Digital publishing continued to rock the traditional publishing paradigm in 2011, showing no signs of slowing down. According to Mediabistro, the Association of American Publishers reports that eBook sales rose 160% for the first half of this year alone. Amazon.com’s Kindle eBook sales have also left print books in the dust. The Wall Street Journal states that eBook sales could comprise as much as 20%-25% of the total book market by 2012. In that same vein, Mashable.com reports that eBook sales are expected to reach $ 9.7 billion – yes, with a B – by 2016. As eReaders become more affordable and ubiquitous, digital publishing has made the publishing process more egalitarian. Mainstream authors like Barry Eisler have eschewed a traditional publishing deal in favor of digital self-publishing. The revolution may not be televised, but it just might be coming to an e-Reader near you. The question is who will lead this revolution?
In 2011, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, hailed as the uber technology visionary, died of pancreatic cancer. According to Walter Issacson, who wrote Jobs’ wildly successful authorized biography, Jobs had revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. With his Apple stores, Jobs, according to Issacson, reimagined the retail store. Jobs’ impact on the publishing industry, just as his contribution to revitalizing the music industry, is unassailable. With Jobs no longer among us, however, the question remains: who will build on the foundation that he laid and revolutionize publishing?
Many vie for the position as revolutionary. In a June 2011 article, the Wall Street Journal anointed eight contenders – from Jeff Bezos, Founder, President, and CEO of Amazon.com; to Bob Young, Founder and CEO of Lulu.com; to Mark Coker, Founder and CEO of Smashwords; and Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch. As 2011 year unfolded, however, Bezos of Amazon.com looked like the clear winner. Here’s why:
Amazon.com’s existing retail infrastructure: With its network of global websites and third-party sellers, Amazon.com is truly a world-class e-tailer. The products and services that Amazon can offer its worldwide customer base are multitudinous, varied, and easily accessible. This included books and eBooks. From its humble beginnings in 1995 in a Seattle-area garage, Amazon.com has literally gone global.
Kindle and Kindle Fire: Since its debut in 2007, Kindle has emerged as the king of eReaders. Other eReaders, like Barnes & Noble’s NOOK, are close on Kindle’s heels, but no joy yet. The drastic reduction in the price of a Kindle over the past four years has only helped to increase its ubiquity. Amazon.com crows that “Kindle is now the #1 bestselling product in the history of Amazon and is also the most wished for, the most gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon.” Kindle apps also allow Amazon customers to access their Kindle purchases on the most common platforms and devices. Kindle Fire, Amazon.com’s foray into tablet computing, has only upped the ante, providing a portable portal to everything that Amazon has to offer – books, streaming music and video, cloud computing, etc. At $199, Kindle Fire has been called the People’s Tablet, in that its price point makes it way more accessible that the iPad 2, which starts at $499. Even though customers report problems with Kindle Fire, technology gurus still agree that, as a budget tablet, it does the job.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and CreateSpace: Amazon.com makes self-publishing practically effortless. Authors can upload their books to the Amazon Kindle store for free, with up to a 70/30 royalty split. The eBooks are accessible through Kindle, as well as through popular devices and platforms, like iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. Authors wanting to self-publish physical books may use CreateSpace, Amazon.com’s print-on-demand platform.
Amazon Publishing: Bezos recently threw traditional publishing in a tizzy but starting up his own publishing house, boasting five imprints. He’s snagged talent from industry heavyweight Laurence Kischbaum to editors at the senior level like Kelli Martin. Amazon Publishing has also paid $800,000 for actor/director Penny Marshall’s memoirs. As the New York Times quite aptly put it, Amazon is signing up authors and writing traditional publishers out of the deal.
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest: Bezos shows that he can also play nice with traditional publishing. Since 2008, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award introduced writers to reviewers and select publishing industry experts in order to find fresh new fiction. Two grand prize winners – one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction – receive a publishing contract with Big Six publisher Penguin, as well as a $15,000 advance.
For all the reasons above, the DC Publishing Industry Examiner predicts that Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com will take publishing to the stratospheric level in 2012 – just like Steve Jobs did for a music industry that was dying on the vine. For those skeptical of this prediction, here’s a mere sampling of other experts who weighed in:
Daily Finance: "Is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos the next Steve Jobs?"
CNN: "Why Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the next Steve Jobs"
Gizmodo: "Jeff Bezos is the new Steve Jobs"
The Atlantic Wire: Techies All Agree. Jeff Bezos = Steve Jobs
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