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  • Re-'Kindling' Amazon's EDU Mojo

    By Joshua Kim January 24, 2011 9:15 pm EST

    The EDU mood lately has not been kind to the Kindle. It's all "iPad this" and "iPad that". In comparison to the iPad, the Kindle is: bad for taking notes; bad for marking up text; incapable of surfing the web; incapable of displaying video….the list goes on.

    How can the Kindle, and Amazon, get its EDU Mojo back?

    Remove DRM: DRM will, in the end, decide the Kindle's fate. At some point, book buyers (like me) will stop buying digital books from Amazon if we can only read our books on Amazon's e-readers. We will want choice. We will want to have confidence that our books will work on whatever devices we own in the future.

    Support EPUB: The Kindle's value as a reading platform decreases as the universe of digital book sellers increase. The Kindle is less valuable, less useful, if I can only read Amazon purchased books. I want to be able to purchase books from Google and from Barnes & Noble.

    Enable and Encourage Sharing: The long tail of book sales depends, more than other media, on word of mouth. A book that is lent will result in many books that are purchased. Book lending might not be in the interest of the few publishing superstars, but for everyone else (and almost all nonfiction writers) locking down book lending hurts their economic position. Authors, editors and publishers should recognize that book lending is in their self-interest, and figure out how to enable and support Amazon (and the other e-book providers) in their ability to lend e-books.

    Partner with Digital Coursepack Providers: The XanEDU's, StudyNet's, and Symtext's of the world are investing their resources in iPad apps, with Kindle version perhaps available but not seen as a huge value-add. This could change overnight if Amazon put its weight behind offering Kindle versions of textbooks by the chapter, combined with journal, magazine and newspaper articles. A partnership with XanEDU, StudyNet, or Symtext would be necessary, as I these companies know the higher ed markets and have built up skills in copyright clearance. What these companies lack is Amazon's distribution platform. Amazon's scale could drive down prices, and Amazon's technology skills could insure high quality Kindle versions of the coursepacks (complemented by both iPad app version and paper copies).

    Bundle E-Books with Audiobooks: Amazon is missing a huge opportunity to leverage their ownership of Audible by bundling e-books and audiobooks. Every time I buy an Audible book, Amazon should provide a Kindle version (and vice-versa). Amazon should deliver technology that synchs the audiobook to the e-book, so readers are always on the correct page.

    Build Library Partnerships: Amazon's failure to build partnerships with libraries is amazingly shortsighted. Today's book borrowers are tomorrow's book buyers. The library is where the habit of reading can be learned. Continue to put up roadblocks for digital books (both e-books and audiobooks) and watch potential future readers (and book buyers) never develop the reading habit. The danger of shutting out libraries as books transition from paper to digital is that the book economy will become ever more hits dependent. Libraries nurture the long tail of books. A healthy book economy does not look like the book aisle at Walmart.

    Note that none of these suggestions requires any technological breakthrough. Amazon could make all of these ideas a reality today. The advantage Amazon has is the Amazon.com website, and its currently unparalleled book buying experience. This advantage, however, could erode - particularly as Google and Apple improve they're' e-book services, and Barnes and Noble figures out its business (by perhaps merging with Borders or being acquired by a major publisher or something).

    Is Amazon listening?

    Your ideas?

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Comments on Re-'Kindling' Amazon's EDU Mojo

  • Posted by Dr. Natoshia Anderson on January 25, 2011 at 7:15am EST
  • As a long time user of the Kindle there a few things missed in this article. Over the years, I have bought many many books from other e-book sellers and read them on the Kindle. The reader can convert the document to kindle format then upload to the kindle. The process is simple and takes miminal time to do.
    I also know that the latest version of the Kindle does connect to the web. You can highlight and take notes using the Kindle. In class notes and text highlighting are major pluses for me.
    This year I have started using it inside the classroom to assist me in teaching my classes.
  • E-books & E-readers on Campus
  • Posted by Textbookguru , Dir. of Public Relations at National Assn. of College Stores on January 25, 2011 at 9:15am EST
  • Dear Mr. Kim,

    I know it might seem that everyone on campus is lugging a dedicated e-reader and reading an e-book; however, I would like to bring your attention to a recent study completed by my organization, the National Association of College Stores, that found these tools have been slow to catch on with college students.

    http://www.nacs.org/advocacynewsmedia/pressreleases/ebooksereadersslowtocatchonwithstudents.aspx

    In fact, only 13 percent of the students surveyed said that had purchased an e-book of ANY kind (so textbooks would be an even smaller percentage) and only 8 percent owned an e-reader.

    Currently, digital materials make up only 2.8 percent of course materials sales; however, NACS expects this to increase to between 10-15 percent by 2012.

    -- Charles Schmidt, Dir. of PR
    National Assn. of College Stores
  • Self-interest of book-lending?
  • Posted by Lee Henderson on January 25, 2011 at 9:30am EST
  • "Authors, editors and publishers should recognize that book lending is in their self-interest, and figure out how to enable and support Amazon (and the other e-book providers) in their ability to lend e-books." In what way is book lending in the self-interest of authors, editors, and publishers?
  • Exam and Desk Copies
  • Posted by Zachary Schrag , Associate Professor of History at George Mason University on January 25, 2011 at 11:00am EST
  • Publishers long ago figured out that professors want free or cheap exam copies as they plan their courses. To some degree this is bribery, but it does encourage professors to consider using the latest scholarship in their classes.

    Though Harvard and some others have experimented with PDF exam copies, I have yet to see a publisher offer exam copies in Kindle format. If Amazon persuaded university and trade presses to do this routinely, you'd see a lot more Kindles and Kindle software in professors' hands, and they might well think about wanting to share highlights and notes with students.
  • Kindle editions can be read on the iPad
  • Posted on January 25, 2011 at 12:45pm EST
  • Amazon is listening. There is a Kindle app for iPad, iPhone and Android. The recently updated iPad app also offers the ability to highlight text and look-up words in the included dictionary. This offers the best of both worlds because the Kindle library is much more extensive than Apple's current ibook library and Kindle editions are less expensive than ibooks.
  • Some Comments on Comments
  • Posted by AntBand on January 25, 2011 at 1:45pm EST
  • Dr. Natoshia: You are correct about accessing other ebook-store's materials on the Kindle, but it is a one way street, and Amazon.com is the largest seller and their materials are locked up and proprietary.

    Charles: Perhaps this is a chicken and egg situation. Until more textbooks are available in e-book versions, we are not likely to see an uptick in sales of these devices to the college crowd. Since entering high school and now heading towards college, my own son's pleasure reading has been severely limited by the amount of required reading he has for his courses. These required texts are not available electronically, hence he is not clamoring for an e-book reader.

    Lee: I would assume this is clear by now. Much as with music, I am more likely to seek out more books by an author that I discover that I like through the lending practices of others (friends, libraries, etc.) than I am likely to drop $30 for a new book by an author I know nothing about. Word of mouth and lending of books DOES encourage future purchases, whether in hardcover, softcover, audible, or e-book versions. I acknowledge that there is a lot of electronic "sharing" of music, movies, and even e-books now, but it is a fallacy to think that every shared file represents a lost sale. So, I agree with Josh on this. Sharing does have a self-interest component to it.

    On a somewhat related note, as a consumer, there are real tradeoffs in opting for a digital version of a physical good that publishers and producers of books, music and films often fail to recognize in their pricing of digital goods. I lose resale value and the ability to share, and with some DRM schemes, I can potentially lose access to the material itself. I also don't expect to see e-books and digital downloads for sale at the charity bazaars and auctions of the near future.

    There is also something to be said about the feeling that many people have toward owning a "collection" of goods. The ephemerality of digital goods is a genuine risk. I can insure my house against fire and recover some of the value of tangible assets. Insurance companies won't protect my investment in digital goods, at least not yet, should the e-tailer go belly up.

    What is the net worth of your digital collection?

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