View From the Publishing Trenches

Yesterday, I took aim at Amazon’s big news — the pending release of the new Kindle 2. I said it seemed like a minor evolution at best. Today, I discuss the things Kindle 2 SHOULD have fixed.

What’s Missing #1: No ePub support. Are there any people at Amazon with actual book publishing, or even e-book reading, experience…or all they all just techo-geeks building solutions in search of a problem? ePub is the future of the e-book, at least for the near future. Get with it Amazon. Open Kindle up to ePub with firmware updates.

What’s Missing #2: No native PDF support. Of course, this leads to another inherent problem — only one supported font and, even that, is only supported partially. Kindle needs to be able to take a PDF file directly and display it, even if that mean we can’t reflow the text when zooming. The current method of emailing a PDF to your Kindle results in less-than-desirable results and is not available at all to those of us not in the Whispernet coverage area.

Like I said yesterday, it is simply a lie that you can download to your Kindle “anytime, anywhere” via the Whispernet wireless service. Apparently, Amazon wants to sweep the truth under the carpet of hoopla. Fix it, Amazon…or stop spouting this lie.

What’s Missing #3: Optional DRM. Many of us publishers do not believe that DRM is worthwhile. It also irritates a lot of our customers. So, why not make DRM-free Kindle books an option for those of us who prefer that?

What’s Missing #4: Free sampling for those without access to Whispernet. That’s right, folks. If you can only get your Kindle books via the computer-USB-Kindle, you cannot use the free sample feature. That is dumb. I should be able to download the free sample the same way I download the whole book.  I have passed over many books I might have bought because I wasn’t willing to risk the full price of the complete Kindle book  (particularly when that full price is $9.99).

Which leads me to…

What’s Missing #5: Publisher-selected free samples. Rather than just handing out the first portion of the book as a free sample, Amazon should let the publisher decide how much and what portion is offered free. Mobipocket allows this (and Amazon owns Mobipocket).

As I’ve said many times, the Amazon Kindle is a great device. I really like mine and use it a lot. But Amazon has missed the boat on its true potential.

Cut the price drastically. Open it up to ePub and native PDF. Push publishers to cut the prices on Kindle books. Patch the holes in the Whispernet network.

Kindle could truly dominate the e=book market, but not if Amazon remains locked into its limited view of e-books and those who read them.

What do you think?