iPad Pro for 2014

There are strong rumours circulating that Apple are likely to launch an iPad Pro device in the first half of next year.  If anything, this is an overdue development for the Apple tablet and one that Microsoft have shown to be ripe for the taking with its Surface tablets.

There's no argument that the iPad has infiltrated itself into business use way beyond its capabilities - lets be honest here, it's not the most secure of computing devices.  However it became such a must-have device but was and is priced as a premium commodity that inevitably it was those who were heading up the upper echelons of businesses and organisations who managed to get hold of the devices first, flexing their corporate budgets to obtain something that was initially quite elitist.  The question of security was probably swept under the carpet - if the boss wants an iPad, he gets an iPad.

Roll forward a few years and the iPad is still a premium commodity item, is still as insecure as ever and to be fair there's a few other premium tablets vying for part of Apple's business at a similar price point, although the trend has been towards the budget end.  Ultimately the iPad and most of the other slates are just consumer devices, only some tablets cost more limbs than others.  However Microsoft have shown that there is a need for a secure tablet in the market - or as secure as any Microsoft product can be as they are inevitably the target for the majority of the attempts to compromise their OS due to their ubiquitous position in the business and domestic sectors.  Whether it has been Microsoft entering the tablet arena that has spurred Apple, or whether if was always part of their game plan, isn't known.  But it seems like they are moving towards a Professional-orientated iPad next year.

Whether the device will be iOS or based on iMac software is an interesting starting point for consideration - the systems are too far apart to be merged at this point in time.  But there is a compelling argument for either approach - make the iPad Pro an extension of the MacBook range and software and you have what Microsoft have been aiming at, at the risk of alienating the traditional iPad power users who would happily pay for the Pro as an extended iOS device, or base it on a secure version of iOS so that it can access all those apps - now understood to have passed the 1 million mark - at the risk of limiting its compatibility with traditional Apple computer users.

Cost is going to be an interesting element, too, given that the consumer device is already priced high.  Apple tends towards premium pricing generally and let's face it, Microsoft have eased the market for this with its Surface Pro pricing strategy. Apple laptops and desktops have tended to be more expensive than their Microsoft software based competitors historically, so pitching just above the Surface Pro price point probably wouldn't be unreasonable to the Apple faithful. Of course Microsoft have the initiative here and could drop the Surface Pro pricing ahead of any iPad Pro launch, increasing the differential price pressure on Apple.

The biggest question, though, has to be around connectivity. Apple really has to think long and hard about its resistance to using industry standard interfaces such as USB, HDMI and micro SD slots. OK, we're all getting our heads around the cloud now, but Wi-Fi isn't as omnipresent as it should be. Of course Apple would likely include 4G as standard in a Pro model, but that may not fit in fully with every commercial organisations security profile.

An iPad for the grown up world is long overdue and looks like it should be here before mid 2014. Not only should it gladden the hearts of the iPad professionals and their long worrying ICT managers, it should exert a downward pressure on the prices of the consumer devices of all flavours.  In fact Google should worry because this is a race they currently cannot compete in and could lead to an erosion of the Android brand. Microsoft should view this as healthy and supporting their strategy; Apple competing validates the sector and makes it more robust.

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For Whom the Bell Tolls

I've been an advocate of the dedicated eReader device for some years, having owned and used a Kindle as my portal into the world of eBooks.  In fact, it was the Kindle that made me realise that the three novels I had written over several years could be made available for a much wider audience.  It introduced me to self publishing and has provided a means for myself and thousands of other frustrated writers to put our literary works 'out there' for the world to judge.

That original Kindle is now showing signs of wear and age - the half life of these kind of devices is probably fairly short and the version I have, with the lower third occupied by a keyboard and navigation buttons, is probably more likely to develop a mechanical failure of some sort due to the amount of moving parts, even if the buttons do glide over a membrane.

But I've been watching the rise and rise of tablet computers too, and have forecast that the dedicated eReader's day is strictly numbered, although judging by the number of model upgrades by Amazon and Nook, for example, it would appear that the manufacturers seem to think that there is life in the old dogs yet.  I disagree; while the dedicated eReaders have a few tricks up their collective sleeves including phenomenal battery life, the ability to be read in direct sunlight and increasingly a backlit screen to allow them to be read in bed without putting a main light on, the economics of dedicated eReaders just isn't stacking up.

I reckon in the last three years I've read over two hundred eBooks - probably a middling amount compared to some readers, perhaps more than others, however I do spend a lot of my free time writing books and the occasional blog entry as well as holding down a full time job, so I guess the total isn't too tardy.  It's certainly more than I read in the three years before I got my Kindle - the economics of buying paperbacks in quantity and the logistics of storing them (or recycling them to the local charity shop) mitigate against random speculative purchases.  Some of the books I've waded through in the last three years have been, shall I say, challenging but in the main I've read a lot of good books and learned a lot along the way.  And my bookshelf is holding its own these days, despite the extra books that have passed through my hands.

Critically the majority of those eBooks I've read have been read on an Android tablet - the self destructing Nexus 7 with a screen that costs more than the device new - and on my Microsoft RT.  The Kindle does come out of its drawer now and then, but increasingly it doesn't.

So eBooks, for me, aren't going away but the way I read them has changed.  The way I look at it, if I'm electing freely to use my tablet computer to read eBooks when I've got a perfectly suitable dedicated eReader, albeit one with a tendency to have sticky moments on the keypad these days, why would someone entering the market choose one over a multi-purpose tablet?  Arguably three years ago the main option was an iPad or a Kindle, with a price differential of three to one; today you can pick up a reasonable seven inch tablet capable of surfing the web, dealing with your emails, playing stupid games and carrying your holiday snaps around on, plus usable as your eReader in all conditions except direct sunlight for 80% of the cost of a dedicated eReader.

Right now, those who are looking to fill Christmas stockings up with mid priced presents might be weighing up the pros and cons of dedicated eReaders and low end tablets and I think most rational people will choose the tablet route.  The tablet they choose, especially if for someone else, may not be the best model on the market but will almost certainly be an acceptable device, but will provide all the benefits of a dedicated eReader with the added bonuses of a tablet, generally for less.

As in Ernest Hemingway's classic, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the end credits for dedicated eReaders is being played out with the hero facing certain death, pinned down by his horse as the enemy approach.  The manufacturers of the dedicated devices must know that this is the last year they can hope to sell significant numbers of dedicated eReaders, especially at the price points they are marketed at, but I suspect that in the final analysis there will be a lot of Nooks and Kindles left on the shelves after Christmas Day.  This year will be the watershed and I expect that most suppliers will want to dispose of this technology to get it off their inventory, so expect some interesting bargains in the sales.  If they do, and the price is right, then I'll be queuing up to buy a low cost dedicated eReader for the opportunity to replace my fading one for those infrequent occasions when they really do differentiate themselves from the tablets.

But if they don't discount them I won't lose any sleep.  Dedicated eReaders are good, but it's not like they make the Earth move.

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Windows 8 - Touch and Go? It Is On The Surface!

At the Gadget Show Live it was impossible to get away from laptops running Windows 8.To be fair, Microsoft were a major sponsor of the show and they had the largest stand.  Apple were noticeably absent and Google were there only by default, thanks to the many Android tablets on sale throughout the building.

However it was my first hands on experience of Windows 8 and following the mixed reviews that followed its release last autumn it was a timely opportunity.  Obviously I wanted to look at the interface itself, but I was also keen to see how the OS would work on non-touch-screen PCs.  One thing that was immediately clear from the show is that touch-screen laptops are going to be the standard going forward - all the major manufacturers were represented and they all featured touch-screen technology.  To see how a non-touch-screen PC would work, I had to keep my fingers away from the screen and just use the mouse pad.  It's not as good as swiping with your finger, but it doesn't make the interface redundant - in fact, even without touch the interface seems pretty good.

My only complaint to many of the exhibitors pitching Windows 8 compliant machines is that, with the exception of the Microsoft stand, hardly any exhibits were loaded with Microsoft Office - it's possible that they had all hoped to use SkyDrive to pull Office 365 down on to demonstrate the capability of their products and run into the same problems I did with the so-called open WiFi which locked up my smart phone.  Needless to say, the Microsoft machines were loaded with Office and they had instructors to hand to demonstrate it.  Which was great, because the real differentiator between the Windows 8 tablets and laptops and the raft of other tablets including the iPad and the Nexus products is the ability to use functional business tools like Office.

From my playing with the various laptops, and there were some seriously sexy models to play with, I think I'm sold.  Obviously the concern is that all the machines on display are turbocharged and beefed up to make sure Windows 8 runs like a dream - we've all experienced Microsoft products, especially new operating systems, only to  find that they run like a snail with an anchor strapped to its leg.  According to the specialists on hand, the new OS runs lighter and more efficiently than windows 7 and outstrips Vista many times over.  Not that beating Vista is an accomplishment to brag about.  I have to take Microsoft's word that Windows 8 doesn't need the hardware resources of a NASA rocket launch, but the interface works for me.  Apparently overlaying in a Windows 7 machine like mine is OK, but anything earlier than Windows 7 has to be uninstalled first, and when pinned up against the stands the Microsoft specialists admitted that removing Windows 7 is still the smartest move.

Pricing is a bit sensitive, though.  Currently if I want to upgrade my laptop to Windows 8 it costs £99.  It's not Microsoft's fault that Acer didn't anticipate the move towards touch-screen technology when they built my machine a couple of years ago, but I have to stop and rationalise that I'm not going to be able to enjoy one of the cooler aspects of the new OS if I retro-fit it on my laptop.  The joined up thinking interface is an attractive option, but I'm not sure it's worth nearly a ton when I have Windows 7 installed and working adequately.  If I could install on a couple of laptops for that price I'd be interested, I'm certainly keenly looking for any offers.  I think £50 a license would work for me.

Of course there are two versions of Windows 8 floating around, and the lower tier offering comes pre-installed on the Surface RT.  In fact, all the software on the Surface is pre-installed although you can download Windows 8 apps to expand it, obviously.  It's an extremely compelling device given its price - £399 including keyboard, Windows 8  and Office pre-installed.  The keyboard took a bit of getting used to - its a flat membrane with very little tactile feedback, however I reckon it does the job as well as protecting the device when in transit.  The basic model comes with adequate memory given that it is easily upgradable using micro SD cards or plugging external hard drives using the USB port - two critical omissions from devices such as the iPad.

Plus there's the Office software that lets you write using industry standard formats - try achieving that on your iPad too.  Microsoft reckon the screen surface area is larger than the iPad - it looked comparable in the hand but I didn't have an iPad available to compare the difference directly.  The downside is that it's not a business machine - you'll need to fork out for the pro version for that - and it won't connect to Microsoft Exchange.  At last something the iPad compares with.  To be fair, I've seen iPads linked to Exchange servers but it's hard work and, of course, there isn't anything particularly useful you can do with them once connected apart from access email, maybe.  OK, share photos and surf thin clients possibly, but probably not all of the proprietary stuff you use in work.  With this device you can access SkyDrive and share documents that way, or use good old email to send documents to your work account.  And all thin clients that work with Windows should work, although Microsoft admit there may be some legacy issues.  Anyway, at least the documents would be readable.

So, would I have a Windows 8 touch-screen laptop?  Like a shot.  Would I manage with a Surface?  For home and travel, absolutely, especially as its pitched at iPad prices but with tons more functionality built in.  It's probably not as rounded for mindless enjoyment as the iPad, but I use these things for reading, writing, spreadsheeting and surfing the web.  For work and more challenging tasks needing screen real estate I'd want a larger screen, but I see the future being a reasonably large touch-screen laptop with a full fat Windows 8 OS loaded, a Surface for round the house and travel, backed up by a seven inch tablet such as my Nexus.

Given my new shopping list, I guess I'd better sell a few more books!

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Amazon - profits down, eBooks up

Amazon, the biggest online retailer of them all, has just announced a dramatic drop in profits, down by $80 million for the last quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier.   It's not for want of trying, though, as they increased their revenues from around $17.5 billion in that quarter a year ago to more than $21 billion this time around, a rise in trading of around 22%.  Jeff Bezos needn't panic, his profits were still nearly $100 million for the three months leading up to Christmas.

 However, this means Amazon are cutting margins aggressively, which given the current market conditions isn't unusual.  And let's face it, $100 million profit in a quarter isn't to be sniffed at.

Jeff has pointed out that one area that is in decline for his business is print books. To be fair, the decline is in the rate of increase - they grew  by 5% in December, which is the slowest growth rate in Amazon's 17 years as a book seller.  In contrast eBooks are growing like mad, up 70% or so on the same quarter the year before.  As Jeff points out, the eBook business has grown from nothing five years ago to a multi billion dollar category for Amazon.

So, with profits like this in such a tough trading environment being relatively buoyant, it should be no surprise that the market reacted positively to Amazon's announcement - I'm guessing the markets have noticed a little bit of tough trading conditions generally.

Jeff was certainly smart enough to realise that eBooks were ripe for the consumer market five years ago - up until then they had been quite niche and the almost blanket avoidance by the mainstream publishing industry helped to keep them that way.  But Jeff helped to take eBooks out of the shadows and into the spotlight, realising that for a major bookseller it is a heck of a sight cheaper to stock millions of electronic book files compared to the miles of racking needed to maintain stocks of physical books.  That and his move into Print on Demand stands to reduce his physical inventory, hence his real estate costs, big time, long term.

So Amazon have helped to create the eBook model that is driving us all forward right now.  They have also realised a long time now that volume sales of any given book isn't necessary as long as they have the lion's share of all the sales - they've eliminated the cost of storage as far as eBooks are concerned, so it doesn't matter if any given book sells well or even at all, in the round the total sales of data over the internet creates the wealth.

Which is why Amazon are pushing the KDP Select program again.  Like all Amazon self published authors I've just received my monthly eNewsletter pushing the program heavily.  Put it this way, if Amazon hadn't decided to incentivise KDP Select then they could have topped the $100 million profit.  On the face of it, KDP Select is pitched as a way of rewarding Amazon Prime customers, itself a vehicle to monopolise the online selling market.  But if it was just that, then Amazon wouldn't need to insist on exclusivity of sales, a concept that is pretty much illegal in most industries.

I worry about the day when Amazon have driven all the other major players off the planet - and Jeff is investing in space flight technology as well, so just being off the planet may not be sufficient in years to come - then how will that affect consumers?  To Amazon, choice is about being able to buy virtually anything through them.  To me, choice is much broader, it's about having different sellers available to pitch their wares.  I can make my purchasing decisions based on price or on service, or on quality.  Or on a thousand different parameters, some tangible, others less so.

Like most of you I buy from Amazon, including eBooks.  But I try to ensure that I don't become a dedicated funding line to Jeff and his empire.  Apart from my purchasing choices I actively resist the KDP Select program.  OK, my attempt to bring Amazon to its eBook knees a little while ago didn't result in a revolution, but did create enough interest to become my fifth most read blog entry ever almost overnight - if you haven't read it, or shared it with someone who might be of a like mind then you can access it here.

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The Truly Personal Digital Assistant

I don't know how successful Siri is with US accents, but it isn't too successful with mine or my wife's.  Our accent is slightly northern, there's a twang of the Liverpudlian floating around in there, but neither accent is particularly strong or difficult to fathom.  I do know Americans who have struggled with my speech, but that has been more to do with colloquialisms than my accent.

In fact, when at a loose end, we enjoy asking Siri to send text messages to each other just to see how garbled the message can get.  So I guess the future of asking the computer for an opinion is still a while away.

But there are attempts to leverage the voice analytical capabilities of tablet computers even further.  Expect Labs, a San Francisco company, is launching a new service that will initially run on the iPad, with further roll outs for Android in the pipeline.  The concept they are pitching is the ever attentive personal aide who politely listens to your conversations and anticipates the data you may need to support the thread.

They are doing this by providing a communication app that will connect tablets together, a bit like Skype but with the ability to analyse what your are saying to each other and using that information to pro-actively pull up relevant data to support your conversation.

So I say to you on the app - hey, how about a trip to London, take in a show? and the iPad app starts to collate ways of getting to London from north Wales, perhaps starting to work out road routes, rail timetables, even short haul flights from Liverpool or Manchester.

You say fine, we'll get the train and the road and air options are dropped while the app starts to look at theatre shows, hotel rooms and restaurants we could use.

Or perhaps you might be discussing an actor in a film and one of you asks what else he's been in - while you're scratching your collective heads the app slinks off and peeks into iMDB, bring up the info you need before you've finished asking the first question.

Will it work?  No idea, but judging by Siri's performance with my northern accent I don't expect to find it that usable from the get-go, given its San Francisco origins, but I can see that the concept has legs.  More importantly, in a business context where a number of ideas are being thrashed around, a proactive always listening master of the internet search could be a real boon.

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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

The Apple Gadget to Watch

Related post:

Casio G Shock Mobile Phone - Trend or Fad

Apple are rumoured to be working on the next big thing in mobile technology, a wristwatch that fits in with their product range.  Details are sketchy, to say the least which, given the secrecy the company shrouds all tech releases with and the 2014 projected release date, isn't that much of a surprise.

We shouldn't be that surprised at the innovation; Apple have spent the last ten years putting our record collections in our pockets, then the internet on our phones and finally our computers in our hands.  So an Apple device that I'm provisionally calling the iWatch (registration application is in the post) doesn't seem too left field.

It's also not an original idea, Casio have been touting an Android based watch for some time - my blog post reporting the Casio device (link at top of this blog) is almost exactly 12 months old.  People new to Apple may consider it strange that they may be following innovation instead of leading it, however those of us who have been around that block a few times know that swiping ideas and concepts is something Apple excel at when needed.  They're not averse to suing people who try to steal stuff they've stolen themselves, either, so Casio had better lawyer up in anticipation.

Some of the rumours on the web about the iWatch are a little skeptical, but I think it has promise.  Here's what I think it'll do.

First, it will display the time.  That may sound a little trite, but it is a simple requirement that most of us will require.  It'll also be an iPod device, capable of linking to your iTunes account and the iCloud.  My guess is that it will be a Bluetooth enabled device so users can listen to their music wirelessly on a bluetooth headset, but don't discount the famous white headphones just yet, there will probably be a mini jack.

It will also be a mini-iPhone, so that bluetooth headset should have voice capability also.  Better, it'll run Facetime so you can curl your left arm casually and speak with your nearest and dearest face to face from your hotel room.

It will also contain Siri so there's a fighting chance you can surf the internet, but good luck with where it will lead you.  Perhaps it's our UK accents, but Siri currently misunderstands almost everything we say, often hilariously.

I also expect that the strap will be like a snap strap, the slap on style that doesn't require buckles and mechanical parts that can fail.  I'm sure Apple will have an aesthetic spin on this and whoever was unfortunate enough to invent the snap on wristwatch strap should lawyer up real soon.  Don't wait for the January 2014 launch.

So when Tim Cook strolls onto the podium in just over a year's time, when he's done discussing the latest version of the iPhone, iPad and iOS then wait for the 'one last thing' speech beloved of the late Steve Jobs.  Then watch him casually slide his sleeve up and show off his new watch, like a ten year old on Christmas day.

But if you're in the audience and Tim fails to show then you'll know something ahead of the world - Apple have tried to squeeze Apple Maps on the watch as a last minute bonus and consequently Tim Cook will have got lost on his way to the venue.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Should Self Published Authors Boycott Amazon?

Self published authors have a lot to thank Amazon for.  Amazon didn't invent the eBook revolution, but it was a major player in its development.

eBooks have been around for quite a while.  Probably the first major attempt at producing them was Project Gutenberg; in fact their website claims that they invented eBooks in 1971.  I have no reason to challenge that claim.

But in my opinion it was Sony who brought eBooks to life through their first eReading devices.  That was a few years ago, probably about six, and the devices were comparatively expensive by today's prices; basic too.  However, they formed a loyal following and I have to admit I was seriously considering buying one myself just before Amazon launched the first Kindle range.  It wasn't the Kindle that changed my mind and stayed my wallet all those years ago, instead it was the reviews that followed Sony's latest eReader of the time.  The critics slammed Sony for paring back the features and producing a machine that was deemed inferior to the model it had replaced.

Of course, with 20/20 hindsight it is possible to conjugate that Sony had got wind of Amazon's initiative and had cut back on the spec to keep the model competitive price-wise.  Whatever the reason, Sony have not seen the same level of organic growth other manufacturers of the devices have since.

Amazon played around with the device for a few iterations until, with the release of the Kindle 3, they hit the public conciousness.  But they hadn't just played with a piece of hardware, they'd been aggressively pushing for conventionally published books to be released in eBook format, a move that was met with some resistance by the industry and one that led to some interesting court judgements recently.  This was a brave move by Amazon, if only because they chose to ignore what was fast becoming the de facto industry standard of EPUB, instead creating their own version of another, less popular standard named Mobi.  Anyone who has lived through a technology standard war, such as the Betamax/VHS battles of the eighties  will know that it only ends in tears somewhere.  I think it is only due to the phenomenal  success and power of Amazon that they have succeeded in pushing through a version of Mobi that only their machines read. They also encouraged self publishing by authors - either those who had never been published previously and those who had and had the rights to publish their own, previously published, work.

In fact, many self published authors only consider using the Amazon self publishing process, named Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) as it serves their needs.  Others only use it because they either don't know how to access the alternative platforms or are concerned that they will become engaged in a process that they find difficult.  A third group only use Amazon because they have succumbed to an outrageous bribe by Amazon with the intention to create a monopoly.  This bribe is achieved by Amazon putting up serious money - around $20 million over the last fourteen months - to bankroll exclusive access to author work, although on paper the program is there to provide a bonus feature to consumers who sign up for Amazon Prime, offering them access to free eBook loans through the Kindle library.

Anyone tied to only Amazon are not being featured on Kobo, Sony, Google machines and, of course, are not listed on Apple which is the only eBook seller to individually challenge Amazon's grip.  In fact, Apple are taking such a large chunk of Amazon's business they are likely to overtake Amazon in a year or so by some estimates.

Now, choosing to only sell through Amazon, or only through Apple or Kobo or anyone else for that matter, is a personal choice for the author to take.  However exclusivity is only being pursued by Amazon; none of the other eBook sellers are trying to lock anyone else out of the market.  From the author perspective, Amazon is an important market but so are all of the other sellers.  I, like many self published authors, found Amazon first and discovered other eBookstores later, through the medium of Smashwords.

Smashwords exist to provide a marketplace for authors to self publish through with similar tools to those provided by Amazon.  In fact the Smashwords tools are more thorough than Amazon's, because Smashwords makes eBooks available to multiple formats and devices, from mobile phones through to full blown PCs via tablet computers and dedicated eReaders.  Obviously they generate files in EPUB, but also in Mobi which can be loaded onto a Kindle device plus other formats that are more niche.  Critically, though, Smashwords doesn't exist to be an alternative eBookshop, it exists to act as a conduit to the likes of Apple, Kobo, WH Smith, Barnes & Noble and many others.  To my eyes there are two notable exceptions; Google Play and Amazon.

I don't know about Google Play - I asked Smashwords why they weren't distributing to Google and they just replied that they're not.  Hardly a complete answer, but then again I don't think Google Play is that relevant in most eBook readers' consciousness right now.  However the Amazon connection is more interesting as they have been approached by Smashwords for some time and have even entered into small scale trials, however they have consistently avoided being supplied with books by Smashwords.  In fact, in the words of Smashwords' CEO, Mark Coker, Amazon has attempted to treat Smashwords as 'a competitor to be crushed, killed and destroyed.'  And Mark is a mild  mannered person not taken to outbursts generally.  You can read his comments on Amazon and his opinions on the eBook industry here.

Why should this matter?  Well, from an author perspective, maintaining author pages at Smashwords makes them available at all the eBook stores they ship to, so write once, use many.  We have to maintain a separate page on Amazon, so we have additional work for little gain.  The same is true when we want to update a book or upload a new novel.  One upload to Smashwords gets the book converted into multiple formats and distributed to many sellers at once whereas we have to go through the whole process again just for Amazon.  Also, monitoring sales through Amazon is becoming a real pain in the proverbial right now as I have to individually drop down 9 separate country windows to find out if I've sold any books overnight - with Smashwords I get a straight numerical figure with detailed data below.

I guess one of the bigger issues is the royalties.  For low cost eBooks, that is $2.99 or less, the author only gets 35% of the selling price with Amazon.  With Apple and most of the other eRetailers the royalty rate is about 60%.  Books bought directly through Smashwords generate even better royalties.  All at no extra cost to the consumer.

Another reason to use Smashwords is the ease of varying pricing, even offering readers free versions of your books.as I did in the run up to the New Year.  You can vary the sale price at Amazon but if you want to run a promotion it isn't user friendly.  And you can't list them for free.  However, they play fast and loose with your prices as they see fit.  Today my books in the US are priced between $1.23 and $1.63 despite being listed at $0.99 with Amazon.  As they are cheaper everywhere else it isn't surprising I don't see people flocking to the Amazon store.  They'll also discount on the Kindle daily deal without telling the author, so not allowing him or her the opportunity to self promote and take advantage of the plug.

So, should consumers of eBooks care?  Well, I think so.  Amazon are clearly attempting to obtain a monopoly on eBooks.  Monopolies are never good news for anyone in the long run.  Sure, your Apple device can run the Amazon Kindle app to let you read their eBooks on, but if Amazon succeed in knocking Apple out of the eBook business, an event admittedly looking unlikely right now, then I'm sure Apple would retaliate by ensuring the app doesn't run on their platform - if they can do it for their own mapping app...

The upshot is that Authors are not being well served by Amazon's restrictive trading actions and, in the long term it is likely that consumers will lose out too.  So the question at the top of the post is aimed at both the author readers and the consumers of eBooks alike.  Now I could boycott Amazon all on my own and in the unlikely event that Amazon noticed I doubt they would lose a nanosecond of sleep over it.  If ten, or even a hundred of us boycotted Amazon the result would likely be the same.  However, if a larger, significant number of authors suspended their books from the Amazon Kindle store, directing readers to Smashwords for those who need Kindle content, then they would.

And I'm not even talking about walking away, as I believe Amazon have an extremely important role to play in the eBook market.  But how about a bit of passive resistance?  How about we suspend our books for a week, the same week, starting and finishing the same day?  What could we expect to achieve, assuming enough took part, enough to make Amazon sit up and notice?

Well, I think parity on royalties with the rest of industry would be a start, as would not being tied to a minimum price.  I would also like to see Amazon sit down with Smashwords, as I'd like to distribute through just the one portal to as many eBook stores at once.  And ultimately I'd like to see Amazon change its views on exclusivity.  I won't sign up for their KDP Select program because I don't like anti-competitive measures - Amazon Prime would get the same boost from offering the eBook lending to subscribers without needing exclusivity at the same time. In fact, more authors would sign up, so their Prime customers would benefit too.

Shall we set a date?  Why not ask your author friends to comment.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Facing Up To Spam

It's a little ironic that I'm going to start this posting off by bad-mouthing social networking when the first to read it will have accessed it via a Twitter or Facebook link.  I guess that's just the way I roll.

I work with a varied bunch of technophobes and luddites who, collectively, struggle to CTRL-ALT-DEL to save their lives.  Most are still avoiding social networking because they believe it's what kids do, while one or two admit to dipping in and out of Facebook, probably to keep an eye on what their kids are doing.  Whatever happened to burying your head in the sand?

So, periodically I'm asked what is the purpose of social media?  More importantly, what's the difference between Facebook and Twitter?  Good question, here's the stock answer: Facebook exists to allow people to connect with family, friends and loose acquaintances past and present, to let them know you've just been for a crap.  Twitter, on the other hand, being more business orientated, allows you to connect to professionals around the globe you neither know nor are ever likely to meet, to let them know you've just had a plop.

I don't tell them the truth about Twitter, that would beg some awkward questions.  Because Twitter seems to be populated by people talking at each other.  I know,  because I'm one of them.  You can reply to Tweets, but the best it usually gets is ReTweeting - so now you're talking at everyone else what someone talked at you about.  Twitter call that a conversation.

Ultimately, although there are a lot of good and interesting Tweets on Twitter, most of what is out there could be described as spam.  I know, because essentially every time I Tweet that I've posted a new blog entry, I'm spamming.  Sorry.  No, I mean it.  No, I won't stop, because nobody would notice, and nobody else would follow my lead.  And being followed seems to be the main reason for Twitter accounts existing.  As an aside, am I the only one who finds the whole concept of being followed a little creepy?  Currently I'm being followed by @stalker and @madicepickkiller.  That can't be right.

So Facebook is friendlier, right?  Well, everyone you allow to see your posts are technically called friends, so by definition it must be.  And by and large most sensible grown ups limit  who can see their posts because they realise that their personal data should stay reasonably personal.  There are two main exceptions to this sensible approach: people like me who deliberately leave the account open to all and sundry, because it's a marketing strategy, not a social event.  And kids, plus any other vulnerable element of society who manages to stumble onto the network.  It's a bit rough that those most at risk probably have the worst defences, but that's the new information economy, I guess.

But, assuming you've done all the sensible things for your Facebook account and have even tailored the kids' accounts when they weren't looking you should be spam free on this network.  OK, you'll keep on finding out who got drunk again last night (it was me), who has just scored five million on narked birds (not me, I was too drunk to play) but in essence it's all people you don't mind hearing from, in theory anyway.

However Facebook want to change all of that.  Let's suppose you want to target a marketing email via Facebook at someone who has somehow managed to avoid responding to your Friend Request?  Or how about pestering that ex who unfriended you when you split up?  Well, it will cost you a dollar a Facebook address, but once you've coughed up you can carpet bomb their Facebook account until they decide to really unfriend you or, less likely, buy your product.  This they can do the first time you try it on, and to be honest, if they do than you've just blown a buck.  I suspect the ex is more likely to suss this one out sooner than the targeted recipient of your latest marketing scam, but of course they may not even realise they have a choice. Especially if they're now hanging out with the technophobes and luddites I work with.

Facebook say that making spammers pay for the privilege will reduce the total amount of spam emails.  Really?  They charge a dollar a throw for Facebook addresses and the spammers turn their collective backs on the essentially free if inaccurate email lists they thrive on?  No, they'll continue with the scatter-gun approach they always have while some may consider a more targeted approach as an additional way of hitting your inbox.

Nobody's pretending that Facebook is about social media - we all realise it's about making money while the rest of us use it for, well, whatever we choose to.  We may end up receiving emails and postings that we don't like but at least we can do something about that.  But, let's face it, we don't need another spam  channel.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

The Three Click Rule

Back in the day when I spent a lifetime implementing software solutions for industry there was a lot of focus on how many clicks should be used to reach a given software goal.  It is commonly believed to be a fact that website users will navigate away if they can't find what they are searching for within three clicks of the mouse.

In fact, while the concept is intuitively attractive, compelling even, there isn't any analytical evidence to support it.  The most relevant research suggests that the success of a search is more relevant - if after your three clicks you cannot see yourself getting anywhere near where you wanted to go then you will start to get disillusioned.

Anyway, regardless that the rule has no basis in fact, it has become a bit of a holy grail for some webpage designers.  While that may seem like a good thing, it does mean that some searches have to be unnecessarily blunt.

I mention this here because I've just read a message from Smashwords' CEO, Mark Coker.  He's excitedly reporting that since the 25th of this month - don't know if the date is relevant - there's been a massive uptick in sales of Smashword titles in the Apple iBookstore.  In fact sales are up by 76% on a week earlier, already much improved by 65% on the same week in 2011.  In fact, sales of Smashwords titles have rocketed from diddly-squat a couple of years ago to pretty impressive numbers.  It's probably not a surprise that Apple have taken to promoting Smashword originated titles in recent months.

In fact, the infamous top 100 sales lists and targeted promotions are probably the driving force behind these sales because, as I've mentioned in earlier blogs, it's devilishly difficult to look for books on any site, Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble et al.  If you have a whim to browse for a book, three clicks to find what you want is not only fantastic, it's virtually unthinkable.

But if Apple are making it easier for you by pushing lists of books that have shown promise or by featuring books they think may be good to read then that's got to help.  Amazon are at it too - I've mentioned their 'Deal of the Day' for Kindle books before.  It started off promising, then slid downhill for a while before picking up again.  In the last month they've been featuring at least three books a day in their daily email, often on a theme.  They featured ten in one mailing recently.  From what I read on the Kindle forums, the authors don't know they're going to feature or that their books are going to be discounted - it's probably in our terms and conditions next to the bit about our first-born, just ahead of the option to hand our soul over.

Anyway, apart from some tedious novels I've ended up wading through recently - perhaps it's just me that thinks listing every tool in a van in minute detail is a bit thorough when the author just wanted to let the reader know that the hero had some ad-hoc weapons to hand - I've ended up with some cracking reads for £0.99 - a Barry Eisler novel - 'The Detachment', 'Red Flags' by Juris Jurjevics and for the princely sum of £0.20, 'Zero Day' by David Baldacci.  All of these are currently selling on the UK Amazon kindle store for between £3 and £5.

Like the Apple books suggested to their customers, these books were suggested to me by Amazon.  As well as ticking my box for good quality but low price eBooks they saved me trawling through page after page of books on Amazon or Smashwords.  But it does mean I do miss out on the many good books that probably will never be listed as an Amazon deal of the day - my own books won't appear there at present as they are all priced at $0.99 or the Pound Sterling/Euro equivalent at all the eBook stores (apart from The Journeymen, the Sci-Fi thriller I'm giving away for free until New Years Day on Smashwords - see this link for details) as Amazon don't usually discount the 0.99 priced books.

But, as Mark Coker also mentions often, it's discoverabilty that drives eBook sales.  That's important for authors like me - you've found this blog entry and can now make a rational decision to look at my books or move on - but it's also important for readers, again like me.  Sure I want people to buy my books but also I want to find and buy other author's work as well.  Writing is one part of my enjoyment of books; reading is what rewards the most, though.  But trawling through page after page of books, dipping into blurb if a title or cover sparks an interest (what a terrible way to choose something to read) is a time-consuming and ultimately unrewarding way to search for books.

So I'm going to suggest something radical - the three click rule.  When you find a book worth reading at a price worth paying then choose three friends from your email list and send them links, a click apiece.  If we all do this on a regular basis then the better books will be discovered.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Where to get eBooks

Well, first of all, Merry Christmas.  If you've stumbled across this post on Christmas Day then it's probable that you've been given an eReader or maybe a tablet computer as a present and want to get into the eBook world.

For those of you not convinced that eBooks are a substitute for the printed variety then, for what it's worth, here is my view as a person who has been reading eBooks on a variety of devices for the last couple of years.  So, OK I'm a little bit biased as I sell my own novels as eBooks, but I'm also a consumer of the genre.  You'll have to persevere and try the eBooks out for yourself before you're fully convinced, but in my experience every person who has insisted that they didn't rate reading eBooks over print books had, with one exception, never tried reading eBooks.  Of those who have subsequently tried the eBook thing, they love it.  Sure, there's a tactile element to print books, as well as allergy inducing paper particles, but you try lugging a couple of dozen of books around with you all day long and you'll soon realise there are disadvantages to the paper versions.

But you're reading this because you've opened a package and found a Kindle or a Kobo, maybe a Nook, possibly a Google Nexus 7 or even an Apple iPad in one of the two variant sizes.  Where do you go next?

Well, if the device you have unwrapped is a dedicated eReading device then you are largely limited to the bookstore supporting it for your books - that is, for Amazon Kindle devices look at your local Amazon eStore for books, for Barnes & Noble Nook devices, the B & N store that serves your region and so on.  There is one other legitimate route for you (and the implication that there are illegitimate routes is intended - books can be obtained over the internet through eBay and other sales channels that imply they are free but many of them are illegal copies).  The legitimate alternative is  Smashwords - a US company that lets authors self publish through them non-exclusively and acts as an aggregator, a company that distributes those books to B&N, Kobo, Apple etc.  Not every book on Smashwords is distributed to the other bookstores - that's down to the author choosing whether or not to and then jumping though some technical hoops if they do choose to.  Anyway, Smashwords provides dedicated eReader owners with an alternative source of eBooks.  Downsides are that you'll have to download the correct format (Smashwords makes that very easy for you) onto your computer.  From there you'll have to drag the file onto your eReader by connecting it via a USB cable.  It may sound techno, but it isn't that hard to do.  The other downside to Smashwords  is that it does seem to attract a significant number of 'adult' books, some only a few thousand words long which technically makes them an essay.  You should be able to filter these books out if they're not your bag and by default Smashwords signs you up with a 'prude filter' engaged.

If you have just unwrapped a tablet computer and want to use it for reading eBooks, then your options are better than ever.  Sure, you can use the product store associated with the tablet, if it has one, such as the Apple iBookstore or Amazon store for the Kindle Fire family, as well as the Smashwords option - by the way, if you buy books for an iPad through them then the book pops into the iBookshelf as if it came from Apple.

But the better news is that pretty much all the major eBook sellers have their own eReading apps that you can download for free onto your tablet.  So, if you have just opened a Google Nexus you can download the Amazon Kindle app or the B&N app for it. Same goes for your Apple iPad and any other tablet computer. The one bookstore that doesn't seem to  let you do this is the Apple bookstore - if you don't have an Apple device you don't get access to their bookstore.So the world really is your oyster as this allows you to shop around a little and perhaps find books not listed on your device's bookstore but on someone else's.

Enjoy your new eReading device.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Apple case weakens

The rumbling court battle between Apple and, well anyone prepared to make a mobile phone or a tablet computer but mainly Samsung right now has hit a new stumbling block.

It's not the first stumbling block since Apple were awarded a paltry $1 billion in damages for alleged patent infringements  but it is a significant one.  You see, the basis of the argument is that Samsung infringed six specific patents.  Many hours of legal argument have been spent on this topic in three different countries with three different results, but the US result that awarded the eye watering fine is the most spectacular.

That result is being challenged at the moment because the Jury foreman at the trial is alleged to have failed to declare an incident that may have prejudiced his opinion about Samsung.  Apparently Seagate, a company Samsung bought into a year or so ago, dismissed the man about ten years earlier resulting in his bankruptcy.  From what I have read, the man wasn't asked a direct question that would have revealed the link, but that's one for the lawyers to work out for certain.

Then there are the two non-US court cases over the patents; the South Korean courts found that both Apple and Samsung had stolen ideas from each other and awarded each fairly trivial damages.  The UK high court, in a ruling that is applicable across the whole European Union, found no case to answer.  In fact, they forced Apple to make a statement on its UK website and in selected UK newspapers stating that no infringement had taken place, a statement Apple made eventually after some prodding from the court.

And now the US Patent Office have decided that at least one of the six patents Apple claim were infringed was not a unique patent, that is, there were earlier patents that covered the same ground.  Probably not identical, but close enough to demonstrate that it wasn't a unique idea.  The patent was for the  'pinch to zoom' feature that is popular in many smartphones and tablets, and increasingly used in crime dramas on oversized capacitance screens - like public law enforcement agencies can afford that level of technology in this current economy!

And the other patents?  Well, one appears to be around the concept of a rectangular shaped device with rounded corners.  I think Hershey or Cadbury could challenge that idea quite easily.  OK, they never used the shape on a mobile phone but they did make objects that shape that people wanted to put near their mouths and loved.  Certainly the UK courts weren't too supportive to Apple on this matter, stating that Apple's products were cooler than Samsung's, but not infringed.

And there was the App bounce-back that Apple use to show you've reached the last page of Apps.  Somewhere between Newton's Laws of Motion and Einstein's Theory of Relativity sits the model for a dimensionless, massless image travelling towards an implied theoretical wall.  Another failure to impress the UK courts, it seems.

This is probably a hiccup in this long running saga that doesn't give many clues to the ultimate outcome.  I suspect that by the time a final binding decision is made the technology being argued about will be as relevant as a Betamax recorder is today and $1 billion won't be enough to buy a round of coffees at Starbucks.  In fact, I suspect we're almost at that threshold right now.

At least, as far as the round at Starbucks is concerned.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

End of eBooks

Not the ones you download to read, but the devices you download them on to.

I've mentioned in quite a few posts in the last few months that I believe this is the year that dedicated eReader sales will peak and start a rapid decline.  It's not rocket science - the explosion of multi-function tablet computers are making the dedicated eReader obsolete.

The only real advantages of dedicated units are the battery life - up to two months between charges for some models - and the ability to be read in sunlight.  I think both advantages are worth having a dedicated eReader to hand, but I suspect the days of people paying significant amounts of money for these features are over.

But it seems that my gut instinct is off beam.  The potential decline in sales is obvious to anyone watching the increase in tablet sales, but the amount of new dedicated eReader models springing up over the last few months seems to suggest they have one last hurrah in them.  Apparently not. According to iSuppli Market Research, the decline has already begun.

It seems that dedicated eReader sales are on target to be 30% less than last year, down from 23 million devices in 2011 to just over 14 million this year.  Of course, this research is largely based on US trends which are currently running at about 18 months ahead of UK trends, so the uptick in dedicated eReaders I'm seeing over here may still translate to a good few sales.  Having said that, the push for tablets is relentless as we approach the Christmas season over here, so perhaps we'll see a lot of basic Kindles, Nooks and Kobos in the sales.

My advice, if it is the case that a lot of these end up at sale price, is to pick one up if you haven't already got one.  Even if you have a tablet, which you would almost certainly use for reading eBooks on anyway, the dedicated eReaders do have those two advantages mentioned already.

So, the days of the dedicated eReader are numbered.  It was a short but fabulous journey. However the days of the eBooks that they host have only just begun.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!