Re: Kindle (question for Mason)
reduced production costs - reduced royalties, greatly increased per-book printing costs because print orders shrink
more profit for the publisher- a few hundred dollars at most isn't worth the money, sales will be minimal.
greater market share wont barely change the market share. It will help in market perception however. Then of course there is the problem of greater intellectual property theft
easier to update and correct it would be a bad business practice to update and correct a e-book but not the printed version
quicker to market coming to market first with an e-book before a printed version of a book would be financial suicide
reach younger audience I don't think thats a concern. also the target demographics for the Kindle are not young at all, they are aiming it at late 20 somethings on the low end. 18-21 year old kids generally can't afford it
interactive features (quizes, etc.) good for the future, bad to impliment now
can display larger characters for visually disabled the viaually disabled are not a target market for 2+2
multimedia features (video clips, etc.) not at the prices the e-books will be sold, thats giving away the farm and the horse at the same time for a company like 2+2. They should someday start producing videos, and they should charge separately for them
easy to store (for those of us with overflowing bookshelves)[b]did you notice that ALL of your reasons were from the consumer POV? there was no incentive for a publisher to change except to make consumers happy because they have another choice. Now I am pro-e-book, I'm a firm beliver in e-paper's luminous qualities and the eventual decrease in paper consumption however there is no business incentive to be first to market for a company like 2+2. Mason's best strategy is to wait until critical mass starts to hit. Additionally he would have to renegotiate with all of 2+2's authors since this format wasn't in their original contracts (this is an assumption of mine, I haven't read the author contracts of course).
The #1 reason to enter the e-book market: EGO & PERCEPTION. It feels good to do something new, be first to market, and be perceived as being first to market. But the benefits are far outweighed by the disadvantages at this stage for 2+2, it would be a bad business decision if 2+2 started producing e-books right now.
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