Thursday, March 29, 2012

Harry Potter Ebooks--a New Trend in Marketing?

I have a Nook Color and got it before the Kindle Fire came out. I love it. I have a huge library of books on my Nook. I either downloaded them from Barnes and Noble, or I downloaded them from Smashwords as epubs.

I believe in competition. I don't want Big A (either them) to be the only places we have to go to purchase.

But I digress.

Yesterday I bought an iPad. I've wanted one for a long time because I attend a lot of conferences (both for my day job and as a writer), and the iPad--with its little keyboard set that makes it a mini laptop--will be much easier to carry around and take notes on.

But I also want it to be my ereader of choice. I'm giving my Nook to my hubby to use for church books, so I need to move all the books I've downloaded from B&N and a handful of Kindle books I've downloaded to my laptop but haven't read yet.

I wish they didn't make it so hard!

If you haven't had a chance to read the article "What Book Publishers Should Learn from Harry Potter" by Matthew Ingram, you should check it out. He discusses the model that Jo Rowling and Pottermore have developed for the new release of the Harry Potter ebooks.

Imagine! You can download EIGHT digital copies of each book for the multiple digital places you want to read them or for lending. One of the reasons I've continued to buy paper books is because it's hard to lend digital books, especially if your friends have competing readers.

I love this quote from the article:

"Charlie Redmayne, who left HarperCollins to become the chief executive officer of Pottermore, said that all of these developments and enhancements for users stem from a single principle:
My view is that the one thing we should learn from the music industry, is that one of the best ways of fighting back against piracy is making content available to consumers at a platform they want to purchase it on, and at a price they are willing to pay, and if you do that most people will instinctively want to buy it.
Redmayne is right, and if book publishers could only learn one thing from the Pottermore launch, it should be this: that one of the biggest drivers of piracy is the inability to find or consume the content that a user wants in the format or on the platform or at a time they wish to consume it . . . ."
click the picture

Jo gets it.

Why don't the others?

16 comments:

  1. Well said!
    And congratulations on the new iPad. In a month, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. At least with the iPad, you can download apps for all the eReaders. Gives you a few options as to what format.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you like your Nook so much. I've thought of getting one, but am still waiting until I've read everything at my public library first:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know, I think it is totally awesome that Jo is taking everything into her own hands. If only us beginning authors had the platform she does to open our own store. Someday, that's what I tell myself, someday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've been wanting an Ipad for ages but as soon as I save up soemthing else seems to crop up and needs paying. Hope you enjoy it. I'm envious.

    Yvonne.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well said. I love my kindle, but not so Amazon. You cannot imagine what I went through to get a particular book. They consider me 'out of the country'. I consider them 'out of their minds. Decided, I want an iPad. First, I need to sell something (like a book maybe).

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a nook - got it when the kindles were still super expensive. Now I have an iPad as well and that's my most used ereader. Love it. I think it's amazing. Hope you enjoy yours!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post. I completely agree. I have a Nook too, and it's frustrating when books come out and they're not available at B&N, or they're more expensive at B&N.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah that is the reason for a lot of piracy. They make you jump through too many hoops with the 50 different ways to get stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love my iPad beyond all reason. I use the Kindle app on it, but I downloaded the Potter books onto iBooks. I like having the option but J.K. Rowling is now bigger than any publishing house.

    We know that publishing moves at a snails pace. In 10 years this may be the norm, but I am still at a loss as to why authors outside the US can't sell on the Nook.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I look for new titles to read at Barnes and Noble, but always end up purchasing them digitally from Amazon because I own a kindle.

    If they used the same digital book formats, I'd likely split my business 50/50 between them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have a Kindle, which I love for reading manuscripts as well as ebooks. This means I mostly buy from Amazon, of course, but I have learned how to buy books from other sources (Smashwords, etc) and then upload from my computer to my Kindle.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I first heard about this Pottermore when we plopped Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the ol'blu ray last night. Can you believe we haven't watched it until just now? Good show, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Making people choose is so stupid. Every e-book should work on every device!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I *love* reading on the iPad... you will too ;)

    And I find all the Pottermore stuff fascinating. :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. I didn't realise that it wasn't the norm for all books to work on all readers. That's a bit rough.

    ReplyDelete

Comments brighten my day.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...