Amazon Prices J.K. Rowling's New Book Sky High

Checked out J.K. Rowling's new book The Casual Vacancy on Amazon today. Just wanted to see what the reader ratings were, and what the price would be. And to my surprise, the Amazon Kindle version at the time of this writing was $17.99. What the?

I guess you can no longer justify the cost of an e-reader as a way to buy cheaper books. Publishers have decided e-books are just as expensive as paper versions. Flawed thinking.

I know writers, published and self-published will tell me how wrong I am, but for years, media publishers have tried to justify the high cost of their goods based on cost to manufacture. This isn't the case for digital books, or digital music. But I guess music is the same, you buy a digital album for $10, about as much as you would in a store. It's just crazy.

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Book Review: Poke the Box

Stop whining. Stop making excuses. Stop worrying about failure. Stop stopping. In a nutshell, that's what I got out of Seth Godin's new book, Poke the Box. Seth is a great story teller. He's great at painting a picture you see yourself in, and then paints the alternative picture which he want's you to put yourself in. And this book is no different.

One of my favorite lines in this book is, "Who's the VP of go?". Organizations have people in all levels of decision making, but no one is tasked specifically to make things go. Not to monitor, or measure, or adjust, but to make things go.

Seth also talkes about companies still opting for conformity in it's work force, over people who will ask questions and take initiative. It's funny to think that organizations still think this way, seeing how we haven't been an industrial nation for several generations. Today, education is delivered the same way it was 50 years ago, yet current and future generations aren't learning the same was as we did 50 years ago.

There is a lot of room for improvement on all levels. I like the entrepreneurial view of fail fast and fail often, It's what helps us see how to make improvements. This is a great book, has lot's of messages, and hopefully get's you thinking about how to start things, consistently. It's only 96 pages long, and it's really cheap. I got the Kindle version to save a tree.

Poke the Box (Amazon affiliate link).

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Kindle Is Convenient But Not Always The Best Choice

I know that’s a bold statement, not cost affective. Why am I saying that? Let’s look at a few things. Utah author Brandon Sanderson (who, by the way is finishing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series), has The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, Book 2) for sale on Amazon in paperback for $7.99. The Kindle version of this book is, $7.99. No savings, and I don’t get a physical book. Why is that important?

In my opinion the Kindle is a great Green appliance. It allows you to read a book without killing trees and eventually ending up in a land fill. However, I like the ability to resale, or even donate, a book once I’m through. With a Kindle book, you can’t. I’m also at the mercy of the Kindle having a power issue, and then I can’t read a book. And the Kindle doesn’t have limitless storage, which limits my library.

I guess I’m struggling paying eight bucks for a digital book. I believe the digital version should be a lot less. I know many Kindle books have a cheaper price than their paper counterpart, but those books tend to be older. Give us new releases for at least half the cost since it should only take half the effort to produce, stock and ship.

I really like the Kindle. In fact, I love the iPhone version (iTunes link). It’s convenient, and I find I’m reading more because I have the book with me all the time.

If you’re an Author, and I know this may buy me some heat here, urge your publisher and Amazon to reduce the price of your digital works. I know I will.

Share with us your view on Kindle books, and if you have one, either the Kindle device or the iPhone application and how you like it.

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