I've noticed a trend with some self-published, and even some commercial e-press published books recently, and that's the trend to publish Kindle-only. Yes, Amazon has the largest share of e-readers, and yes, people with iPads can get a Kindle app. And it's true you can root a nook and put a Kindle app on it as well (I'm planning to do this, but haven't gotten around to it yet). And I'm well aware of all the financial incentives Amazon puts in place
But most of the time, I can't be bothered. One of the huge advantages for me in having an e-reader is to be able to nab a book, or at least its sample, right when I think about it. When I hear about a new book, if it sounds reasonably good, I want my hands on it quickly. Amazon-only or even a 90-day Kindle exclusive means that I can't do that on my particular brand of e-reader.
Ninety days in book publishing is an entire season's worth of releases. By the time the book gets free of its Kindle exclusive, I've forgotten all about it.
Perhaps non-Kindle readers are a small enough market that the 90-days thing makes sense. But I wonder at the long-term viability of such a technique, as it seems to me to be a gamble that Amazon will remain solidly the frontrunner in ebook distribution.
Which device (if any) do you read on? Do you run into this problem? Do you hang on to some way of remembering the book anyway?
I do not have a Kindle, but the Kindle program which allows you to read books on your computer. It's free and I found it very helpful. Yes, I'm not a huge fan of such product politics, but it is very common. (See Apple and iTunes.)
ReplyDeleteI do like to check out other places for ebooks and if a book is also available on smashwords, for example, I prefer shopping there since it allows me to download the ebook in several formats such as .epub, .mobi or even .html.