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Adobe’s Bill McCoy on the selection of ‘commercially relevant’ e-books at Kindle Store: Some hope for rivals
August 13, 2008 | 3:28 pm
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By Bill McCoy, General Manager, ePublishing Business, Adobe Systems
Earlier I raised the issue of how many e-books Amazon was selling that were truly commercial. I’m not the only one. Here are personal opinions of Adobe’s Bill McCoy, adapted with his permission from the Reading 2.0 e-mail list. – D.R.
Apple is unlikely to be able to pull an iPod here, but not because Amazon has any kind of insurmountable lead in e-book selection. I don’t think that’s the case, not at all.
First, the selection of commercially relevant e-books at the Kindle Store is still very thin. Less coverage of what really sells in trade than a decent airport bookstore. Much of the “vast” Kindle Store selection is filler eDocs. Some major publisher lists are MIA. This has already been discussed on the list so I won’t belabor the point. But the race to get everything that sells in digital isn’t over, it isn’t even half over. When you get beyond U.S. market, it has barely begun, and Kindle is not the leader.
Secondly, the aggregation of e-books by Ingram and others includes not only the content but the commercial relationships that enable multiples downstream retailers. To map to physical book value chain, they are not just distributors, they can act as wholesalers. In this model the publisher retains more control over the pricing (vs. a retailer being able to impose their own will), but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Thirdly, these integrators already have close to the level of commercially relevant content as Amazon already—in some respects more content—and this will quickly evolve from the less-mobile-optimal PDF to also being available in ePub. As publishers make content available to channels it’s going to be in ePub, and Amazon will not only not have any exclusive, but will have work to do to convert it into its proprietary format (potentially with mixed results with regard to quality).
Last but not least, retailers can pull from multiple aggregators to maximize selection. I know already of several online retailers getting "feeds" from more than one, and I expect this to continue. Major retailers can go direct to get unique deals from publishers but will have as a backstop essentially all the commercially salable content via the union of what’s available from multiple aggregators.
Related: ePub for the Kindle—and here’s why. – D.R.
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Comments:
I gather that it is possible to read Fictionwise encrypted Mobipocket books on the Kindle with a little bit of messing around.
Interesting post, Bill.
I agree that the universe of eBooks is larger than the Kindle and I hope it continues to be–as I’ve mentioned before, it should be a concern for all readers and publishers (and authors) if a single corporation gains monopoly control of any link in the delivery chain. I also agree that some major NY publishers have been slow to adopt eBooks and their are not available on the Kindle (mostly, I think, due to legal delays as large publishers try to cut themselves better deals than Amazon has to offer to small publishers like BooksForABuck.com). Still, I think the notion that Amazon’s Kindle store has fewer trade selections than your average airport bookstore is incorrect (badly incorrect). I also think the Kindle takes excellent advantage of an important eBook feature–that books need not go ‘out of print.’ So, a Kindle user who discovers an author can quickly buy more.
The Kindle/Whispernet is a strong and compelling product. I’m glad Sony and Adobe are working together to make the Sony a better product. And I’m happy that Fictionwise and others offer iPhone options. But I think the Kindle has changed the game we play, and we don’t dare ignore it.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com