The Joss Group

Did you get a tablet or e-reader this past holiday season?

Sadly, I did not, but then again I already have a tablet and two e-readers. And, I guess, potential gift givers would have decided if I wanted a new one or the other I could always buy it and mark it down as a business expense. However, according to a recent report by the Pew Research folks, lots of people here in the United States did get one or the other, and according to early numbers from Amazon a lot of those people promptly downloaded a book or two or three from Amazon. No word on how many of the downloads were free books, though.

Let's Expose an Amazon Flaw

You have probably heard about this commercial or even seen it. What I think is that the folks in the publishing and printing industries who still believe in the power of print (count me in that group) should get together and do a YouTube ad featuring a very pretty or very handsome man who pops up as the third person in an ad like this one and says, in response to the question of how one can read in the bright light, should be a saucy, "It's a book. I got it at the library and didn't pay anything." And then hold up a paperback.

Different Kinds of Reading Styles?

As you may know, there are different kinds of learning styles. Some people like to learn by reading. Some like to hear (as in a lecture or speech), and some people just have to get their hands on something or move while learning using the other methods. This is not to say that people cannot learn using any of these methods, but simply that people often prefer one way over another or one way is more effective for them than other ways.

I have found the work of Dr. Mel Levine to be very helpful to me in learning how people learn.

When I read this NYT article about a husband and wife who share a love of reading, but not a love of reading platform (she likes books, he likes reading on his new iPad), I thought about learning styles. I am a firm believer that, used properly and creatively, technology such as the iPad can offer new worlds of learning to more people. Perhaps there are different reading styles--a notion particularly appealing if you consider reading a form of learning--and the more ways (technologies) we have for people to read, the number of people reading will increase and the amount they read will increase.

So, do not give up on printed books just yet. I love printed books and always will. With print-on-demand technology such as the Espresso from On DemandBooks LLC, some day I could go into the local book shop and order up a copy of a book and sip a cup of green tea while they get my book ready. And maybe I just might take my iPad along so I can read the e-book version while I sip. Why not? It might be the best of both worlds for me and the publishing industry.

Want to read some total nonsense?

Then read what Mr. Bezos is saying about the Kindle. Click here.

Amazon does not want to "comprise the reading experience" by adding such nifty things as a color display. Hubris, indeed.

What you are hearing, my friends, is Mr. Bezos espousing the new marketing mantras for a device that, within months, Amazon will not be able to even give away.

Cheaper Won't Make the Kindle a Better Deal

This just in: Amazon has dropped the prices on Kindles--you can get one for as little as $139 (do you want WiFi with that?).

Read the WSJ article about the new, less expensive devices by clicking here. The WSJ quotes Amazon's Bezos as saying the new pricing will spark lots of new sales: "People will buy them for their kids. People won't share Kindles any more."

Yeah, huh. Seriously, now. It's not enough. Giving the Kindle away with the purchase of $100 in books won't be enough. Sorry Mr. Bezos.

Amazon says it sells more e-books than hardcovers. I say--so what?

I heard yet another one of those poorly researched, thrown together news pieces on the radio today. You know what I am talking about--they grab a headline or a stat and then they declare print is dead. Only today it was not print, it was printed books. The day of the e-reader is here. Long live e-readers! Yeah, right.

The headline and stat they pulled out for this one is Amazon's recent statement that Amazon is selling more e-books than hardcovers. Well, first of all, that is the "whisper down the lane" version of what Amazon said. The actual statement was, "Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 180 Kindle books..."Second, Amazon did not disclose how it came up with this number. How many of the Kindle titles were "sold" with the newly discounted Kindles? How many hardcovers did Amazon actually sell during these time periods? We are in the slowest months of the year for book sales, especially hardcover books, and that is in a good economy. To me, the Amazon statement says nothing useful except to tell me Amazon is feeling the iPad pain, if you know what I mean.

In the latest issue of the Seybold Report, which we distributed just an hour ago, we have an article that intellgently discussed the topic of iPad versus Kindle in a way publishers will understand. The bottom line is that by this time next year, Apple will probably have sold more than 20 million iPads while Amazon's sales of the Kindle may be only one fourth or one fifth that number. In my opinion, to get to unit levels of more than the current estimate of 3 million, Amazon will soon have to start giving the Kindle away. The big crunch for Amazon is going to be when Apple stops trying to sort out the iPhone 4 problems and starts ramping up iPad production--or announces the iPad 2. Then, Amazon is going to have to pay people to look at the Kindle. That is the story the news radio folks should have broadcast today.

Apple iPad Sales Hit Three Million Mark

When I first looked at the Wall Street Journal Web site this morning, there was an article about Barnes & Noble and Amazon dropping the prices of their e-readers on the same day. When I went back to the site an hour or so later, that story had disappeared and in its place was one about Apple having sold more than three million iPads in the first 80 days after release. Telling, very telling.

We are devoting a lot of space in the next issue of the Seybold Report (due out today) to the iPad and its current and possible future impact on publishing and computing in general. If you do not already subscribe, the issue will be available for individual sale starting tomorrow on the Seybold Report site (http://www.seyboldreport.com).

Publishers Want a Standard e-Book Format

According to Wired, book publishers want a standard e-book format. Not that the publishers say such a format would make them more likely to publish books in electronic form, but having to produce only one file that works on multiple readers would make their production tasks easier. I do not think we are close to that yet, although there are glimmers of hope.