Amazon, Kindle, and why e-Books are Off My Agenda

My annoyance regarding Amazon’s dickishness over e-books has rekindled this blog.

So, I’ve got an old version of the Kindle, and Amazon, who are suffering greatly with their finances, have decided that old versions like mine will no longer be supported.

“Affected devices include Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation, Kindle DX and DX Graphite, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, Kindle 5, and Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation.

To minimize any disruption, we're offering a promotional code for 20% off select new Kindle devices … as well as a £15 eBook credit … after purchasing a new device (valid through June 20th, 2026, 11:59pm PST - Terms and Conditions apply)”


Now, you might say that technology is brimming with built-in obsolescence (the vileness of smartphones being the most obvious example). But I would counter that the e-book was intended to replace a physical book. I’ve got an old copy of Rebel, by Bernard Cornwell, on my desk right now. The paper hasn’t combusted, the spine hasn’t shattered, and I don’t need a micro-transaction for a code to unlock it. It works just fine. It’s from 1994, a happy time when AI was fictional and nobody was trying to impose digital ID on us.

E-books, to my understanding, were technically just renting a book for life. But as they’re about 50-80% the cost of a proper book, have immediate delivery, and (most importantly for me) zero extra storage space, that’s fine for fiction and the occasional history. 

But here’s the kicker. If you need to replace your e-reader to actually access them or buy more then it critically undercuts the value of the e-book. At the time of writing, Amazon has Kindle devices (e-readers) ranging from £95 to £380. 

How long will the cheapest ones last before being replaced? No idea. Could be 3-4 years, could be a decade.

Meanwhile, my copy of Rebel (nearly finished it, very much enjoying the climax) is perfectly functional.


Why’s the old Kindle now obsolete? Probably for the same reason Amazon disabled downloading e-books via a wired connection, which is how I used to transfer files. For the convenience and financial advantage of the firm. I don’t mind a business making money, I do mind them needlessly turning my e-reader into a brick* so they can gouge cash from me.

*It still works, for now, but any problems won’t be remedied and a factory reset won’t mend it.


The promotional code and an e-book credit (contingent on buying a new device within a short time frame, because you’ve got to milk the Fear Of Missing Out) is up there with the Government’s new plan to ‘improve’ self-employed people’s lives by making tax returns, over a certain threshold, quarterly and require third party software.

Don’t make my life worse then claim it’s somehow an improvement. Don’t make my e-reader unable to download new books because you want more money then pretend a discount or credit makes up for it. Unless you want to give me a 100% e-reader discount, of course.

But, hey, you’ve got to find the money to fund another season of Rings of Power somewhere, right?

The irony here is that this, in a very small way, is just going to cost Amazon. Because I only have a Kindle all my e-books (most of the fiction I bought) was from them. When it comes to physical books I tend to split it between Amazon and Waterstones. And the latter have never screwed me over.

I’m not buying another e-reader for the privilege of being able to buy more e-books in the same way I’m not subscribing to Prime for the privilege of being able to shop at Amazon.

Thaddeus

Will e-Readers change reading habits?

I got my Kindle sometime last year, mostly because I’m really pushed for space and read quite a lot. E-books enable almost instantaneous delivery, often lower prices and cost nothing in terms of storage space. Against that is the fact that an e-Reader has to be recharged sometimes and there’s a reasonably hefty initial cost.

They also makes self-publishing a lot easier. This opens up avenues of opportunity for new writers, and there are a great many well-received books available for a pound or less.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the e-Reader substantially alters reading, and perhaps writing, habits beyond this.

Personally, I think I buy more books now than I did before. The speed of delivery and the ability to read a sample are real bonuses (although I hope authors start including approximate word counts so the size of a book can be roughly gauged).

I read somewhere or other that there’s a slight fashion towards slightly shorter books now. The smaller amount of text available on each page (as default, it can be varied somewhat) probably leads to books seeming a bit longer than they would if they were in physical format.

I wonder if interactive serials could ever take off. Books used to be released one chapter at a time, I think, and whilst I can’t see that as such working, it might, if, after each chapter, the audience got to make a critical plot decision. The author could then write the next chapter up, and the process occur again. Hmm.

E-books won’t ever fully replace proper physical books, though. For a start, a file is a rubbish present compared to a physical book. It’s also useful for certain types (cookery, art) to have a physical book.

Thaddeus

Physical versus eBooks

As well as prevaricating over what book to buy, I’m now prevaricating over whether to buy a physical or eBook next. I’ve pre-ordered the physical version of A Dance With Dragons, and imagine I’ll still get some historical books in physical form.

The problem, and the reason behind me getting a Kindle in the first place, is that I really do lack room and don’t want to get rid of any books I have now.

There are a few advantages to eBooks. Firstly, they do save a hell of a lot of space. Secondly, the screen is very good and does not detract at all from reading or cause eye strain. Thirdly, delivery is almost instantaneous. Fourthly, they’re often (sadly not always) cheaper.

So, why even consider getting any physical book?

I do still prefer the experience of reading a physical book. I’m not sure why, though I’m reminded of what Giles said in a Buffy season 1 episode when asked why he disliked computers. He said it was because they didn’t smell, like books smell musty. I’ve got a copy of Outlaws of the Marsh and the glue (I think) used is different to most others and always evokes memories of China and reading about Li Kui and Sagacious Lu.

Physical books are much better, I feel, as gifts. Like vinyl, the essential information is the same, but the physical copy somehow feels more fitting and meaningful.

Last, and most annoyingly, some eBooks aren’t that well formatted. Sometimes you get strange wide spaces between lines. The Night Watch is a good example of a well-formatted eBook. It does have slight gaps between paragraphs but they are clearly intentional, make reading it a little easier and at no point during the book do they became over-sized. OCR errors (OCR is Optical Character Recognition, I think, the scanning technique used to transfer the characters from physical copies to the eBook format) sometimes happen but in the few books I’ve read they’re rare. One exception would be in The Night Watch where ‘lie’ is mistranscribed as ‘He’. Fortunately, it’s clear what the word should be and I think there are only two in the whole book (so, no worse than the odd typo in a physical book).

The Kindle’s eased my problem regarding space, but hasn’t removed it completely.

Thaddeus

E-Books: boon or bane for authors?

The Kindle was the number 1 bestselling item for Amazon last Christmas. It’s an e-Reader, one of a range that has recently sprung up and allows people to read books electronically.

The Kindle’s screen has improved resolutions, to stop people’s eyes going all fuzzy, sizeable memory and free internet access almost anywhere (if you buy the pricier version) enabling quick access to download new books.

Older works, due to copyright expiration, are free, which is pretty fantastic. I’m going to get one, probably in April, and look forward to seeing how good it is.

The Kindle and other e-Readers enable people to buy and receive books very rapidly, save on storage space and receive a huge number of older books entirely free of charge. If you’re a lover of classics, an e-Reader will probably pay for itself pretty quickly.

They do more than just speed up the process of buying, however. E-Readers enable writers to give away first chapters, or appendices, for free to help entice full scale purchases. They also make a chip in the dam of the agent/publisher barrier. Getting an agent, let alone a publisher, is difficult (perhaps especially so in sci-fi/fantasy). The advent of e-Readers and e-Books means aspiring authors can sell directly to potential buyers, through collective sites or their own blogs, or even through Amazon itself.

There are two problems with this, and they’re pretty big. The first is essentially identical to the digital music problem. Once information, whether musical or written, is encoded digitally and can be transmitted in that way it can be easily stolen and distributed free of charge (albeit illegally). The music industry struggled for years with this, but whereas musicians can perform live gigs to hundreds or thousands of people authors don’t have an equivalent outlet.

I’d like to think, being an avid reader, that people who love books and follow certain authors would not stoop (in large numbers) to theft. The best books are immersive and thrilling and often emotional, and if you take it for free then authors will take a financial hit and may stop selling e-Books altogether (although pirate e-Books may arise).

The second problem is an electronic version of the difficulty all aspiring authors face anyway. I’d bet a week’s wages to a dead mouse that Joe Abercrombie or George RR Martin could shift more copies of a new e-Book in a week than a new, unknown author could in a year. Getting the media attention necessary to sell books, in physical or electronic form, is very hard for new writers. I’ve been wondering about how to encourage more regular readers (beyond the obvious planting of shirtless photographs displaying my rippling torso) myself.

There’s also the question of whether the current model of writing fiction ought to continue indefinitely, be entirely replaced, or whether a new model can exist alongside. For example, an author (aspiring or published) releasing a new book tends to charge X amount for it. The money is paid, the download of physical copy handed over, and the reader gets to keep it.

But what if books became serialised? It’s often said that a book should have a certain number and regularity of exciting moments to keep people interested. The serialisation format (with either a smaller amount paid per episode or a certain total in donations needing to be raised before the next episode is released) could work well online, but it could mean that an author would only make a finite amount for their book (in the latter example it would become free after a certain total had been donated by readers).

Despite the success of the e-Reader and the potential of new technology I am certain physical books will still be bought. Even after I get my Kindle, I’ll be buying a smaller number of physical books.

Thaddeus