Remember when the only place you could read a Kindle book was on a Kindle device? -- and for the most part, the only file format you could read on a Kindle device was the Kindle book? Well, different people figured out how to crack the format problem right away, so enterprising Kindle users could get books on their devices from sources other than Amazon. Until recently, though, pretty much the only people buying Kindle books were Kindle device owners... except a few iPod Touch and iPhone owners (and I do love this free app, because now I've always got a book along with me, and reading on the iPhone screen is really a snap. Plus turning the pages is FUN).
But now the game has changed. Now, Amazon has introduced new apps to add Windows, Mac, and Blackberry to the list of devices where you can read their Kindle books. With "more new apps coming soon", which makes me hopeful they'll soon add PDF and EPUB readers to the list. I'm thinking with the introduction of iPad, they've seen the light: Kindle isn't the only game in town, and if they want to keep selling the most ebooks, they've gotta make their product usable to more customers. Good news for consumers, because Amazon has the best selection, and best price, nearly every time. Good news for authors, since Amazon changed its share-taking percentage policy.
Except, of course, if you're an author with a publisher who STILL hasn't put your book on Amazon. (we're out there, believe it or not) Lame? Absolutely. But that's a whole other rant...
Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!
1 comment:
I have to say that I have never bought a book from Amazon. I have a Sony reader. But since I'm an author, when I buy a book, I want to support authors not the bookseller. The best way to do this is to go straight to the epublisher. The publisher still gets a take, but the author has less people to share with. This cuts out the third man, like Amazon, Fictionwise and so on taking a part of the cut. However, I will buy a book from online stores IF the epublisher's buying process is hard to navigate. If they make it easy to buy a book, they have my sale. And this is why I have never wanted a Kindle.
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