Publishing News: Amazon and the sub-$300 tablet

Amazon tablet rumors, Stephen King offers early access, and the "email" copyright turns 29.

Here’s what caught my eye in publishing news this week.

Can Amazon’s tablet crack the $300 barrier?

Editor’s note: Shortly after we posted “Publishing News,” TechCrunch published an exclusive about the Amazon tablet. The big news: it’s called “Amazon Kindle,” it’s 7-inches wide, it’s scheduled for release in late November, and — most notable — it will sell for $250.


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A couple interesting things happened on the ereader/tablet front this week. Sony announced its Sony Reader Wi-Fi, weighing in at a consumer-friendly $149. Forrester also released a report that explains “exactly how, and why, Amazon will disrupt the tablet market.”

In a blog post, Forrester declares that “[if] Amazon launches a tablet at a sub-$300 price point — assuming it has enough supply to meet demand — we see Amazon selling 3-5 million tablets in Q4 alone.” Perhaps spurred by HP’s repeated “last runs” and $99 fire sale, “unnamed sources” at Amazon told the NY Post “[the] device will sell for hundreds less than the entry-point $499 iPad.”

PC World notes: “[it] seems as if Amazon wants to sell more hardware first, and then hope to make up the difference in the sales of content later.” It wouldn’t be the first time Amazon bit the bullet to gain market share.

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The “EMAIL” copyright turns 29

The copyright associated with “EMAIL” turned 29 this week (the copyright holder, V.A. Shiva, was 14 when he submitted the paperwork, which might explain the use of all caps.). As you might expect, Shiva takes issue with declarations and predictions about email’s demise:

Shiva writes on his blog:

Ironically, even as Zuckerburg declares as some trade journals said, “EMAIL IS DEAD,” he is launching @Facebook as a direct challenge to GMail. He says it will have EMAIL in it, along with other types of “messaging.” Facebook produces billions of EMAIL messages everyday.

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A screenshot of the History of EMAIL infographic created by V.A. Shiva.

Even with IM and texting on the rise, email won’t be delegated to a retirement home anytime soon. We are, after all, in the Information Age and the Age of Social Media — and so far, email has been the tie that binds it all together.

Stephen King turns to Klout for pre-release marketing

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In the wake of an author going apoplectic about a few books slipping out ahead of the scheduled release date, it’s refreshing to see another big-name author purposefully using a similar technique as a marketing ploy. Stephen King’s book “Mile 81” was published this week, but readers didn’t necessarily have to wait for the official pub date to get their digital hands on the thing. King released early copies of the digital-only book to a few lucky people deemed influential (social-media-wise) by Klout.

King is no stranger to experimentation, but this latest promotion may have left something on the table. The early release copies, for instance, were made available just a few days before the actual release date. That’s not all that impressive when compared to something like Pottermore, which is granting two months’ worth of advanced access to early members. That said, “Mile 81” is a step in the right direction, and it’ll be something to watch if King embraces a similar marketing strategy for his next full-price bestseller.

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