Cybook Reader Complexities

Teleread has a good observation about the Cybook ebook reader. In short, the reader is about like using a PDA in terms of the complexity of syncing ebooks to it. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, however that complexity is exactly what eBookwise is trying to solve with the eBookwise - 1150 reader. Until those usability problems get addressed, ebooks will remain a niche market.

The Cybook appears to be a noble effort at producing a quality ebook reader and has a screen that anyone would envy. If you are already a PDA user it should be easy enough to learn how to use the Cybook if you are a Windows PC user.

I am not so sure that the same would hold true for Apple Macintosh users. I presume the Cybook is not going to sync with the Mac OS X computer. One possible workaround is connecting the Cybook directly to the Internet. However, 1.) will it connect with a cable modem, 2.) will the Cybook optional wifi expansion card work with Apple Airport Extreme wifi access point (since my house is using an all wireless network)? Getting Windows things to work with a Mac setup adds a whole new layer of complexity to the mix. From a marketing standpoint, Cybook might be wise to address the concerns of Macintosh users in a FAQ since Mac users tend to be more open to premium products like the Cybook.

Still, besides the Mac questions I think Cybook might be close to a breakout if they can get two bits of software to work on their reader: software to read Adobe PDF files (unencrypted would probably be enough but the ability to also read encrypted PDF would be fantastic); software to read eReader/Palm DRM'd format ebooks. I know a lot of people like myself would love to have a reasonably priced tablet style reader with a large high res screen for reading PDF documents in their original formats. In fact, educators would probably go crazy for such a reader.

Related: Teleread Cybook Review

Self Publishing Discussions

The folks over at the Ebook Community Group have recommended two discussion groups that deal with self-publishing of both ebooks and POD books: Self Publishing Group at Yahoo, and Publishing and Promoting Group.

I should also mention a new one Self-Publishing at Google Groups, I think that is worth joining too although it is very small.

Price Point on eBooks

I found my price point on ebooks. That is the point where I think the price is too high for the book and I refuse to buy. I had just read a very nice murder mystery which I had purchased at a sale price at eBookwise. The book was published by a small publisher, direct to ebook, by an author I am not familiar with - nothing wrong with that as it stands.

However, after finishing, and enjoying the first book I wanted to read another mystery by this author and that is where I hit my price barrier at anything above US$7.00. The actual book was $7.50 and I choked. Sorry, even though I liked the author's writing, and his fictional detective I consider $7 to be a bit high for a mass market paperback let alone an ebook for an unknown author. Also we are not talking about a big thick novel here.

Sorry, call me a snob, but I will pay bigger bucks for a Tom Clancy, Steven King or Dean Koontz blockbuster because I know those authors and I pretty much think that they can command that kind of money for a paperback. I do not think an unknown author, from an unknown small press, in ebook format can command the same prices. Here is the real shame: I was standing there (figuratively), cash in hand and ready to buy, actually hunting for more books by this same author when I saw the price of $7.50. If it has been a paperback I might have bought, but for an ebook I felt the price much too high.

I would be a lot more willing to try new authors by small publishers in the $4 - 5 range than I would at $7 and above. When they publish at $7 I can find much better deals at the used bookstore down the street.

Now I still want that book, but I am going to wait until the next general discount sale before I buy it.

So what is a fair price for an ebook? How should ebooks be priced?

OpenReader in 2005?

Time is marching on, the Times of London predicts 2005 will be the year when consumer electronics firms start seriously battling over themarket for ebook reading hardware. Now it will take a few years for that market to develop but all the infrastructure is being developed now, since most of the current dedicated ebook readers are being assembled from old parts found in the parts bin, leftover from the ebook crash of 2000 - 2001. What the electronics manufacturers are doing now is finally starting to design new readers with new technology. That is going to make the need for the OpenReader ebook format standard very important. Given the design and manufacturing lead times involved, not to mention the software lead times, OpenReader needs to have a product released in 2005 in order for manufacturers to adopt it. My fear is that if there is no OpenReader spec published manufacturers will opt to go with either their own proprietary ebook format or some other off the shelf, but still proprietary format. They need to have that Open Reader alternative available.

There is another trend that relates: 2005 is going to be the Year of the SmartPhone, (Source: Threadwatch.org) and I think this is a safe prediction. This will mean a huge amount of people will be carrying around mobile phones which will be capable of reading ebooks. This should reinforce sales of ebooks, but it is also going to make the need for a standardized format such as Open Reader even more important.

Other sources: eBooks On Web Index

Happy New Year - Narrowing of Focus

First Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2005 proves to be prosperous to us all and for the ebook industry in general.

I am going to be narrowing the focus here at ePublishing Blog back to covering information about publishing ebooks. This is information that is mainly of interest to self publishing authors and small ebook publishers. So ePublishing blog is not going away, I'm just narrowing the focus back to where I started which was trying to figure out the confusing array of formats and readers for e-publishing. Hopefully, the Open Reader Consortium's format will become so popular in 2005 - 2006 that it will make that mission redundant.

I will be covering ebooks from a reader/end consumer standpoint over at my other blog on eBooks on Web Index. I hate to split things up, but I need to keep a reasonably steady flow of posts on BOWIndex just to keep things alive. BOWIndex has both a directory of ebooks and POD books but also a blog - and it was always intended to be a place that readers could go and find out about ebooks plus find self published books themselves. I have to keep working toward making that a reality and keeping fresh posts over there is a part of that.