'High Fidelity' Author Nick Hornby Sounds Off On Kindle and eBooks
Since its release last year, Amazon's Kindle has surprised many by taking the market a bit by storm. The electronic reading device sold out quickly, and racked up some ridiculous highs on eBay (we were smitten after spending a little time with one.) Eight months later, we still love reading on the thing, but author Nick Hornby isn't quite so thrilled with the concept, and he has posted a lengthy diatribe over at the Penguin Blog about why he thinks eBooks still aren't destined for huge success.Hornby, author of 'High Fidelity' and 'About a Boy,' lists a number of reasons as to why he doesn't think eBooks will be successful, including the belief that book readers are not early adopters (we think those outrageous eBay prices say otherwise). He also mentions that eBook market and experience can't simply be compared to the iPod: you can't rip your existing library of books like you can with music. But, he makes an interesting point on why eBooks aren't a particularly hot business model: People on average only buy seven books per year, and 34-percent of adults don't even read books.
Of course, eBook readers also display newspapers, magazines, and blogs, so we don't think he's entirely hit the mark, but it's safe to say that it's going to be a long, long time before e-reading devices like the Kindle even start showing the same sales figures as Microsoft's Zune, which means they've got a looonnnng way to go. [Source: The Penguin Blog via Shiny Shiny]
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