Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Amazon savvy

I really keep marvelling at the sheer savvy of Amazon. It's uncanny. Sure, they have their blind spots, for example it's ridiculous that the Kindle can't read iPub. But to put out apps on all major platforms, and to pay for free 3G for their customers, is awesome and long-sighted. As is another one: their intense support for self-publishers and small publishers. In the short run, I'm sure it seems unimportant to other platforms, because obviously what 99% of readers want is the already known authors and the bestsellers. But in the long run, years and decades, who writes those bestsellers changes, and the more new authors publish first on the Kindle platform, the more bestsellers will come from there, and it will contribute enormously to the growth of the platform. And that's not even considering "the long tail" (which means a big number of marginal and niche titles) which is growing in volume and importance year over year as digital takes over, since there is not limit to Shelf Space in digital.

5 comments:

Stephen A said...

Why don't they support iPub? I'd read this for an exhaustive explanation, very technical with some rather scatological descriptions of what Apple is doing in the field.

On the other hand Amazon is just the same as Apple, psychopathic control freaks angling for absolute control of the markets they dominate. They're just coming from the media sales end instead of hardware. Locked down hardware, zero transparency, total control of content, and panopticon level surveillance.

Of course end to end control does have it's advantages in terms of integration and ease of use. But do you want to be one of the Eloi or one of the Morlocks?

Timo Lehtinen said...

For ePub viewing, many people recommend the new Nook instead.

Timo Lehtinen said...

It supports the format (EPUB).

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yes, that's logical! :-)

Compared to the Kindle, which doesn't. But I thought you meant compared to the overall ereader market, there are many of them, and most support ePub.

Timo Lehtinen said...

Ah, well, I guess the idea is that the Nook is closest to the Kindle in all other respects.