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5. Fifth publisher critical of Chinese government goes missing
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<div style="text-align: center; margin: auto;"><a href="http://instascribe.com"> <img src="https://instascribe.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/publishing-01.jpg?w=600" alt="Different Platforms for E-book Publishing"/><p style="font-weight: bold;">By InstaScribe</p></a></div>
When it comes to e-readers, there seems to be a lot of pessimism. Note that we are talking about e-readers, not about e-books, books, writing or reading.
Let us enter our custom built time machine and travel back to iPod days. I remember my first iPod. It was white with a whole Gigabyte of memory. How wonderful! No matter where you went, people were using their iPods or similar mp3-player devices to avoid talking to other people.
And then they just disappeared! It is true that they are still for sale and that Apple is still actively marketing them, but if you compare their popularity now to a few years ago, it is figuratively accurate to say that they have disappeared.
The omnipresent iPod made way for smartphones and tablets. These are small too, small enough to fit in your pocket or backpack when you are jogging or out on an invigorating hike.
Now, let us take a more detailed look at the e-reader world. The original online bookstore Barnes & Noble is busy selling their Nook division. You can hardly blame them. Profits from these devices dropped nearly 25% during the last quarter and by more than a third during the last financial year.
Sony has exited the e-reader market. Their reader was unable to challenge the market leading Kindle. Sales were very low and slow, forcing them to stop manufacturing the Sony e-reader. There are no plans for designing or producing a follow-up device.
E-Ink holdings–the guys who manufacture the actual displays that Kindle, Kobo and the rest use– has also reported a sharp dip in sales of the displays. The logic is clear, less displays being sold, less e-readers being sold.
E-Ink reported a 46% drop in sales during 2013. If you look at all these facts together, it is clear the e-reader market is shrinking. Mashable’s statement that the e-reader is going to follow the way of the iPod is understandable. Millions are reading on their phones and tablets. All the major bookstores offer some kind of reading app.
It seems, however, that Kobo either did not hear the news that e-readers are slowly becoming less popular or they know something that we don’t.
various e-book readers. From right to left iPad (Apple、2010) kindle DX (Amazon、2009) kindle 2 (Amazon、2009) kindle 1 (Amazon、2007) PRS-505 (Sony、2007) PRS-500 (Sony、2006). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In early October 2014, Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn announced that Kobo has decided to focus on e-readers and apps in the future and is not going to continue or expand the existing tablet range. Kobo will, obviously, continue to support these devices. Furthermore, Kobo will take over Sony’s existing e-reader business. This will garner them a whopping 25 000 new clients. In the future, Sony devices will have Kobo readers pre-installed.
What does Kobo know that Sony and Nook don’t? Figures seem to indicate that Kobo is more popular than generally thought. It has about 50% of the market in Canada, and 20% of the global market in spite of its poor showing in the USA where it has only as 3% of the market.
In 2013, figures suggest that Kobo doubled its market share.
Why is Kobo achieving success while the other e-readers are failing? One thing that should be remembered is that nearly all e-readers use the open source EPUB format. That means that Kobo, Nook and Sony are direct competitors. Kindle uses Amazon’s proprietary format and therefore is an indirect direct competitor. A what? The one bunch runs on diesel and the other on gasoline. It is a crude comparison, but you get it.
One possibility is that Kobo is just mopping up those who do not want to, for whatever reason, switch over to Kindle and Amazon.
I have used the Swiss Army knife example elsewhere. As a multi-purpose tool it is pure genius. As a knife it is ok. As a screwdriver its usability is limited. It does not make for a great pair of scissors. The saw is sharp but unwieldy.
The fact that it can McGyver you out of a bind is great. The fact that you do not have to carry ten different tools on a hike is great, but if you really need a saw use a real one.
For reading, an e-reader is much better and nicer to use than a multi-purpose tool, e. g. phone, phablet or tablet. Yet it is much more practical to carry just one tool with you, like a tablet, on the way to work, or on a trip.
Reading won’t die. I contend that the majority of readers read to escape. In spite of better high speed Internet connections, more TV shows, etc., books provide a unique place of solitude and peace.
So, I am guessing that in X-years time there will be much fewer dedicated e-readers on the market, but that their users will on the whole be more dedicated to their devices. As long as Kindles cannot read EPUB, Kobo or some other e-reader player will exist.
With Santa Claus checking his lists as Christmas is approaching, now is a good time to determine which e-reader to request.
We all know that Kindle, Nook, and Kobo are the most popular dedicated e-readers. It is also old news that Apps are available to turn your iPad, Tablet or PC into a virtual e-reader. The aim of this article is to give you a broad overview of the different devices. We are not going to bog you down with all the technical specifications of each reader. We don’t aim to give you all the information you need to make a decision, but we’ll tell you about what is out there so that you can decide.
Kindle
The Kindle Fire has been around since the end of 2011. This device can stream videos as well as display e-books. It has a multi-touch color display. It has a fairly powerful processor and comes with up to 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of on-board storage space.
Kindle Fire a multi-purpose device- this counts in its favor and against it, a principle that applies to all the multi-purpose devices we are going to list. A multi-purpose tool is never as good as a dedicated tool. A dedicated tool, however, can only do one thing.
Very recently, and just in time for Christmas, Amazon released the newest range of Kindle Fire devices: Fire HD (6 inch display) for $99 and Fire HD Kids Edition for $149. The extra $50 gets you a two-year “anti kid” guarantee.
The Fire HD 8.9 will set you back a cool $379. It is 20% lighter than the iPad Air, and out performs it when it comes to Wi-Fi connection speed and sound performance.
This device can keep the Fire burning for about 12 hours before the battery fails.
As with all color, back lit LCD displays, it is more taxing to read than the E Ink readers.
The Kindle Fire, like all Kindles, caters exclusively to Amazon. It is a dedicated Amazon device and as such makes the whole online buying experience very straightforward. It is now possible to share content, apps, books and video between family members via a special Amazon service, Family Library.
Family Library is a big step forward for the up to now, close-handed Amazon.
Amazon has also released three new or updated versions of the most popular e-reader. The Kindle with a 6 inch display, double the previous storage capacity and a touch screen can be had for $79.
The Kindle Voyage is thinner and lighter, and because you get “less” you pay more. The base version costs $199 and the top of the range one, with free 3G connection, $269.
Battery life is in the order of weeks. Take note that enabling Wi-Fi or 3G takes a serious bite out of the battery life.
Kindles do not support the EPUB format.
As its name suggests, the Kindle Paperwhite has the very clear Paperwhite display system. The whiteness and clarity of the display is akin to that of a normal paper page. It costs $119. To get rid of the ads on its 6 inch display you have to fork out an extra $20.
The Paperwhite is generally regarded as the best dedicated e-reader on the market. It is easy to use, has a wonderful battery life, can hold more than two thousand books and has a brilliantly clear display.
The Nook is Barnes & Noble’s answer to Amazon’s Kindle. Reviews indicate that it is as good as the Kindles.
Great battery life, a capacity that will easily hold 2000 books, a brilliant display, a very competitive price at $119 and rubber coated edges are but some of the features that makes the Nook GlowLight a winner.
None of the Nooks feature 3G or support for Audio-books. These are not really required features to make an e-reader great, but nice to have.
Nooks support the EPUB file format. This means that you cannot read any Amazon books, with its MOBI and AZW formats on it. Whereas Amazon’s MOBI and AZW formats are proprietary, EPUB is an open source standard.
As in the case of the “normal” Kindles, this is most probably what you will base your decision on, Does Amazon offer more books at a better price than all the other bookstores that use EPUB? Is Amazon’s retail system so user-friendly that the others are deemed inconvenient?
Yes, even when it comes to choosing an e-reader, philosophy plays a role!
Although Barnes & Noble has issued various Nook flavors over the years, only the NOOK GlowLight is offered on sale on their website at this point.
What we have here is an answer to the Kindle Fire. And, if we may say so, Barnes & Noble was quite clever. Whereas the Kindle Fire is restricted to a closed Amazon system, the SGT4 NOOK, built on the popularity and reliability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 is not restricted to any system.
As a matter of fact, with the e-reading apps that are available, you could even read and view Amazon content on your SGT4 NOOK.
It will only set you back $179.99, just a drop more than half of what a Kindle HD goes for. At the time of writing Barnes & Noble was offering $200 worth of free content (Books, Magazines or TV Shows) to sweeten the deal.
Kobo is a Canadian company that specializes in e-readers.
They currently offer four e-reader tablets. These are the Kobo Arc ($100), Kobo Arc 7 ($160), Kobo Arc 7HD ($210) and the Kobo Arc 10HD ($400). (Prices are only to give an indication and might vary from retailer to retailer.
While the reviews are mixed on these devices, keep in mind that in comparison to Amazon, Kobo is tiny and more likely to go under, or to become a massive overnight hit.
To repeat, Kobo is a Canadian company that specializes in e-readers.
Kobo offers a wide variety of dedicated e-readers. The Kobo Touch ($80), Kobo Glo ($130), Kobo Aura ($140), Kobo Aura HD ($170) and Kobo Aura H2O ($180) are currently being sold by Kobo.
The Kobo Aura H20 is waterproof and can be read without fear in the bath. This is a nice feature.
There are a slew of tablets, phablets and other time killers that can also be used to double as an e-reader. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and some others have created apps that make it possible for you to read their content on these devices.
If you are looking at one of these devices, you are probably a casual reader and not a bookworm. Don’t worry; we won’t judge you for that particular shortcoming.
When it comes to tablets, and this includes the Kindle Fire series, Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, and the bunch of Kobos, you are choosing more than just a book reader. If you move away from a dedicated e-book reader, you sacrifice some features like battery life and font clarity in order to gain a tablet’s multi-purpose aspect. We will discuss the e-reader vs tablet issue in another blog post.
If you live in the US or Canada, you can choose between the Kindle, NOOK and Kobo readers without any worries. The factories and service centers are just around the corner.
If you live in Europe, it is touch and go for the Kobo devices. True, they have a presence in at least five European countries, and the postal system is world class, but we guess that Kobo will still have to prove themselves in order to gain our confidence.
If you live anywhere else, it must be the Kindle, and we say this against our own collective will. The Kindle is not inherently better than the NOOK, but Amazon has a better worldwide presence. If, as happens from time to time, something technical goes wrong, then it would probably be easier for you to get the device back to Amazon.
But whatever you do, read, because as Zen Scribe likes to say, “Reading helps for colds, broken hearts and confused minds. Reading takes you where you want to be, so that you can transform the place you are at.”
Which e-reader is only the beginning of the story.
TL; DR: It’s not the book, silly. It’s the ecosystem.
Each physical book is a different product, unconnected to each other. I might have been buying books from a store twenty miles from home for the last twenty years but when a new store opens right next door, I can start buying from there without affecting the usability of my earlier purchases and without changing anything in my reading experience. If the publisher decides to sell directly to me at a discount, I can go for that too. Why not?
That, fortunately (for Amazon) or unfortunately (for Harper Collins), is not the case with e-books. It’s not just the book, but the entire ecosystem that matters. Here are the top three things that have gone wrong with Harper Collins direct to consumer effort for e-books:
Point is, they aren’t coming just because you built a mouse trap. Especially when it isn’t even a better one!
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dear Publishers,
I abso-bloody-lutely hate monopolies.
Have a look at the term monopoly on Wikipedia. You will read how monopolies have screwed humanity through the ages! Take the salt monopoly in China that dates back to the year 758. Okay, okay, if that’s too prehistoric for you, take the company store that gives credit, or sells food close by. Aren’t their prices always higher than normal shops? And the selection limited?
Somewhere during the late 1800’s Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
Things have not changed. Monopolies have power and everyone dealing with them gets screwed.
Don’t worry. I am not going to make a political or social rant about how powerful governments are forcing smaller, weaker and hungrier countries to dance to their tune. I’m aiming my bullets at Amazon and its near monopoly in e-books market.
When Amazon launched Kindle and e-bookstore, you were the ones on top. Amazon needed your titles to attract customers. And you, my dear Publisher, were (still are!) convinced that your e-content must be protected. In fact protecting your content was more important to you than allowing your readers to read it. So you forced Amazon to add DRM to the e-books they sold through their platform. Not just Amazon, but all other players were forced into this too.
DRM is irritating as far as customers go. The customer needs to register every book or open a third party account, and is often stuck with lousy e-readers and reading experience.
Amazon obviously came up with their own home-brew. They aren’t called Amazon for nothing. They turned this problem into an opportunity and created a smooth ecosystem around their Kindle devices, Kindle apps, and e-bookstore. So long as readers stayed in their ecosystem, DRM would not come in their way. Buying and reading in that virtually impenetrable closed loop was easy nice.
Amazon created the best experience for readers before anybody else. Amazon’s Kindle was the first e-reader that the public loved, and it is, arguably, still the best tool in the market. These days Kindle in all its variations claims about 55% of the market. Apple, which ironically does not even have a dedicated e-reader, claims second place with about 15% of the market share. Nook, Kobo and Sony’s are not real role-players at this time. In the case of some individual publishers, Amazon’s share is even more Amazonian. 78% of e-books in UK and 60% in US for (any guesses?) Hachette.
The result? Amazon has a hold over the customers. So they now have power over the same publishers, you, who dictated the terms early on.
And is there a hope of this monopoly being broken? Not anytime soon if things remain the way they are.
Why? Here is why.
Let’s say I am a Kindle and Amazon user and want to buy an e-book from Flipkart, which is a major e-commerce player in India (though still relatively unknown outside India) and has a recent-launched e-bookstore too. Despite being a small player, Flipkart cannot take the aggressive step of selling DRM-free e-books to lure readers. You wouldn’t let them sell your content otherwise, would you? So, even their books are DRMed.
I can’t read the books I buy from Flipkart on my Kindle. A parallel situation would be where I may only read a print book from XYZ-shop if I also own and sit on the especially designed reading chair, from XYZ-shop! Sounds ridiculous, right? Not in the world of e-books. I have to switch the entire ecosystem and use Flipkart’s app to read books from their e-bookstore.
I may like their store, but not their app. What then?
I stay with the safe ecosystem: Amazon’s.
Let’s consider another situation where I like not just the store or device, but the entire ecosystem of another player. Someone who was late to the market, but is good now. Say Kobo. It has pretty good devices, apps and store. But if I move to Kobo’s ecosystem, what happens to all the Kindle e-books I got? I love books. So my collection is huge. I don’t want it scattered across different devices. I don’t want to be carrying a Kindle, and a nook, a Kobo reader, then install a Flipkart’s app on my tablet and… It reminds me of my antiquated bookshelves, the ones I was trying to get rid of in the first place?
So I stick to Amazon.
And you the publishers are to be thanked!
Since I, the reader, will continue to buy from Amazon, they will continue to have you by the uhm…. pages! They can do what they want! Hachette will give in to Amazon’s demands. Perhaps they will make a face saving gesture or two, but you will see!
And you know what is even more ridiculous about the situation? DRM is a defective solution to begin with. Anybody can google DRM-remover software or DRM removed copies of e-books. Those who want to pirate books, pirate books. The only ones who are stuck in the mess are those who do not want to pirate, who just want to read easily what they paid to read.
You got us into this mess, and you can get us out of it. You created this reading disaster with DRM. Solve it by getting rid of it. Publishers unite! Throw out DRM! Give readers the choice of getting the best of all worlds, the choice of switching devices and stores at their will. Let them get out of Amazon’s ecosystem if they like another store or device better. Even if you really never cared about reader’s choice, you should at least care about your own future and drop DRM. Otherwise, keep getting arm-twisted.
But our profits! you exclaim. Which profits might that be, I ask, thinking of Hachette? Also, do not pretend that you have not heard about the Macmillan subsidiary, TOR’s experiment. Early in 2013 they abandoned all forms of DRM on their e-books. Over a year later, they could see no increase in piracy because it was not there! Those who pirate books, would never buy it. Those who want to buy it won’t go around pirating unless you force them to, by making it difficult or expensive to read your books legally.
Come on guys! Wake up before it’s too late.
Frustrated, but sincerely yours,
A Reader
Kobo has more than 18 million users in 190 countries with a digital book library of more moving fast in the e-books market. With three generations of Kobo e-readers along with the successful Kobobooks.com e-book store, Kobo added a self publishing platform called Kobo Writing Life, a few years back. Apart from their own store, the e-books published through Kobo Writing Life are distributed through their partners too. Let’s see what their platform offers.
What format does Kobo accept?
You can upload your content file in any of the following formats:
EPUB is the recommended format for most reliable reading experience.
How long does it take for the e-books to go live?
It may take 24-72 hours for the e-book to appear of Kobo’s own store. On the partner sites it may take additional 24 hours. If you choose to set a release date for your e-book, it will go live on that day.
Who determines the price of my e-book?
You do. You can also make your book free at any time without any requirement of exclusivity which Amazon KDP forces.
How much royalty do I get?
You receive royalties of 70 percent on eBooks priced between $1.99-$12.99; 45 percent for items priced lower or higher than that range. You are paid 45 days after the end of each month, provided you have met a minimum threshold of $100.00. If your royalties are less than that, you get paid every 6 months.
Where all do they distribute apart from their own store?
Their current partnerships include Whitcoulls (New Zealand), Chapters/Indigo (Canada), Angus and Robertson (Australia), WHSmith (United Kingdom) and FNAC (France).
Do they provide any promotional support?
If you would like to schedule a future release date, you can input a future date while publishing the e-book. This gives you time to create any marketing or pre-release promotions. Also, if your e-book is available on Goodreads, the Goodreads reviews will be made available on your Kobo e-book’s item page automatically as long as the same ISBN is used.
In conclusion
Kobo is a well-respected company among independent authors as well as publishers. If you have any questions or thoughts about the article, please do contact us. We’ll keep bringing more informative articles to you on this blog.
InstaScribe 