Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Interesting Things Going Down at #dbw11



Just an update for those of you interested in what's being said about the Digital Book World conference in New York this week.  A lot of to do about eBooks and of course, Google's growing market share in that field.  


Future Book.net has a list of Google eBook's bestsellers. No surprises there with romance as the top selling genre. It seems to be mimicking the NYT bestseller list. That makes the whole, "eBook customers and brick-and-mortar customers are two different species" argument a tad more interesting.  Are they?


The guy speaking at the conference from Goldman Sachs actually called brick and mortar booksellers an investment to steer clear of...ouch.  One thing that came out is the belief that indie booksellers can find a niche in the rapidly shifting market. I still love bookstores. I'm not giving up on them just yet.


This coming after hearing that 80% of Amazon's books are sold at cost. They're more interested in growing their market share than making money right now...pretty smart business move, actually.


Speculation at the conference on whether or not the prediction that multi-device homes are as common as we think.  I read books on my Droid, my PC, and in book form.  My husband wants a Kindle. I guess its not that uncommon after all. Still, most trade paper purchases are made by women...does that mean men are the eBook customer to court?   


If you're interested in following what's going on and what's being said at the Digital Book World conference, follow the hashtag (#dbw11) on Twitter.  


Until next time...Go Write!
Photograph Enkhtuvshin's 40D..