Will Kobo Coop the Lead

Now comes the real battle. Who really builds the best ereader over the long haul? Not who has the best marketing, or who leverages best that first-to-market advantage. Wired weighs in with its choice: Kobo. Now that is surprising. How many of us have even considered buying a Kobo? Think back to cars. Was Ford an early apostle? Who had a Ford in the 1880's when the first cars were built by Benz and Daimler and Maybach. Absolutely noone. The first truly successful, longlasting automotive device (that was to force the replacement of horses and carriages) was Ford's Model T nearly 30 years later. So how does the venerable Wired.com come to its quick conclusion:"the (Kobo) Aura HD has the best screen on the e-reader market today. The display — a 6.8-inch, 1440 x 1080 screen with a density of 265 ppi — knocks the Kindle Paperwhite off its throne as e-ink emperor. Text appears crisper on the Aura’s display than on any of the other e-readers I’ve tested, not just the Paperwhite." And that's just for starters. Read all about the Kobo Aura HD.

Reading, Out of Our Minds

"Out of Print", a documentary to be seen in a few film festivals this summer, casts doubt on a successful future for reading, believing the internet has changed the practice forever. Calling "digital natives" "digital doofuses" pretty much sums up part of the movies' message: young people's brains are being Googled into nonexistance. Not so fast, I say. How do we know? My very upbeat feeling is that electronic reading is more public than private, as in the past (wonderfully designed to be shared in smaller chunks). And any electronic book today is like abstract art, to be defined more completely by the viewer (reader) than the painter (author). That's not bad, or dumb, or disappointing -- its just different. “Out of Print” screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival May 1, and now moves on to the Seattle International Film Festival on May 22 and 23, and the New Hope Film Festival in July. Odd to see a film about the revolution in reading. But then again, how else to capture the revolution, when the revolution in reading is all in people's heads. We've got to get out of our minds, which is hard to do.

Striding into China

Take a deep breath because ebooks may soon be hitting their stride globally. Amazon, according to The Digital Reader, has just added another country to the supported list for their Android app store: China. As you know, China holds 20 percent of the world's population. That's one out of every five people live in China. If they get hooked on the Amazon Appstore, Amazon, and then the Kindle and ebooks, the sky is the limit. Of course offering the appstore is only a small step in that direction. But, right now the Amazon Appstore is only available in the US, a handful of countries in Europe, and Japan, and the same goes for the Kindle Fire. But according to a press release Amazon will soon be selling Android apps in “nearly 200 countries” around the world, including India, South Africa, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and even Vatican City. Today’s news is leading some to speculate that Amazon is just about ready to launch the Kindle Fire in China.

Shatzkin's South American shake and bake

The blog The Shatzkin Files tackles one of the most difficult predictions imaginable -- what will happen with ebooks globally in the next 10 or 20 years. I am fascinated because I try to follow this subject and prior to reading Shatzkin's blog would not have ventured any of his observations: #1 What happened in America was unique -- unified audience meets effectively innovative company, Amazon -- and will NOT happen that way globally #2 The consequent destruction of bookstores (in America) by the ebook revolution will be replicated globally #3 “Enhancements”, like video or interactivity, will not pay off in bigger ebook sales or make it easier to command higher prices. Mike Shatzkin, in his shake and bake speech to the Buenos Aires Book Fair -- reinterpreted in his blog -- has confirmed the Tower of Babel as the old legend to explain the new phenomenon. And what is the primary cause of the old legend in South America: the lack of a credit card culture (which makes online purchases, i.e. ebook purchases, very difficult).

Magically making books

Ingram is the biggest book distribution company there is. Jeremy Greenfield, for Digital Book World, recently took a tour of Nashville plants that Ingram uses for print on demand distribution, i.e. distribution of books directly to retailers, libraries, schools and other partners. Interesting what he wrote: "I’ve never been on the floor of a real manufacturing or major shipping facility and I was completely wowed. The level of complexity and sophistication in the operations is mind-boggling. The size and scale of what’s being done there blew me away. And it was almost magical to see books being made, packed and shipped from this one place to points around the country, to know that the few books I touched in the process would soon be read and maybe loved by someone I’ll never meet." I assume the books that are being "magically" made are softcover books. Hardcover books, with special sewing and foil stamps, need to be made in a less automated way. So, what product do you think will be commoditized in the future and what product do you think will have true value?

Brazil's surprise

In Brazil, you'll need a dance card to keep track of the contestants. In the ebook world, Kobo, Google and Amazon opened their virtual doors in December 2012. The opposition, one would think, would be Saraiva, and digital distributor Xeriph. But seven of the largest publishers had banded together in April 2012 -- in anticipation of Amazon's arrival -- to create Distribuidora de Livros Digitais (DLD). According to Publishing Perspectives: "It looks like the DLD gamble has paid off. According to research by PublishNews Brazil’s Carlo Carrenho presented last week at the Digital Minds Conference during the London Book Fair, sales through DLD — which is believed to account for about 30% of ebook market in Brazil — more than doubled, reaching 39,210 ebooks in December."

Let's also print

Smashwords has been the leader for indie, ebook publishing for several years. Now Draft2Digital wants to end that, and, Good Reader puts some perspective on the development. Visit the Draft2digital website and see what you think. Draft2Digital is a free service and only when a new ebook sells on one of the online retailer sites does Draft2Digital make money, approximately 10 percent. It's unclear whether you can also print these books? If the new author can't also print, the new author is leaving money on the table.