> > Is that why Kindle sales have doubled in the last couple of months? > >
Doubled from 1 to 2, from 100 million to 200 million? Telling me sales have doubled doesn't tell me anything. > > It has to do with making books available at a cost people can > afford. > Publishers can't continue down the traditional path. It isn't > working. > They're disappearing every day as the cost of producing paper books > continues to expand, and consumers continue to demonstrate that > they're not willing to pay higher prices. Hardcover books are > already > almost a thing of the past, other than for those with special > interests and library collections. I include myself in that > category, > but there aren't enough of us to support publication on a wide scale. > The market over here seems to be thriving. I've been in 2 bookshops today, both full and both with several cash registers open and ringing. > > They will try to convince people > > that there is a need for these things where no need exists > - that's > > why the > > world has admen, who can make themselves believe anything without > > evidence. > > There is abundant evidence of a need for inexpensive reading devices > that can be used over and over again. And that need is > gradually being > met. > Where's the evidence? > > > > Throughout this discussion I have asked people to point out the > > benefits of > > these devices to readers, but nobody has been able to do so. > > Ultimately inexpensive. Quite affordable now for avid readers. Space > saving. Crisp, clean displays that are not backlit in any > way. Capable > of providing audio for impaired readers. I answered that one elsewhere. > And they provide a path to > publication for the thousands of good authors who can no longer find > publishers willing to invest in new literary fiction. > I'm all in favour of giving good authors an outlet, but I think print-on-demand is more likely to satisfy that than Kindles, because whatever you say, I still maintain that most readers want to read proper books, because there is a ritual that's part of the whole experience. Food pills used to be touted as the thing of the future, replacing messy kitchens and recipes that go wrong etc. With hindsight it's obviously silly because it doesn't take into account the ritual associated with food, but at the time a lot of people just like you thought we'd all be eating 3 pills a day and hovering around with jet packs. These Kindles are the book equivalent of food pills and high energy plankton such as Soylent Green. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
