LoneRngr

How Kindle Will Kill the Book Star

a good article, as it's designed to provoke thought and stimulate debate. no one knows for certain how the kindle will change author compensation. one thing we do know is that there will always be a need for content. the medium doesn't matter as much as the content. personally i'm having a hard time trying to reconcile the purchase price of a kindle, at $300+ for the device, plus $10 per title, you need to be a big reader to make the economics pay off. the kindle also won't make people read any faster, so i don't buy the argument for more purchases on the kindle. eventually though the kindle (or knockoffs) will catch on and bring device prices down. the potential to revolutionize the newspaper and magazine industry is huge (publications that are generally thrown out immediately after reading), but i digress.

i know the industry will find a new model that works, and publishing costs will come down. traditional paper publishing is a dying business. thanks to lower barriers to entry more authors will be able to come to market. self-publishing ("glamor press") is becoming easier and easier. the new choice however could overwhelm readers and dilute the existing talent pool of published works, with a likely outcome causing polarization of authors - some could earn a bundle thanks to "best-seller" lists, where number of downloads are tracked, and a great many could earn next to nothing. in the end, a redistribution can take place and life will go on...