DEAD BLOG

This blog is simply an import of my Tumblr.

Tumblr is undependable in its uptime. And its Search never works.

So all those posts, more or less, are now here where I can use WordPress search, if need be.

This is an ungodly mixture of posts I moved by painful Copy/Paste and ones that were later automagically imported by a new WordPress function.

There will not be any new posts here.

The Jeff Bezos Formula for Asymmetric Competition – Forbes

The Jeff Bezos Formula for Asymmetric Competition – Forbes.

Kindle Fire — The Endgame for Best Buy, Barnes & Noble – TheStreet

Kindle Fire — The Endgame for Best Buy, Barnes & Noble – TheStreet.

Why There’s No Magic Bullet Solution | PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement

Why There’s No Magic Bullet Solution | PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement.

Aug 1st, 2010 12:25pm

The eBook Three: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble

Kindle, Nook Ready to Dominate E-Reader Market – Desktops and Notebooks from eWeek

I agree with this assessment in terms of eBook hardware.

But they’re forgetting Google.

What will Google do?

What sort of pricing pressure will Google exert on the market?

Because some pricing pressure is going to be necessary. In a tripartite eBook world of Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble, it’s inevitable that eBook prices will rise.

When — I no longer think it’s an if — Sony pulls out, that will do away with its bookstore too, leaving one less seller to compete.

Amazon is all about book sales, so it will push Kindle as long as it possibly can against other devices.

Apple has its iPad. But selling eBooks is really just a minor added feature for that company.

Barnes & Noble has retail presence both in its stores and Best Buy, so people can fondle before buying and it needs the Nook to succeed to stay in business.

How does Google fit in?

We all wait to see.

Aug 1st, 2010 1:51pm

The American Spectator : Contra Fabrizio: A Paean to My Book…and to the Future of E-Books

Predictably, Sloth was a nightmare for my agent to sell. Before it was picked up by Greenpoint Press, a six-year-old, not-for-profit press, it was rejected at least twenty-five times. Several editors at commercial houses expressed interest, only to be overruled by colleagues and executive editors. The argument against it was always that the target audience was too narrow to be profitable — undoubtedly true … if you only take into account the print version.

Perhaps, though, Sloth was a more natural fit as an e-book all along. The idea is strange — and certain to unnerve devotees of the printed-page like Lisa Fabrizio. The old paradigm of the electronic edition of a book as a mere reproduction of the print version remains dominant for the time being. But the e-book format has the potential to be much more than a reproduction. How would a book like mine tap that potential?

Aug 1st, 2010 2:22pm

Dell Support Technician Steals Nude Photos, Credit Card Number From Woman He Remotely Assisted

MOAR #DellFAIL.

Aug 1st, 2010 2:39pm

Don’t Really Care About Touch Screens or Color | Conversational Reading

I wonder how many readers out there are like me and don’t have much interest in a color/touch screen Kindle. The books I read are pretty much black and white, and those with color elements that I do purchase (e.g. art books) are of the type that are fairly pointless to buy as ebooks. As to the touch screen, I don’t see a whole lot of use for it beyond being able to swish your fingers over the screen and attempt to believe that you’re recreating the mechanical experience of turning the pages of a book.

At any rate, I’m one of those people who likes the idea of a dedicated ereader. Multitasking is overrated, and just because we can build a device that can play music and display books and wash your car all at once doesn’t mean we should.

Obviously this is a much different conversation if we’re talking magazines, in which case the iPad is clearly superior. But were not talking about magazines, and in any case the iPad price seems to be prohibitive if you are thinking of it as a magazine-reading platform. ($500 could buy me a whole lot of magazine subscriptions (I think that would keep me in Harper’s magazines more or less through the rest of my natural life), and I can already read those on my laptop, or even print them out or wait for the post office pony to bring me the print edition.)

Aug 1st, 2010 2:48pm

On covers | booktwo.org

Questions covers in the eBook age. He likes those Wylie Odyssey covers. I hate them. He correctly sees them as “marketing material separated from the point-of-sale” which is correct. And why I hate them.

Aug 1st, 2010 2:58pm

RWA Nationals and some thoughts on INCEPTION – Blog – Murderati

Many of us have said this here before, but it bears repeating. ANY writer in publishing today ignores the romance market at their own peril. Industry insiders openly admitted that romance kept the book business afloat during the bleakest times of the recession, and continues to.