Making eBooks Work, Part 2: Fictionwise

[Jeff Kirvin]

http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column020506.htm

Fictionwise takes an unusual approach to selling ebooks: sell the reading public what they want at prices they can afford.

Fictionwise started in 1999 as a website devoted to selling short science fiction pieces at reasonable prices. With some stories priced as low as 30 cents, they still did a booming business. Brothers Scott and Steven Pendergrast had an idea about ebooks. They thought that ebooks worked better if they were short. People didn't have the patience or desire to read massive novels on computer monitors or tiny handheld screens, but shorter material was ideal for reading at the bus stop or over a lunch break. Fictionwise started with about 100 titles and grew from there.

Read the rest at http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column020506.htm

[Jeff Kirvin]

http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column020506.htm

Fictionwise takes an unusual approach to selling ebooks: sell the reading public what they want at prices they can afford.

Fictionwise started in 1999 as a website devoted to selling short science fiction pieces at reasonable prices. With some stories priced as low as 30 cents, they still did a booming business. Brothers Scott and Steven Pendergrast had an idea about ebooks. They thought that ebooks worked better if they were short. People didn't have the patience or desire to read massive novels on computer monitors or tiny handheld screens, but shorter material was ideal for reading at the bus stop or over a lunch break. Fictionwise started with about 100 titles and grew from there.

Read the rest at http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column020506.htm

[st63z]

Just wondering, who do you plan to cover in the last two installments (besides PeanutPress)? Audible? AlexLit? The major publishers? The various free libraries? Also, should I be concerned that any of the "enlightened" ebook publishers are in danger of going under (sometimes you take good things for granted)?

It's interesting that there have been several different successful (and "good for consumers") ebook strategies. While sharing certain common traits (affordability, quality selections, no DRM hassle as a matter of policy, etc), each approach also has its own unique strengths and not all of them seem to be complementary(?). I guess there's not one end-all best approach...

Personally, I haven't had much cause or time to look outside Fictionwise, there's still too much good stuff there than I can cover, even as my reading tastes change with my moods (plus I had kinda gone way overboard in depositing into my account, as I was just so excited to find such a place) I've later also paid Baen and Amazon/BN and AlexLit (the latter of which didn't work so well at the time), but never tried PeanutPress. I've also been meaning to more fully try Audible to see if it can be useful while driving...

Also, do you want us to post here or at pocketnow?

[Jeff Kirvin]

Part III will be Palm Digital Media, Part IV was going to be "Free-ePress: A Cautionary Tale" but I might push that back to Part V and insert coverage of Audible and free ebook sources like U of VA and Memoware.

As for posting, that's a darn good question. Column discussions have gotten rather fragmented recently, between Thoughts, Pocketnow and my Yahoo Group. Post wherever you feel comfortable, I guess. The Pocketnow forum is the "official" WOYP forum, but Thoughts is good too, and probably brings a wider audience. I read them all.