Comments on: Send not to know for whom the bell tolls…

By: Sgt. Mom

Sgt. Mom — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:05:26 +0000

Kaba, I don’t know if I will be able to mark down many of my Kindle version books to .99 as a Christmas sale special (I’m on the 70% royalty payment plan, so there is a minimum that I have to ask for) but all of my Kindle versions but one are priced less than the cost of a Starbucks cuppa. If you are feeling adventurous about indy authors, check out mine. Or any others – I can make a list of extremely good indy authors for y’all.

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:56:53 +0000

I love how the previous gatekeepers of what we read, what we must think, and how we are going to be entertained are getting hurt by this new, surprisingly powerful technology called the Internet.

Texexec, you and Sgt. Mom nailed it: disintermediation is a bitch. Particularly for those who so richly deserve to be … uh … disintermediated. Perhaps we should coin a pseudo-leftist neologism: “cultural democracy.”

By: kaba

kaba — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:30:35 +0000

If the major publishers are dying it is from self-inflicted wounds.

I don’t read that much fiction. But I’ve downloaded a few of the 99 cent novels on my Kindles. All of them have been good. Some of them have been in the “can’t put it down” class. And I’m glad to support a writer who has provided me a ton of good reading for 99 cents.

By: rickl

rickl — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:23:05 +0000

Despite my earlier comment, I haven't yet made the switch to Kindle. I still like hard copy books. For years I bought paperbacks whenever possible to save money, but since I discovered Brodart, I've been going out of my way to buy hardcovers so I can Brodart the dust jackets. I do most of my book shopping online nowadays, either through Amazon or through AbeBooks and Alibris for used and out-of-print books. I've yet to be disappointed. The descriptions of the book's condition tend to be pretty accurate. I've bought some used books that are barely distinguishable from new.

By: foxmarks

foxmarks — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:27:48 +0000

I’ll have to hold an e-reader for a while before I could be convinced. Having another fragile, battery-dependent high-value object to keep track of is not attractive. And I really do not like the idea of amazon.com (or any authority) having the power to remove ideas from my library at their discretion.

If the analogy to music holds, we will still have some bookstores, just like we have niche vinyl record shops. Art books, gift books, coffeetable books and probably some technical manuals and home-study materials are better as physical objects.

I just bought the print-on-demand paper version of OpenOffice.org’s manual even though I could read and use the same info for free on a laptop beside my main computer.

By: texexec

texexec — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:22:38 +0000

Oops…make that link http://www.billmccullough.com .

By: texexec

texexec — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:18:48 +0000

I love how the previous gatekeepers of what we read, what we must think, and how we are going to be entertained are getting hurt by this new, surprisingly powerful technology called the Internet.

I self published a software program for doing charting and technical analysis and made a decent living from it for more than 10 years. I also self published an investment newsletter and a printed book on technical analysis that sold quite a few copies. It’s no longer in print and apparently has sort of a cult following for those interested in technical analysis of the markets. I recently saw a copy advertised for $155.00.

My son is an awarded and exhibited photographer (sorry…shameless promotion for him makes me point you to http://www.billmccullugh.com to check out his work) who does almost all of his marketing over the Internet. Several public museums have purchased some of his pieces for their private collections. None of this would have been possible without the Internet.

His wife who is an arty, liberal type says she no longer wants to be bothered with holding a book and turning pages when she reads. She’d rather read from a nice, compact Kindle or Nook. It’s also nice that she can carry a library of thousands of books on the plane in her travels.

By: Sgt. Mom

Sgt. Mom — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:26:55 +0000

Rickl, exactly – indy book authors are able to do now what indy musicians began doing a decade or so ago; produce and market their material having disintermediated the big producers/publishers. I do talks about my books, or the German settlements, or Civil War in the Hill Country to clubs and associations, and then sell copies of my books in the back of the room afterwards. It’s not spectacular – but I have a growing local fan base because of it.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:00:37 +0000

In the small town where I used to live, the holidays were greeted by the “Candlewalk” with many of the retailers offering open houses, hay rides, and various musical acts. Some were HS kids playing baroque Christmas stuff. Some were local choirs. There would be professionals, as well, playing requests on harp or acoustic guitar. One was a music therapist at a big hospital who played the celtic harp. Another was from the Detroit Symphony.
The celtic harpist had fronted about $2k for studio time, burned a bunch of CDs and sold them for, iirc, $12 at various functions where she played for free. We have a couple, along with one from the DSO artist. Good music, no labels, great price and, in some way, personal, since we were able to converse with the artist between pieces.
Sort of like having an artist four steps below the national figures in marketing savvy, but about one half step below the national figures in talent come to your house to play.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:23:21 +0000

What I love about this story is that it shows that the ultimate power in a market economy lies with the individual.

Individuals use their dollars to vote in the marketplace every day. And if this were an election between traditional books sold in a brick and mortar storefront and e-books sold electronically, the election would be a landslide in favor of e-books.

Individuals voted with their dollars and forced book retailer Borders completely out of business. In a market economy based on voluntary transactions, the individual consumer decides which products, businesses and industries succeed and which fail. They decide whether to buy traditional books or e-books. They decide whose e-books get bought and whose don’t. The greedy individual consumer pursuing his own self interest forced Borders out of business because he perceived better value with e-books. The biggest, most powerful “greedy” corporation in the world can’t force individuals to buy traditional books if the consumers refuse to buy them. That’s why all the Occupiers, as well as our President, who talk about corporate greed are idiots. The individual consumers are the ones who wield the power.

This is the perfect example of what economist Joseph Schumpeter called, “the gales of creative destruction”.