In perusing my kindlefeeder report this morning I came across two very interesting blog posts, about the same topic. Apparently the New York Times (not dead yet?) had an article about the Kindle and essentially literary snobbery. Here’s Joe’s thoughts, and CJ’s.
I hereby put not only the NYT, which is fighting against time for it’s own life, but the author (JOANNE KAUFMAN) of yet another (basically) ‘progress is ruining it!’ article on blast. GET OVER YOURSELVES.
I’m the first to admit, I have very strong elitist tendencies, and my mac snobbery knows few bounds. That said though, I don’t care who sees me with what book, and I carry my Mac as proudly (though with only one arm, not two) as I did my Dell.
The Kindle
That’s just how it works. There’s also not a stable in my back yard, not a store room of candles, or a cellar with huge blocks of ice.
Tom mentioned this when we got our Kindle
Sara Nelson is clearly to entrenched in her own world to really appreciate what consumers want, this quote clearly illustrates that.
“It’s really expensive,” she said of the Kindle 2, which Amazon sells for $359. “If you’re going to pay that, you’re giving a statement to the world that you like to read — and you’re probably not using it to read a mass market paperback.”
So let’s think about this from two perspectives; 1. the best selling list from Amazon. While not yet Mass Market Paperbacks the teen vampire series is clearly (no offense) not Tolkien or Dostoevsky or even King, and while I’m sure the NeoCons are loving their manifesto, it’s certainly not going to be a classic. 2. let’s look at my my Kindle. Two mass Market Paperbacks, a business book, KindleFeeder report, and the collected works of Poe, oh and the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (cuz you know, I’m a kid at heart, and my girl Beatrix rocked). So while I’m sure Ms. Nelson only has the classics from the most famous writers on her Kindle, the rest of us are either putting what we’d normally carry, or putting what we’d be embarrassed to carry on ours.
Oh and don’t worry Anne Fadiman, your book won’t be requested on the Kindle
TO some book lovers and editors, there are myriad reasons to deplore the Kindle. Publishers will no longer get the bump that comes when travelers see someone reading, say, the latest James Patterson and say to themselves: “I’ve been meaning to get that. I think I’ll buy a copy at Hudson News before I hop on the train.”
Joe poked fun at this line and I’m going to too. It’s retarded! Who does that? Who is so simple minded and forgetful, that while waiting for a train (something they do every day) they see a book in someone’s hand and it flips a switch in their brain that today is the day they need to buy that book?
How’s this scenario, which is enabled by the kindle. You’re at that same train station and realize you finished your book last night on the way home. You either a, have other books ready to be read, already on your Kindle, or b, you fire up the Kindle store (conveniently on the Kindle) and browse and purchase a new book, that is on your device in a minute or two.
There have have been plenty of times I’ve been at an airport (coming or going) and realized that the book I brought I was almost finished with, or I finish it my first night in the hotel. Books are awesome but heavy so packing spares and back ups is not something I enjoy doing, in the off chance I’ll finish the one I’m reading. Schlepping dead tree around sucks.
In reading the article it reinforces for me the (as with the music industry) fucked up nature of publishing. Publishers and Authors alike, can’t stop being reactionary and freaking out for one minute, to realize that (just like the iPod) the Kindle is going to reinvigorate people to read, and boost sales.
And services like KindleFeeder and (to pimp my own stuff) 360Whisperings, will be the wave of the future, offering just what you want in a portable format that doesn’t waste paper!
