Amazon.com is preparing to introduce two new programs that will change the way “books” are purchased and delivered–and maybe even the way they are written.
Upgrade will allow purchasers to get instant online access to the content of the book they just bought. So when you order a Dreamweaver reference book on Amazon, for a few dollars more you would be able to look up the things you need to know in an online version of the book, while you wait for the print book to arrive in the mail. This would only be available to customers who have purchased the print book.
Publishers will decide if they want to offer this option, how much to charge, and how customers will be able to use the content. For example, a publisher may decide to allow customers to download and/or print the electronic version of the book, or they may allow only online viewing with no printing.
Amazon anticipates that the price of an Upgrade will be about 10% of the print book price. Assuming that the publisher gets the usual 45% of the sale, that means publishers would make an extra dollar or so on each sale of a $25 book with a $2.50 Upgrade. That may not sound like much, but that dollar is pure profit–and it requires no inventory or investment to get it. Multiply it by thousands of copies of many different titles, and you are suddenly talking real money.
The second program Amazon announced is even more exciting. I think of it as “iTunes for books.” Pages will allow customers to download sections of books, or even individual pages, for a small fee per page.
The specifics have not been announced, but here are some examples of how it might work:
You want a recipe for Chocolate Nut Bread, but don’t want the entire cookbook. You go to Amazon.com and download just that one recipe for $.35.
You need to know how to create forms in Dreamweaver, and the reference book you have doesn’t tell you exactly what you need to know. You find another book on Amazon that has just what you need to know. You download the chapter on forms for $2.00.
You love one of the short stories in an anthology, but not the rest. You download that one story for $.95.
Would you have purchased the books if the download option had not been available? Maybe, but probably not. This is an opportunity for publishers to increase profits by slicing-and-dicing content to meet the needs of customers. Just as music fans can go to iTunes and buy the one or two songs they like instead of paying for the entire CD, readers will be able to customize their content and get just what they want.
Start thinking now about how this will affect the structure of what you write. Could you create a book that works as a whole, but also can be sold in pieces? How does that affect pricing?
Is this a good thing for authors and publishers? I think it is, but it probably doesn’t matter what we think. This is where we are headed. If you are a content provider, you can embrace what is coming or you can hide your head in the sand and hope it goes away. The music industry tried that for a while, and it did not work out very well for them. Apple saved them from themselves.
As for me, I have already signed up with Amazon.com to get involved with both Upgrade and Pages as soon as they are launched. I know a good thing when I see it.
