Is Salacious Content Driving E-Book Sales?

[DesertPirate]

Something I found on another site that most might enjoy

"Having already abandoned ebooks once, Barnes & Noble is jumping back into ebooks with the purchase this week of ebook seller Fictionwise. Why is the format suddenly hot? Look no further than the top 10 Fictionwise bestsellers, says blogger Peter Smith. Once again it seems like 'porn is blazing a path to a new media format. Of the top 10 bestsellers under the 'Multiformat' category, nine are tagged 'erotica' and the last is 'dark fantasy.' Need more proof that folks (let's take a leap and call them women) who read 'bodice rippers' like the privacy of ebooks? Author Samantha Lucas (who writes for publishers like Cobblestone Press and Siren Publishing) tells Smith that she sells almost all of her novels in ebook format."

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/06/2123219
for the geek comments

 

[sr71plt]

Is porn driving e-book sales? I certainly hope so.

 

[Belegon]

Bingo, Sr. "I so hope so."

Just got out of a presentation with a marketing exec who loves the growth in ebooks. She sees real opportunity there.

 

[DesertPirate]

I hoped most would see the humor in this and have some fun

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Humor? I was thinking 'promise'.

 

[DesertPirate]

Humor? I was thinking 'promise'.

Hit the link and laugh at some of the geek responses.
I think it works and will help several of our authors here.

 

[TE999]

Amazon's Kindle 2 just made it's debut,and this announcement ties right in. E-books are the future and much kinder to the environment.

 

[Belegon]

Amazon's Kindle 2 just made it's debut,and this announcement ties right in. E-books are the future and much kinder to the environment.

interestingly, most of us here at the conference agree that much of the reason this purchase went through is to provide Amazon with competition. The Pendergrast's had rebuffed previous offers from Amazon and then accepted this one from B & N.

Mind you, they are also huge supporters of multiple formatting and opponents of DRM.

Amazon has made no secret of the fact that they want to corner the e market. They would love to restrict the major authors to Kindle.

 

[DesertPirate]

interestingly, most of us here at the conference agree that much of the reason this purchase went through is to provide Amazon with competition. The Pendergrast's had rebuffed previous offers from Amazon and then accepted this one from B & N.

Mind you, they are also huge supporters of multiple formatting and opponents of DRM.

Amazon has made no secret of the fact that they want to corner the e market. They would love to restrict the major authors to Kindle.

They learned well from Darth Gates evil empire

 

[Belegon]

They learned well from Darth Gates evil empire

Indeed.

Kindle is both a wonderful and horrible thing for e-publishing. And it followed on the heels of Amazon's purchase of Booksurge and their attempt to thus manipulate the market on Print-on-demand...

Amazon is the 500 lb. gorilla in the corner. They influence the entire party.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Obviously it's time for Apple to bring out an iBook.

 

[Belegon]

Obviously it's time for Apple to bring out an iBook.

There are already iPhone apps that worry Amazon very much. But Sony is the number one competitor to the Kindle.

B & N is acquiring rights to a reader tech along with the Fictionwise site. More competition is a good thing.

 

[TE999]

There are already iPhone apps that worry Amazon very much. But Sony is the number one competitor to the Kindle.

B & N is acquiring rights to a reader tech along with the Fictionwise site. More competition is a good thing.

Given the geometric progression of electronic devices, for Amazon to think it can corner the e-book market is nothing short of absurd. The larger the corporation, the slower the acceptance of anything radically new and the further behind the curve they become. Who remembers BetaMax and Laser Discs?

 

[sr71plt]

Given the geometric progression of electronic devices, for Amazon to think it can corner the e-book market is nothing short of absurd. The larger the corporation, the slower the acceptance of anything radically new and the further behind the curve they become. Who remembers BetaMax and Laser Discs?

I agree. Any show of trying to limit e-booking will burgeon direct Internet sales from e-publishers to consumers who increasingly are shopping and increasingly willing to read directly from their computers if they have to rather than paying bigger bucks for paperbacks and controlled sales. Can't push that Internet genie back into a bottle.

 

[DesertPirate]

I would be very leary of Sony. Their research is outstanding but the production sucks. I wish they just did R&D and let some produce the products that knew how.

I hope there is much competition because I hate all DRM. If I buy an EBook I should be able to read it anywhere on anything I choose.

 

[DeeZire]

I hope there is much competition because I hate all DRM. If I buy an EBook I should be able to read it anywhere on anything I choose.

The reason for DRM is illustrated by the collapse of the music industry. I don't know the current numbers, but a few years ago, sales were down 30 or 40 percent - the direct result of illegal downloading. This cut is reflected in the incomes of songwriters, who suddenly have to either get a day job or cut their lifestyle by 30 or 40 percent. If books go the same route, authors can expect a major cut in their earnings compared to when books were only available in print. The upside would be increased distribution to a wider audience, but the increased distribution didn't do much for the music biz.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Bingo, Sr. "I so hope so."

Just got out of a presentation with a marketing exec who loves the growth in ebooks. She sees real opportunity there.

I hope so too. I think most of us here hope so.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I personally have a design for an ebook reader...it came to me as I flipped a thin dvd case. Why not have a two display reader to make it more like a book and just flip the one side or the other to go forward a page or back. The dvd case is big enough to hold all the electronics and a thin lithium battery. It's also thick enough to have several connectors along the spine.

I figure using off the shelf tech and black and white lcd screens and it could be made cheap with wifi built in. Could also probably include Adobe Reader for a small fee.

The possibilities are there.

 

[freshface]

I would be very leary of Sony. Their research is outstanding but the production sucks. I wish they just did R&D and let some produce the products that knew how.

I hope there is much competition because I hate all DRM. If I buy an EBook I should be able to read it anywhere on anything I choose.

I'm with you. I've been reading e-books for years on my PDA, but can put them on my iPod and BlackBerry too. Many books published before about 1927 are available for free download in multiple formats.

I'm sensitive to the idea of pirated material, but won't purchase overly DRMed files. Once I've purchased it, I should be able to read the book on whatever I have available, whether that's my computer, PDA, or something that hasn't been invented yet. Of course, there are whole communities dedicated to unlocking DRM files. The people who are most likely to steal you work will simply unlock it. The people who are most likely to drive the e-book market are left frustrated because they can't read what they've purchased the way that they want.

 

[oggbashan]

Hit the link and laugh at some of the geek responses.
I think it works and will help several of our authors here.

One of the responses even mentions me.

Og

 

[DesertPirate]

The reason for DRM is illustrated by the collapse of the music industry. I don't know the current numbers, but a few years ago, sales were down 30 or 40 percent - the direct result of illegal downloading. This cut is reflected in the incomes of songwriters, who suddenly have to either get a day job or cut their lifestyle by 30 or 40 percent. If books go the same route, authors can expect a major cut in their earnings compared to when books were only available in print. The upside would be increased distribution to a wider audience, but the increased distribution didn't do much for the music biz.

The reason for the decline of the music industry is twofold.
First, the product sucks. When was the last time an album had more than 3 good songs at best? Look at the crap they push, no thanks. The market is now for singles. not complete albums, think back to the 60's and 45's, same deal today at $.99 for itunes.
Second-filing lawsuits randomly using ileagle tactics against your real and potential customers has backlash that hurts your business. Trying to get thousands of dollers per song on a computer without proof of actual transmissin is just dumb and the courts are catching on. The RIAAs investigator is being charged in Texas with criminal charges since they are not licenced as PI's there.

If an industry doesn't adapt it will die.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

When was the last time an album had more than 3 good songs at best?

Gojira - The Way of All Flesh - 2008 - Most of it is pretty good.
Devil Driver - The Last Kind Words - 2007 - only has one bad song out of eleven, the rest are pure gold.

Then again, I might be the only person in the entirety of these forums that likes that kind of music