Comments on: Could the Kindle and iPad Kill Quality Content?

By: Sasha

Sasha — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:28:18 +0000

I worked in the music industry for years. I don’t know a great deal about the publishing industry, but I would assume it is (or should I say was) set up similarly to the music industry. The fact is that artists made little to no money from the actual sale of their music, or in this case their writings. With the exception of the few huge players, most artists made their money through touring and radio play. What I see happening in the publishing industry is much of what I saw happening in the music industry. The digital revolution is making it possibly for the “little guys” to have a voice and get their art to the masses while bypassing the industry sharks (record labels/publishing houses). Independent bands were able to release music to the masses via iTunes and Amazon. I think the same thing will happen in the publishing industry. Writers will cease to need a publisher to get their works to the people, thereby lining the pocket of the people who deserve the credit. If publishers are smart they will find a way to work with writers and the new digital format or they will fade into obscurity like many record labels have.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:13:09 +0000

I think great writers will always write. I just set myself up with a kindle account so I could try to self publish some short stories and get myself started. I’m not a fan of digital distribution over plain old paper and bound books but it gives a writer a chance to try more than ever before. That said, to the people saying Itunes didn’t ruin music, I disagree heavily. There is not one new artist today I find to be relevant or worth listening to, and as an Audio Engineering student and amateur musician myself, I find I have to look to the past to find anything inspiring or pleasing to the ears. Senseless pop singers who use autotune to mask their lack of vocal ability fill the air waves. Where’s the sound of real music? Seems to have disappeared somewhere around 2003-2004. The mp3 is the most detrimental thing to sound quality that has ever happened. Ask anyone in the know about such things.

By: Could the Kindle and iPad Kill Quality Content? | Digital Asset Management

Could the Kindle and iPad Kill Quality Content? | Digital Asset Management — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 06:55:33 +0000

[...] Continues @ http://gigaom.com [...]

By: What Does Blog Stand For

What Does Blog Stand For — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:13:10 +0000

[...] Could the Kindle and iPad Kill Quality Content? – GigaOM [...]

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:23:20 +0000

"I turn on the radio at five o’clock every day and National Public Radio is still there, making the finest electronic journalism in the United States, and they’re still being supported by people who voluntarily pay..."

"Let’s imagine two things about journalism. Let’s ask, first: Of all the great investigative reporting that newspapers ever paid for, how much did the publishers spike because it made a problem that he didn’t want to have? The Washington Post didn’t want the Pentagon Papers, and The New York Times didn’t want Watergate. And that’s the two they love to talk about, and yet 50% of them would have passed, each time. Let’s ask another question: How many reporters, compared to how many people selling advertisements? And: Where was the love, anyway?" ~Eben Moglen

By: Mark Coker

Mark Coker — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:53:27 +0000

Sebastian, with the rise of independent publishing, we’ll see more content published, much as with the rise of blogging. With the increase in content, we’ll see more garbage but also more works of brilliance and significance that otherwise might never have seen the light of day. The power center of publishing will shift to authors, not to publishers. The growth of ebooks, combined with publishing and distribution platforms such as Amazon Digital Text and (my own) Smashwords, levels the distribution playing field for authors and allows all authors to compete on the merits of their content, not on access to distribution.

Related to this, we recently crunched two sets of numbers that might interest you…

At what price ebook might the author/publisher earn the highest total yield?
http://blog.smashwords.com/2010/02/how-to-publish-and-price-ebook-san.html
When you trust customers to pay what they want, what percent pays, and how much do they pay?
http://blog.smashwords.com/2010/02/what-happens-when-ebook-customers.html

I consider both studies above preliminary. We’re crunch broader and deeper data sets in the months ahead based on real world sales at Smashwords.

By: So how much money can you make writing an eBook? « excapite

So how much money can you make writing an eBook? « excapite — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:00:12 +0000

[...] thousand iPad ready titles in the App Store. It was also last week that GigaOm asked the question could the Kindle and the iPad kill quality content? “What Amazon and Apple are trying to do is significantly decrease the amount of money that [...]

By: sikiyim

sikiyim — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:44:13 +0000

I am not sure that the Kindle and others will kill quality content just as itunes has not killed quality music. What the digital age has done is kill the artists and writers ability to have an encouraging path towards monetization. Great writers will continue to write because that is what they love to do just as young talented musicians continue to record. Hopefully in the future there will a “next generation” label and publisher that will create the marketing and distribution engines so these talented people can be found and make money.

By: Books Are Becoming Fringe Media – GigaOM

Books Are Becoming Fringe Media – GigaOM — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:02:01 +0000

[...] You Didn’t Know About Cloudera See All Articles » Could the Kindle and iPad Kill [...]

By: John Hale

John Hale — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:17:33 +0000

Good article. However, I hope Wired does a better job of producing a digital version than what PC Magazine did with Zinio. When they dropped their print version, I slogged through reading 2-3 of the Zinio issues, but I finally canceled my subscription. But that's where an iPad, Kindle, or other such device may make the difference. With such tablets, at least the hassle of having to sit at a desktop or drag along a notebook to read the magazine is eliminated. Instead, they come as close as possible to the portability and flexibility of a traditional magazine and the benefits that brings. Add in design and layout geared for best reading with such devices, and the publishing industry could have a new revenue stream like they never imagined.