Archived Posts » 59,699,509
Publish a Kindle edition?
2/11/2009 4:18:03 PM
Dear Santa SWAT,
All I want for Christmas this year is a Kindle edition of SWAT that I can subscribe to.
(For those scratching their head, Amazon.com is marketing the second generation of their Kindle, basically an ipod for books. The thing is ther size of a magazine, holds up to 1500 books, lets you buy books wirelessly from anywhere, has most best sellers available for a third of the proce of hardcovers.. all in all, it just rocks.)
Lots of magazines are publishing Kindle versions. SWAT should get on board with this.
All I want for Christmas this year is a Kindle edition of SWAT that I can subscribe to.
(For those scratching their head, Amazon.com is marketing the second generation of their Kindle, basically an ipod for books. The thing is ther size of a magazine, holds up to 1500 books, lets you buy books wirelessly from anywhere, has most best sellers available for a third of the proce of hardcovers.. all in all, it just rocks.)
Lots of magazines are publishing Kindle versions. SWAT should get on board with this.
3/22/2009 5:53:21 PM
+1. Would be awesome!
3/28/2009 1:23:27 PM
This is a REAL interesting thought and, as a result of the request, I'm spending this Saturday looking into it.
There appear to be several hurdles:
- Only 24 magazine titles are currently available; they tend to be very high circulation books that regularly give their subscriptions away almost free....they make their money selling advertising and their subscription lists. As a result, they're offering their mags for Kindle ridiculously cheap (<$2.99) of which (as I understand it) Amazon keeps 65%!!!! This business model tends to be successful only for books with wide general audiences that can make the big bucks in advertising; or niche books that tend to whore themselves out to advertisers.
- The platform seems to be best suited to text only; images are not handled well.
- The upload process handles our PDF's VERY poorly (I just created an account and tried). Each issue would need to be HTML formatted.....that's one helluva an expensive proposition.
These are initial impressions only. Let me research this a it more.
Rich
There appear to be several hurdles:
- Only 24 magazine titles are currently available; they tend to be very high circulation books that regularly give their subscriptions away almost free....they make their money selling advertising and their subscription lists. As a result, they're offering their mags for Kindle ridiculously cheap (<$2.99) of which (as I understand it) Amazon keeps 65%!!!! This business model tends to be successful only for books with wide general audiences that can make the big bucks in advertising; or niche books that tend to whore themselves out to advertisers.
- The platform seems to be best suited to text only; images are not handled well.
- The upload process handles our PDF's VERY poorly (I just created an account and tried). Each issue would need to be HTML formatted.....that's one helluva an expensive proposition.
These are initial impressions only. Let me research this a it more.
Rich
3/28/2009 1:58:10 PM
Dead deal for the above reasons. Please see a summary of the problems for magazines
-HERE-
For our part, the digital revolution must be dealt with head on if we're to stay ahead of the market. Colleague Roy Huntington has done a great job with iPaper at Guns Magazine and we're looking at that carefully. I've been wanting a KIndle myself, as I never seem to have time to sit and READ anymore. Have just ordered one for background R&D.
Best regards.
Rich Lucibella
-HERE-
For our part, the digital revolution must be dealt with head on if we're to stay ahead of the market. Colleague Roy Huntington has done a great job with iPaper at Guns Magazine and we're looking at that carefully. I've been wanting a KIndle myself, as I never seem to have time to sit and READ anymore. Have just ordered one for background R&D.
Best regards.
Rich Lucibella
3/28/2009 11:21:37 PM
Originally Posted By Rich_Lucibella:
Dead deal for the above reasons. Please see a summary of the problems for magazines
-HERE-
For our part, the digital revolution must be dealt with head on if we're to stay ahead of the market. Colleague Roy Huntington has done a great job with iPaper at Guns Magazine and we're looking at that carefully. I've been wanting a KIndle myself, as I never seem to have time to sit and READ anymore. Have just ordered one for background R&D.
Best regards.
Rich Lucibella
Dead deal for the above reasons. Please see a summary of the problems for magazines
-HERE-
For our part, the digital revolution must be dealt with head on if we're to stay ahead of the market. Colleague Roy Huntington has done a great job with iPaper at Guns Magazine and we're looking at that carefully. I've been wanting a KIndle myself, as I never seem to have time to sit and READ anymore. Have just ordered one for background R&D.
Best regards.
Rich Lucibella
Rich,
After my initial post, I actually received my kindle and did some playing around. While I absolutely love the kindle, I think you're right. SWAT is visually rich publication, and that's just not the kindle's strong suit.
Now if I can get Kyle Lamb to put out "Green Eyes and Black Rifles' in a kindle edition...
4/14/2009 10:14:49 PM
But would'nt Pat fit the Kindle at 1:1 scale......
Just funin ya Brother....
Just funin ya Brother....