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Archive for October, 2009:

I started reading books on my iPod Touch a couple of months ago. One of the first things I downloaded (for Stanza) was a free version of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, which I’d never read before. That started me on a Wells kick, so I downloaded Tales of Space and Time. I also enjoyed that a lot. But the book cover used (from Project Gutenberg) was so ugly (below, left) it kind of bummed me out every time I caught a glimpse of it! But I figured that was just what you get with free books.

I discovered recently, however, that Feedbooks (one of the 13 collections offered on Stanza) generally chooses more attractive covers for their public-domain books. Below on the right is the cover that Feedbooks uses for the same work. Much easier on the eyes, in my opinion. I think it’s the cover for the first American edition, but I’m not positive.

 

     

 

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Not long ago I was one of 50,000 people who made the pilgrimage to the book festival in Mouans-Sartoux, a small town in the foothills north of Cannes. Publishers from the region and elsewhere in France set up stands and showed off their titles. Writers, too, were there, waiting behind their little stacks, hoping to chat with a reader or sign a book. If we are about to enter a new era of electronic books and unlimited distribution, the festival was a reminder that most people are still living in a slower time of texture and paper.

So what is going to happen? The publishing industry is aswarm with utopian visions of an electronic, democratic future. Many find support in a theory developed by Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, and described in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. The kernel of the idea can be said simply. In the past there were limited distribution channels (e.g., movie theaters or bookstores), meaning only a small number of products found buyers. But the Internet has created unlimited access to goods, making consumers aware of niche and obscure products and increasing demand for them. Using the terminology of the idea, demand is moving away from the head (the most popular products) to the long tail (everything else).

Here is Chris Anderson explaining the theory.

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Back in July Merge Records celebrated its 20th anniversary as an independent record label. Harper Studio noted the occasion and suggested that book publishers might learn something from Merge’s success. Here’s the background on this remarkable indie project, as given by NPR.

Merge was founded in 1989 in Chapell Hill, North Carolina, by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (of the band Superchunk) with the purpose of documenting and making more broadly available the fruits of their own vibrant local music scene.

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Author Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, was released in September 2009 with much fanfare and high hopes for soaring sales. It delivered . . . for a while. The Lost Symbol sold almost two million copies during its first week of release, smashing sales records. But since then sales have declined quite a bit. Nielsen BookScan, which tallies book sales in the United States, reported that sales of The Lost Symbol fell from 401,000 copies the last week of September to 214,000 the first week of October, a decline of 47 percent.

Other titles suffered from declining or underwhelming sales as well, including anticipated works by such successful authors as Pat Conroy, Mitch Albom, Edward Kennedy, and Audrey Niffenegger, whose first book, Time Traveler’s Wife, was a best seller. Some suspect readers are waiting for paperback versions to come out rather than spend their cash on the more costly hardback editions. Others suggest, and hope, sales will perk up during the holidays as people purchase fall books as gifts.

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Like many people, I do a lot of reading on my computer these days, and I blame that for my eyes getting worse. Eyes weren’t designed for staring at a bright, backlit screen, and I’m relieved at night to read a novel in paper. That’s why I’m interested in the Kindle, the Sony Reader, the Bebook, and other electronic readers that use a nonilluminated paperlike surface (they also have a battery life of weeks and can be read outdoors).

Still, there is so much talk today of the upcoming Apple Tablet, which, according to rumors, is an oversized Ipod Touch that could be used for many things, including ebooks. Compared with the Kindle, it will be beautiful, seducing buyers with its bright, colorful, illuminated screen.

 

 

Unfortunately I’ve talked to my eyes about it, and they have given me a firm response: no, not in this lifetime, not if I don’t want to go blind.

I thought this was the end of the subject, but then I saw this video on Gizmodo of Microsoft’s rumored Courier, a two-paneled tablet that looks like a true electronic book of the future. It looks a little like the upcoming two-paneled Ausus backlit reader but is much more sophisticated.

 

 

No one knows for sure if Microsoft is coming out with this product and whether it will read ebooks, but if it did, I would have a hard time resisting the urge to buy one.

If I could get something like this in the nonilluminating E-ink of the Kindle and Sony Reader, I would be totally sold on ebooks.

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