E-Reads™ is
...a trail-blazing reprinter of out-of-print genre and general fiction and nonfiction by leading authors. Our books are available in all e-book formats and paperback. Read the latest publishing news and provocative blogs by top commentators in the traditional and digital publishing fields.
Thin Air
George E. Simpson
It's a mystery that dates back to World War II--what happened to the USS Sturman and its crew. For Naval Investigator Nicholas Hammond, the search will challenge him…and the answers will, like bodies floa...
Shadow of Ashland
Terence M. Green
“THE BOOK YOU HAVE TO READ”–Entertainment Weekly
"Things have to be settled, or they never go away."
Only weeks before she dies in March, 1984, Leo Nolan’s mother shows her son a rose she says w...
The Longest Way Home
Robert Silverberg
"What wonders and adventures he has to tell us," is how Ursula K. LeGuin characterized the world of Robert Silverberg, and in The Longest Way Home, he takes readers on another dazzling odyssey.
Joseph, jus...
Marriage Is a Bad Habit
Ruth Dickson
When Ruth Dickson released her 1967 book MARRIED MEN MAKE THE BEST LOVERS, it went off like a bombshell. Defenders of the “sanctity” of marriage rose up to dismiss her frank, innovative, thoroughly resear...
Orion's Dagger
Paula Downing King
With ORION’S DAGGER, Paula E. Downing presents the thrilling final installment of THE CLOUDSHIPS OF ORION trilogy, which Starlog magazine called “special...a thoroughly engrossing story.” The trio wa...
Fair Warning
George E. Simpson
America is set to finally end World War II with a devastating act--dropping the atomic bomb over Japan. But what if a secret mission was set in place to alter the course of history? In this fast-paced, and i...
Rogues of the Black Fury
Travis Heermann
When a band of shadowy fanatics abducts Javin Wollstone’s little sister, Bella, from his care, his only hope to bring her home is turning to a hard-bitten band of special warriors, the Black Furies, led by C...
The Sudden Star
Pamela Sargent
The appearance of a white star bathing the world in a deadly glare turns Earth into a nightmare of fear and death. Rape and murder are as common as suicide. Medical help is allowed only for certain diseases, a...
Philosophy and the Challenge of the Future
John Lange
The sciences, as opposed to politics and religion, have their roots in philosophy. Philosophy has been spoken of as the mother of the sciences, although she is, in many cases, more of a grandmother or grea...
The Man in the Moon Must Die
Jeff Bredenberg
What do a cunning old man, a code-slopper gone rogue, a pair of lowlife tech-runners, a sexually frustrated AI, and a hermaphrodite underworld boss have in common? They're all out to get Benito Funcitti, ow...
FEATURED TITLES
Eagles Cry Blood
Donald E. Zlotnik
While too many soldiers are fighting for the brass in the midst of the bloody Vietnam battles, Lt. Paul Bourne is compelled to fight the enemy for his country’s freedom. But when he comes up against his capt...
Died Blonde
Nancy J. Cohen
There's no love lost between Marla and Carolyn Sutton. Carolyn has never forgiven Marla for leaving Hairstyle Heaven to open her own place, especially since Marla's clientele grew as Carolyn's faded away. Ca...
Embrace and Conquer
Jennifer Blake
Young and beautiful Felicite is the toast of New Orleans, her kindness and virtue an example to other young women. Daughter of an outlaw merchant, sister to the dangerously handsome swash-buckler Valcour Murat...
Mastering the Business of Writing
Richard Curtis
One of the most comprehensive guides currently on the market, MASTERING THE BUSINESS OF WRITING is an insider's guide to the business of being a professional writer. All aspects of the publishing industry ar...
The Silver Horse
Elizabeth A. Lynn
Seeing the Silver Horse as a cute toy, Susannah gives it to her brother, Niall, as a present. One night Susannah awakens and finds neither her brother nor the Silver Horse; racing to the park, she sees her brot...
The Face in the Frost
John Bellairs
THE FACE IN THE FROST is a fantasy classic, defying categorization with its richly imaginative story of two separate kingdoms of wizards, stymied by a power that is beyond their control. A tall, skinny misf...
Shanji
James C. Glass
On the planet Shanji, a ruthless Emperor rules a subjugated people. Kati, raised by the lower caste Tumatsin, is taken captive by the Emperor's troops, but saved by The Searchers, who see her as the promise...
2001 Things To Do Before You Die
Dane Sherwood
Bestselling author Dane Sherwood is back with an astounding list of 2,001 things you always wanted to experience but never took time to live through. From taking a cross-country train ride to sending a m...
Royal Seduction
Jennifer Blake
Angeline’s virtue was intact before she met the prince of Ruthenia...before he mistook her for her cousin, his brother’s mistress and the only witness to his murder...before he exacted his punishment for k...
Highland Angel
Hannah Howell
Sir Payton Murray's reputation as a lover is rivaled only by his prowess with the sword, yet it is the latter gift that has captured the interest of Kirstie MacLye. Fleeing a murderous husband who left her for...
Ratha's Courage
Clare Bell
"Screeching in pain and terror, the rogues backed off, but they didn't flee like the Un-Named raiders did. Something seemed to force them back into the fray, making them ignore their fright and their agony...
The Border Men
Cameron Judd
From one of the strongest voices in frontier fiction, THE BORDER MEN is a bold novel of revolution, adventure, and the spirit of the American pioneers. Cameron Judd tells the compelling story of proud men a...
Survivor
William W. Johnstone
In a book that forms a coda to William W. Johnstone's "Ashes" series, Jim LaDoux, the grandson of the legendary General Ben Raines has seen his grandfather, and the last of his family, die in the beginnings of...
Explorers of Gor
John Norman
This enchanting escapade is the most important quest of Tarl Cabot's career. He must retrieve a potent shield ring from a strange explorer. It is imperative that the omnipotent Priest Kings obtain this ring...
Aspen Gold
Janet Dailey
Kit Masters, born and brought up on an Aspen ranch, left to pursue an acting career in Hollywood but she is a woman with a strong sense of family, loyalty, and integrity and had deep ties to the land where ...
Castle for Rent
John DeChancie
Who will claim the throne now that Lord Incarnadine, King of the Realms Perilous, is dead? Under a mysterious spell cast by a mischief-maker, all of Castle Perilous's 144,000 creatures of curiosity clamor f...
King Gillette lives! The spirit of the mogul, who transformed product marketing by giving away the razor and selling the blades, hovered over Amazon’s press conference unveiling the big-screen Kindle DX. There, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pledged to subsidize the full price of the jumbo reading device for subscribers committing to long-term subscriptions. The retail price of the DX is $489.00.
We did a little research and learned that a daily subscription to the Times in our area of Manhattan will cost $5.30 per week at current rates. At that rate, we would have to enlist for one year and forty weeks.*
It’s not a bad deal for subscribers – you end up with a Kindle that you can use for many other things besides reading the newspaper. But is it a good one for the Times? Gawker, the snarky media website, doesn’t think so. In fact, Gawker doesn’t think so at all. The site’s Owen Thomas thinks Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos “has managed to scare the press lords into shelling out their precious remaining cash into funding the distribution of his pricey e-reader…” and “…he’s cajoled the gullible likes of Sulzberger into handing him a pile of cash.”
“If he’s such a big believer in supporting journalism,” asks Thomas, “why didn’t Bezos announce he was personally giving away 160,000 Kindles to people who agreed to sign up for a newspaper subscription?”
Well, maybe Bezos never heard of King Gillette.
Read A Bigger Kindle Makes Jeff Bezos Richer and Newspapers Poorer.
RC
*(Of course, the Times would get a discount for buying Kindles in volume; on the other hand, subscribers who commit to long-term subscriptions also get discounts, so the two discounts wash each other out.)
King Gillette lives! The spirit of the mogul, who transformed product marketing by giving away the razor and selling the blades, hovered over Amazon’s press conference unveiling the big-screen Kindle DX. There, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pledged to subsidize the full price of the jumbo reading device for subscribers committing to long-term subscriptions. The retail price of the DX is $489.00.
I don't think anybody involved in this deal is doing anything but smart thinking, and it's a shame Gawker isn't giving kudos to the NY Times for being this forward thinking with its initiative in the arena. This new subscription deal is better than anything iRex has done in the European market. Bezos certainly didn't have to pull the wool over anyone, let alone Sulzberger or readers. We all know newspapers are going digital, period. It's good news for everyone except paper manufacturers.
First of all, the cost of printing the paper and distributing was already being subsidized by the Times for subscribers. Digital distribution gives newspapers like the Times a better ratio for using subscription income to pay for content once they have an infrastructure like the Kindle DX in place. As advertising revenue eventually shifts to digital, this seems like the safest route to build a future revenue base, especially outside of NYC. I'll bet that the offset cost of the Kindle DX will be more profitable to the NY Times in the long run because of increasing print costs and diminishing print ad revenue.
Earnest subscribed readers who are willing to commit to digital distribution on the Kindle DX over their old paper editions are gaining a Kindle and potentially losing hundred of pounds of printed paper that just goes out with the recycling at the end of the week. And while committing for a long term subscription might seem intimidating at first, it's no different than committing to AT&T for 2 years while you use your iPhone. Or "locking in" to a discounted rate with your cable provider and using their DV-R box. This is something we've all seen before with digital services. It's nothing new and it’s a trade-off that’s acceptable.
And finally, readers pay for one subscription, but the Kindle DX remains open to any additional content they want to use it for. Reusing the Kindle DX for other reading is a bit more satisfying than saving your old newspapers for litter boxes.
Because I've never been a subscriber to the NY Times (I read it online), the Kindle DX has been the most compelling argument for me to get a subscription that I've been seen.
Now if only the DX screen would refresh faster…