E-Book Readers – Changing Both Publishing And Reading

E-Book readers were certainly hot news in 2009. Internet giant Amazon launched both the Kindle 2.0 and the Kindle DX, causing quite a stir and gaining a lot of publicity for e-book readers in general and the Kindle in particular. Competitors like Sony and Barnes and Noble fought back with readers of their own, whilst others such as Microsoft and Apple continued to develop their own hardware for future release.

Since e-book readers are consumer electronics devices – and relatively new ones at that – it’s easy to become swept away in the analysis of the technical specification of the various individual readers. The Kindle can download books wirelessly with no need for a broadband connection, a Wi-Fi hotspot or a computer of any kind. Barnes and Noble’s Nook has a color screen, the Daily Edition reader from Sony lets you borrow books from participating libraries – and so on.

However, it may be worth considering that e-book readers may very possibly be the biggest thing to happen to reading – and publishing – since the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440. The invention of the printing press allowed books to be mass produced on paper instead of parchment or vellum. It reduced the cost of books and, quite literally, put them in the hands of the common man.

There have been very few changes in the way that we read books since then. Of course, there have been advances in printing technology, computers and word processing have made the already existing process more efficient. Nevertheless, the end result has been pretty consistent – we read books which consist of paper bound between retaining covers with text printed upon it.

Publishers have been operating within certain confines as a result of the constant nature of their end product for centuries. They have produced a physical product, with print run costs and delivery fees associated with it.

E-book readers do not just represent a way of carrying out the existing process more efficiently. They completely change the rules, both for publishers and readers. For a start, there is no physical product. This means that there is less consumption of materials. No paper, ink, chemicals, bindings etc. And with no physical product, there are no delivery costs.

This means that e-books are not only cheaper to publish and deliver, but that they are – even considering the materials used in the e-book readers themselves – more environmentally friendly.

It also opens up more possibilities for publishers to market both authors and books in different ways. A publisher who wishes to showcase a particular author could, for example, offer a selection of their work at either very low prices or even completely free. Another tactic, which is now becoming increasing common, is to offer the first book in a series free – obviously in the hope that the reader will then purchase other books in the series or possibly other books by the same author. This isn’t impossible with traditional books of course – but it would be a much more costly undertaking with a higher risk element if a traditional print run was involved.

The Amazon Kindle store contains a pleasantly surprising number of free Kindle books. All Kindle books, free or otherwise, have their first chapter made available as a free download so that prospective readers can sample the book before they buy. One possible benefit is that readers maybe encouraged to experiment a little and to try authors who they may have previously overlooked.

As understandable as the present excitement with the technical capabilities of e-book readers is, it will be the additional opportunities for publishers and the increased choice coupled with instant access for readers that is going to change the way that we look at books in the future.

Check out the Amazon Kindle reader and find out how you can save money by downloading free Kindle ebooks straight from Amazon’s Kindle store.