++ According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is in talks to offer a Netflix-like lending library of Kindle books to its Prime members. Publishers are reportedly less than enthusiastic about the program, fearing that it would devalue their books and hurt their relationships with other retailers carrying them for traditional prices.
++ Knopf is fast-tracking publication of Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending in a big way in order to capitalize on buzz surrounding the Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award. Barnes, who is short-listed for the prize, is widely considered a favorite. Originally slated for a January release, The Sense of an Ending has been bumped way up to Oct. 11, in time for the Oct. 18 announcement of the award.
++ Laura Miller on why there hasn’t been a great 9/11 novel. Agree?
++ Five great author interviews by Charlie Rose.
++ An obsessed fan has written a book — priced at $29.999 — about his affair with Jessica Simpson, despite the fact that he has never met the star.
I think I’ll just stick with the library, thanks.
I don’t understand why publishers are such babies. Do they not think people lend out traditionally printed books? Really? Ebooks do NOT cost much less than a traditional book, and in some cases, they even cost MORE (A Song of Ice and Fire books 1-4 boxed set, I’m looking at you)! Unless the publishing industry wants to go the way of the music industry, they better embrace these new technologies.
Well, if Amazon has nearly unlimited copies to rent, like Netflix, it could really make a dent in book sales and author royalties. Unlike film studios, authors don’t make money off of theatrical releases first–or used book sales, for that matter. And if publishers’ profits go down, they buy fewer authors, meaning we have fewer high-quality, edited-by-a-professional books to choose from.
Also, unlike TV shows, publishers and authors also don’t have ad sales to rely on. THey only profit from retail book sales.
I’m not sure what to think about this. It could work, but it would never be anywhere near as successful as Netflix because far fewer people like to read books than watch movies or TV shows. Either way, things are going to get even tougher for the industry, so they might as well consider as many solutions as possible.
It’s a pay library service, which has been around as a concept for a long time (far longer than free lending libraries). So I don’t see why publishers are so upset. If the New York Public Library hasn’t driven Random House out of business with its crazy free ways, I don’t see how Amazon offering a service that has people paying for books will do that. Especially if they are ebooks being temporarily downloaded onto people’s readers.
I agree with the others, how is this any different than lending your own books out and/or going to the library?
I agree, I don’t think it should really be that much of a problem. Any thoughts on how it would work exactly? Would you need the 3G kindle for it to work do you think?
Sounds awesome to me. I hate the idea of paying for books individually especially if I’m not sure I’ll like them.
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