Kindle and other random book thoughts
I first learned about Amazon's Kindle through Techcrunch, and my first thought was.. this has got to be a joke. $400??!! Black and white??!! An electronic book reading device???. $10 a book??? Pay for subscriptions to newspapers and blogs that I can get on the Internet for free??? Why would anyone pay for this?
Ok, so it's got a nice form factor. It's connected to the Sprint EVDO network (which being a Sprint broadband cellular subscriber, I know is very fast), and there's no monthly service charge. However, that's not compelling enough for me. Knock it down to $100, and maybe I'll consider it.
What would be really interesting was if Amazon opened up some API's so that other applications could be written as virtual Kindle's, e.g. I'd like an application that could go on my iPod touch, or better yet my laptop so I could read books on my 1 hour ferry ride. Sony PSP anyone? These applications could download the books in the background (a la Windows updates). It could have the same "features" of the Kindle, sans form factor.
While I'm on the subject of books, it occurred to me the other day that there is still a great demand for Harry Potter stories. If I were J.K. Rowling, I'd take the same approach as George Lucas took with the Star Wars universe. He basically allowed other authors to write tangential stories about characters in the Star Wars. With all Star Wars books, George Lucas had the final word on whether or not the book got published. As long as the stories stayed consistent with the franchise i.e. enhanced the universe without contradicting any of the movies and provided good entertainment, the book was published. Showing my geeky side here, but the X-Wing series, the Han Solo trilogy, and the Darth Maul books were highly entertaining.
I think J.K. Rowling should do the same. Not that she needs more money, but I'd bet there would be a high demand for other stories in the Harry Potter world contributed by other authors. Off the top of my head, several stories could be written, such as the history of Hogwarts, Deatheater chronicles, or even stories about the other schools and their students. As long as Ms. Rowling had the editorial control and final say, it would probably do very well.
Ok, so it's got a nice form factor. It's connected to the Sprint EVDO network (which being a Sprint broadband cellular subscriber, I know is very fast), and there's no monthly service charge. However, that's not compelling enough for me. Knock it down to $100, and maybe I'll consider it.
What would be really interesting was if Amazon opened up some API's so that other applications could be written as virtual Kindle's, e.g. I'd like an application that could go on my iPod touch, or better yet my laptop so I could read books on my 1 hour ferry ride. Sony PSP anyone? These applications could download the books in the background (a la Windows updates). It could have the same "features" of the Kindle, sans form factor.
While I'm on the subject of books, it occurred to me the other day that there is still a great demand for Harry Potter stories. If I were J.K. Rowling, I'd take the same approach as George Lucas took with the Star Wars universe. He basically allowed other authors to write tangential stories about characters in the Star Wars. With all Star Wars books, George Lucas had the final word on whether or not the book got published. As long as the stories stayed consistent with the franchise i.e. enhanced the universe without contradicting any of the movies and provided good entertainment, the book was published. Showing my geeky side here, but the X-Wing series, the Han Solo trilogy, and the Darth Maul books were highly entertaining.
I think J.K. Rowling should do the same. Not that she needs more money, but I'd bet there would be a high demand for other stories in the Harry Potter world contributed by other authors. Off the top of my head, several stories could be written, such as the history of Hogwarts, Deatheater chronicles, or even stories about the other schools and their students. As long as Ms. Rowling had the editorial control and final say, it would probably do very well.
I had the same impression of Kindle when I heard about it. $400 for an electronic reader??? It doesn't even look that cool. It would make sense to sell the reader dirt cheap and try to make money from the content, like HP selling cheap printers and making money on ink and toner.
I read an interview with JKR before Deathly Hallows came out saying that she would consider killing Harry so that no one else can write a sequel. (Of course, she *did* kill him, but that's another thread.) She said some other things, all to the tone of being protective of her franchise and not wanting anyone else to write about Harry Potter. I'd like to see more books about the HP universe, but for now, we'll have to wait for JKR to write them. Have you read "Quidditch Through the Ages" or "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"?
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