tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1852708580253469865.post5527547087107195142..comments2024-03-18T05:45:58.680-05:00Comments on Agent in the Middle: So What Does This All Mean?Ravenous Romancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11671397588069818557noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1852708580253469865.post-22462434041406884122008-12-07T14:08:00.000-05:002008-12-07T14:08:00.000-05:00Great post. What you say makes a ton of sense to m...Great post. What you say makes a ton of sense to me and actually makes me excited to be a writer with what I hope will be a long future in this time of transition.Travis Erwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09420879160702098979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1852708580253469865.post-12747642774630600312008-12-07T12:56:00.000-05:002008-12-07T12:56:00.000-05:00Okay, just to play with your idea, why is there a ...Okay, just to play with your idea, why is there a need for a physical location if you are selling just the information in the book? Doesn't make sense as a C21 sales channel. Except, of course, to the degree that you are pre-loading it onto a physical media or using the media itself to secure the information.<BR/><BR/>Suppose, then, that in 2013 you have a store location that will give you this season's "Harlequin" line on a DRM smartchip for your "Kindle 7.0". You pay one big licensing fee that lets you access the entire 30-book fall line or something. It might even have chip-file-date-timing so that the books unlock as the publication dates arrive. You sell the same books individually online at a higher cost, so that the bundle plus chip is cheaper (say the cost of 10-20 books). Thus, you increase sales while dramatically decreasing production cost.<BR/><BR/>The store might also have to be another kind of destination - food or entertainment venue. [ie sell something to wear or eat - chuckle] As likely to happen at movie theatres as electronic stores, since these are already entertainment-linked. <BR/><BR/>In fact, having an e-book kiosk at a movie theatre (to download the novelization onto your bluetooth device) seems like an obvious upsell for the theatre. <BR/><BR/>Of course, Amazon would use its contract clout to prevent you from selling the ebook cheaper at the theatre than Amazon, so you might have to make it a separate movie-only content item; Amazon has ebook with bonus A, Blockbuster has version B, cinema has bonus version C, collect them all and unlock bonus D!<BR/><BR/>Lots of fun and games possible, although content creation becomes a more complicated activity.<BR/><BR/>Some questions about your offhand remarks:<BR/><BR/>What kinds of books and TV shows and movies do you think aren't working? And in what way is it different from, say, the way Westerns went away in the early 70s, i.e. after things are done to death they disappear until reinvented?<BR/><BR/>How would you describe the 5-year-old shakeout in the movie industry? I understand they've just this year cut their pseudo-indie units, but what happened four years ago?<BR/><BR/>Also, how would you summarize the shakeout in the music industry?Dal Jeanishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652296391869599080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1852708580253469865.post-33687460303935242472008-12-05T10:38:00.000-05:002008-12-05T10:38:00.000-05:00"In Japan, half the books sold in the country are ..."In Japan, half the books sold in the country are downloaded to phones. We can't be far behind."<BR/><BR/>Didn't know that about Japan.ryan fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13361694356025572544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1852708580253469865.post-83800551004985095662008-12-05T10:15:00.000-05:002008-12-05T10:15:00.000-05:00I think it's exciting. Evolution is at hand here. ...I think it's exciting. Evolution is at hand here. The ground is rumbling beneath our feet.Rhonda L. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17163003709594610570noreply@blogger.com