I posted yesterday about how Borders were selling a new Sony e-reader well by some accounts Barnes & Noble will pass on the device.
The full story is here.
If you read my post you will know that I am not too suprised though I do think that a device as coolly design and slick looking as an ipod would covert a good bunch of people. Most readers though will hold off until they have no choice but to use e-readers.
The fundamental problem with e-readers is that they are a product looking to fill a gap that does not exist. Technologist may not like it but for most purposes books work. This is expecially true for fiction. Non- Fiction may benefit from being easily searchable and in digital format but usually the reader of fiction doesn’t need to constantly switch back and forth between pages of sections. (Except maybe for complicated Murder Mysteries) Until that changes I think e-readers probably won’t make serious headway.
One other thing that will have to change is the pricing. I was on Bloomsbury’s website and their e-books are very expensive (Around the regular softback price £7.99/€11.99). Now an e-book avoids the majority of the raw material production cost for a publisher so charging such a high price seems unfair to me and certainly bad value for the reader.
Still no fear of me buying an e-reader soon with the current price looking like $300-$400 I would rather buy 30 or 40 books.
Filed under: Books, Business, General, Business, Publishing Companies
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