Amazon now lets people publish their blogs on Kindle so that Kindle users can subscribe for a fee. A few of the SFF blogs I follow (such as SF Signal and Grasping for the Wind – who has a good write-up about it) have set it up. The blog owner gets 30% of the proceeds with the rest to Kindle – I believe the fee is on the order of a couple of bucks a month, so proceeds are very modest unless a blog has a large number of subscribers.
So, what are your thoughts on this? Should I set up Neth Space for this service – would any of you actually subscribe? I can’t ever see me making much money, so it wouldn’t be about the money but about giving my readers more ways to easily read this blog.
But, I’m not really a fan of the Kindle. Not only am I just not ready to embrace e-readers yet, but the Kindle uses proprietary format and Kindle e-books can’t be read by other e-readers (such as Sony). As long as this is the case, I won’t consider purchasing one myself – but should I allow this stance to keep me from publishing my blog for Kindle. If no one out there would subscribe anyway, then it doesn’t matter, but if there people interested, I’ll consider it. So, let me know your thoughts – would you pay money to read this blog on a Kindle when it’s free here? Do people believe that this is a good additional form of blog promotion for getting new readers? How many of my regular readers actually own a Kindle? I’m guessing a fairly low percentage that probably works out to numbers that can be counted on my hands and feet.
So, what are your thoughts on this? Should I set up Neth Space for this service – would any of you actually subscribe? I can’t ever see me making much money, so it wouldn’t be about the money but about giving my readers more ways to easily read this blog.
But, I’m not really a fan of the Kindle. Not only am I just not ready to embrace e-readers yet, but the Kindle uses proprietary format and Kindle e-books can’t be read by other e-readers (such as Sony). As long as this is the case, I won’t consider purchasing one myself – but should I allow this stance to keep me from publishing my blog for Kindle. If no one out there would subscribe anyway, then it doesn’t matter, but if there people interested, I’ll consider it. So, let me know your thoughts – would you pay money to read this blog on a Kindle when it’s free here? Do people believe that this is a good additional form of blog promotion for getting new readers? How many of my regular readers actually own a Kindle? I’m guessing a fairly low percentage that probably works out to numbers that can be counted on my hands and feet.
9 comments:
I think you will get different answers.
First of all I don't like e-reader.
And why should I pay for content which I can get for free.
That means for me it doesn't matter as long as your blog is available in internet.
It's a load of shit.
No one should pay money to read A Dribble of Ink. There's no reason Amazon has to charge for what amount to an RSS reader.
~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink
There are several points here:
1: Regarding paying for blogs - totally second Aidan's comment
There is free software - calibre - that properly used can take any rss thingy and make a nice e-file, whatever you wish (epub for Stanza, mobi for Kindle - this may require one extra step since Calibre has beta Mobi support for now, lrf for Sony)
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/wiki/Features
Kovi the author has code for NYT and lots and lots of popular sites and it's easy to use, can even schedule it to update auto, you can figure out how to set code for your favorite site so it gets precisely what you want...
I used it a while ago when I had in laws visiting to get them several Romanian language newspapers every day on a reader (eBookwise then) so they did not have to use a pc they had a hard time with, but still could read their favorite newspapers
2. Kindle books can be bought without a kindle but with an iTouch/iPhone and read there; it is said that with a bit of tweaking and some DMCA illegal software that can be googled they can be easily decrypted and read anywhere - don't know, don't ask, just Google
3. I would not pay for free content either but it's very convenient to have stuff ready for you every morning, just one click away from your device like Kindle or iTouch - or one device upload if you have a Sony like me
Amazon essentially charges for the convenience not for the content per se
It boils down to one thing: I very much doubt enough of your readers HAVE a Kindle in the first place, so no, it's not worth it.
As for me personally, even if I had a Kindle, I wouldn't pay to read something also available for free on my PC.
hmm...my opinion isn't as harsh as some of those here - when convinience is involve, I'm willing to pay a bit for it if I determine it's worth it, so I can imagine someone determing that that convinience of reading blogs on an e-reader is worth the cost.
Not that I'd pay for it myself at this time.
The price right now seems a bit high and the 70% that Amazon takes seems way too high.
-Liviu, thanks for the other options. It looks like if someone has a bit of skills and the desire they can set all this up for free.
thanks for the thoughts - keep 'em coming. So far, I'm not seeing any reason to sign up for Kindle blog service.
The ONLY reason why I would ever consider this would not be for the convenience of my current readership. I mean obviously they already read the blog on their PC.
Nope, to be perfectly honest here, it would be for exposure to a new audience. However, I have no idea what, if any, good this would do. Will there be a directory of some type? I've heard that searching for the blogs that have already signed up is difficult and those folks knew what they were searching for.
I'm taking a wait and see stance. If Amazon does put some kind of easy to browse blog directory in place, then sure, I'll let them pay me 30% while they promote my blog. Meanwhile, I'm not paying them 70% to use my free content.
To be honest, if I could offer WISB free for the Kindle, I would. It's not even about making money to me, I just want my blog to be an option for folks who are on the go and more likely to be reading through eBook readers.
My only hope with the Kindle is to perhaps find a few new readers. If I make a dollar, whatever. If it was an option to charge $0 for it, well, then I would, but unfortunately Amazon has to make something off distributing my content through their network...
Interesting reading.
Kindle Publishing for Blogs: A Double-Edged Sword for Bookish Bloggers?
thanks Mullane - that was an intersting read. Definately still leaning towards not doing it.
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