Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

This post is about three potential directions Authors and Publishers could go in -

1. Target people who don’t really buy books and try to convert them. 
2. Try to exploit devoted readers by charging them more and more for the same amount of books/reading. 
3. Provide better value for money to readers and get them to read more and buy more.  

The hidden factor is that users are always choosing between various forms of entertainment. Whether its people who love to read or people who read once in a while - there are always competitors to books.

Let’s start by exploring the first option because the sheer numbers make it a very appealing proposition.

Is it wise to target people who don’t buy books?

 We are going to club a lot of people into this bucket -

1. People who don’t read.
2. People who don’t read much.
3. People who read but do it via the Library or via pirated books.
4. People who borrow their friends’ books and read.

These are people who aren’t really customers – they don’t pay for books or they don’t pay enough to make a significant difference. However, it’s easy to forget this because of the sheer numbers involved.

This is the most seductive demographic as Publishers hear 50 million Apple customers and instantly think – we just need to get 10% of them and we’ll add 5 million customers. They don’t really make the jump and figure out – These people don’t really buy books and we don’t know if they will, there are lots of competitors like $1 games, and these people might never get into reading books.

It’s dangerous to get seduced by the sheer number of potential readers and forget that you only get paid when people buy books.  

It’s even more dangerous to forget that the competition is brutal – $1 games, free news apps, the Internet, and more.

How are $10 to $20 books going to compete with that?

Does it make sense to take advantage of devoted readers?

The steady fallback option for Publishers is to get readers to pay more for books. As times have changed Publishers have compensated for their inefficiencies and failings by raising prices and taking advantage of the people who love books and reading.

If we put aside morals and ethics this doesn’t seem a bad option at first glance – It’s a captive audience that loves books too much to switch to mindless things like Youtube. As long as Publishers control the supply of books they can exploit demand as much they like. 

The problem is that more and more competition is springing up for these dedicated readers -

1. Alternate forms of entertainment are getting more compelling and cheaper. Even people who LOVE to read books might be tempted away.
2. The gatekeeper role of Publishers is ending with the rise of eBooks and eReaders. Indie authors and Smaller Authors can even begin to compete on physical books thanks to print on demand and the Internet.
3. Most other forms of entertainment are using technology much better than Publishers – In fact it’d be hard to think of anyone messing up as badly as Publishers. It’s becoming rather inconvenient for users to stick with books and their ancient print, ship, and retail model.

Not only do book lovers have to work with inefficient and inconvenient distribution and retail models they have to pay more and more and be treated badly. Hardly a formula for long-term success.

The perils of the first two options (convert people to reading, exploit current readers) mean that we have to consider an option that Publishers probably haven’t given serious thought to. 

Why not provide better value for money to existing customers?

Let’s consider what would happen if we could provide better value for money to readers. 

1. Readers suddenly get more bang for their buck - they can get more books for their money, they can spend more time on reading, and they can read conveniently and easily.
2. Instead of $20 books and 4 hours a week for reading they get $10 books and 10 hours a week for reading.

What would users do in this scenario?

Publishers worry that readers would read just 1 book (spend just $10) and then do something else.

However, we’re talking about people who love to read and were willingly spending $20 on a book and are looking to read more. Readers would actually end up buying more, reading more, and total reading would go up. Convenient reading and cheaper books would mean higher overall sales.

That’s exactly what we saw with the Kindle - Kindle owners buy 2.7 times the number of books they used to buy before owning a Kindle.

Better value for money and convenience would attract more people to reading and books

Publishers are trying to sell $20 eBook Apps when they could just make eBooks cheaper and more convenient and get better results.

• Option 1: A casual reader can buy an iPhone App for $20.
• Option 2: A casual reader can buy the eBook for $7 to $10 and read it on Kindle for iPhone or Stanza or eReader from B&N.  
• Option 3: eReaders are allowed to grow and they hit a low price point ($150 perhaps) and a casual reader can buy one and read eBooks on them for $7 to $10.

While the first option seems the most lucrative the second is much likelier to increase sales and the third would increase sales even more.

Why can Publishers not see the benefits of getting cheap eReaders and cheap eBooks into as many hands as possible?

If Publishers focus on what’s best for readers they end up making it easier for casual readers – easier for them to get into reading, easier for them to become dedicated readers, and easier for them to actually buy the books they are thinking of reading.

Is it really that difficult to understand that making things better for readers would lead to more sales?

As Publishers delay ebook release dates, raise prices, cripple eReader features, slap on DRM of all sorts, and in general mistreat customers it might behoove them to take a minute and think -

Who’s paying for books? Would it make sense to make things easier for them? Is it possible that making books cheaper leads to more profits?

There are very few businesses where you can make things better for customers and increase the value customers get for their money and still fail to increase sales and profits. It’s also good for the companies – they become more efficient, they can better guard against competitors, and it gives them a undefeatable advantage.

Here’s to hoping that Publishers eventually figure out that making things better for readers helps them a lot more than their current anti-reader behavior.

Filed under: publishing Tagged: | customers of good intent, new publishing