I love my Kindle. My reading pace has increased by two and a half to three times since Suzie gave the reading device to me for my birthday in February. You can change to a larger font or fewer words to a line, which comes in handy when you have tired eyes. My favorite feature is text-to-speech which enables the Kindle to read to me in a computer voice. It allows me to progress through my book of the moment when I am getting ready for work or driving in my car. As I have told Suzie numerous times since I hit three score years, my Kindle is one of the most treasured possessions I have ever had.
Kindling, though a joyful experience, is not grumble-free. Shortly after I became a Kindler, Apple started cutting its deals with the major publishers in anticipation of its rollout of the iPad. Amazon had been keeping a cap on the price of e-books at $9.99. It was loss-leader pricing, as they were paying the publishers about $12.50 for books so capped. The Apple pricing model generally capped them at $14.99 with nearly $10.50 passing to the publisher. A majority of major publishers, wanting to maintain more control over pricing and hoping to prevent cannibalization of hardcover sales, would rather take $2.00 less per book. Amazon capitulated after an almost indiscernable holdout.
Another tactic some publishers are using to protect their hardcover sales is to delay the rollout of the Kindle version of their new releases. I don’t like that. Neither do I like the fact that some Kindle users are giving one-star Amazon ratings to books so delayed. That penalizes the author and potential buyers, and they are not the problem.
The text-to-speech feature is disabled for many books offered for sale at Amazon’s Kindle Store. This is another ill-conceived publisher tactic intended to punish that part of the public evil enough to actually purchase these reading devices that have so inconveniently upset their comfy status quo.
Here are a few points I believe the publishers should consider:
• I might not be the only Kindle user who is buying two and a half to three times as many books as before.
• My Kindle copy of a book cannot be endlessly shared with every friend and relative I have as can Joe Blow’s version in hard cover.
• I will not buy a book for which the text-to-speech feature is disabled. This self-inflicted punishment yet necessary marketplace vote will be waived for books by Pat Conroy, Greg Iles, and John Grisham.
• My desire to bridge my reading sessions with text-to-speech listens is just that: a bridge. It does not mean that I am stupid enough to purchase a $40.00 unabridged audio book for this purpose.
• I do listen to audio books. I get them for free from the library.
• The pricing thing on top of the delayed releases on top of disabling the text-to-speech feature is overkill. Be nice to your Kindle customers. We might just be your future.
