically be perceived as having no value.

    Gordon, I tried using my PDA as an ereader and just couldn't do it. I needed to see more text on the page. One of the things I'm excited about for the Kindle is the search function. Search for keywords is even easier than flipping pages. The only book I still use on my PDA? The Bible. Because the keyword search allows me to find what I'm looking for, then I go to a book to read the full context...
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    Now, if they could just add a little fragrance, to make it smell like a book. And a little tactile modification to make it not feel like a machine. And an ivory page, to soothe the eyes. Maybe they'd be on to something!
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    I just saw the Kindle this last weekend and my 16 year old daughter almost decided to spend her Christmas money on it -- but instead went for a 16 GB iPod Touch!

    It looks like Amazon has really tried to think this device through and to do for books what Apple did for music. I wish them all the best because I would love to access to a whole world of people out there looking for stuff to read, not just clicking on their email and News websites.

    Of course NOW is the time to get one's blog formatted to work well with this device. The first ones who do this AND have the content that people want will be the ones who have a chance at attracting a real audience.

    Hmm. Of course that means that I now have to go buy one of these things and figure this out myself. Now, if only I can convince my wife this is a "business" purchase...

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