I find this idea to be fascinating. It feels almost like the book industry is replicating the changes in the music industry. Ex: Music Albums --> the advent of Mp3's --> iTunes --> Widespread adoption of listening to single songs as opposed to entire CD albums
Whereas in the book industry it goes from paperback books to ebooks and now to the demarcation of popular segments of a book. I wonder if this will lead to people exchanging these "quick reads" with others like how people talk about favorite songs. What do you guys think?
3 comments:
This is interesting, although a bit scary. This may create a system where authors are under pressure to produce short commercial 'soundbites' rather than long and deep novels.
I find it quite difficult to believe that this will be overwhelmingly successful. The only advantage I see for possible customers is the lower price. But in my opinion reading a book costs a lot more than you might think. First there are of course the costs for the book itself, second it "costs" concentration to read a book and third you'll face opportunity costs. Instead of reading a book or even a short novel, which will take you a significant amount of time, you could work and earn money or meet with friends. I think the actual buying costs of a book are just a small part of the total costs compared to the other ones I mentioned. As a result I think people would prefer buying a whole book (prizes for most books are already low, if you consider how long they can keep you busy or entertained).
The comparison with MP3s I found a little inappropriate. Music is something you consume passively, reading on the contrary is an activity. You actually have to do something - namely use your brain. And it also makes a huge difference if I pay $1 for a song on iTunes (which is 3 minutes long and will be replayed at a decreasing frequency) or if I pay $3 for a short story that takes me 2 hours to read.
I see this idea almost as a marketing tool. It's just like ideas about creating "buzz." Just like you share a video or a link to a website, this is like the middleman link to a book. You have someone's reference about a book but then also a blurp about it- hopefully it will lead the person feeling intrigued enough to go buy the book because he/she has a recommendation but also proof or a personal account with it. Correct me if I'm wrong here-I just took it from a marketing point of view in comparison with what social media does, but I may be totally off in regards to what this site was meant for.
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