http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 1:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
WTH NUBZ]]>Jun 28th 2008 2:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 29th 2008 12:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 30th 2008 8:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Man I love the extortion and corruption that is the college textbook industry.
Yay for new editions meaning the same thing as two chapters get switched around.
I bought my last calculus book for $5 online. Completely legit copy.
School store wanted $100 for me to walk out the door with it. ]]>Jun 28th 2008 1:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/wondering if you have a habit
of randomly
pressing the return key at arbitrary intervals or if you're
trying really poorly to make a haiku?]]>Jun 28th 2008 1:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
I am sure if you look at his comment you'll see
that he broke it up at every sentence.]]>Jun 28th 2008 4:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
Not true.
On the fourth row he has two sentences.
Maybe the newlines are where he breathes in.]]>Jun 28th 2008 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 1:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
I want something that works on the Iliad, so I can take notes (I'd love to scribble in my textbooks, but I don't because I deem them to valuable). I hope the Kindle isn't going to kick the Iliad out of the market, being able to annotate books and papers is a killer feature, but as long as there are no reasonably cheap books for that thing, it's doomed to die.]]>Jun 28th 2008 8:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 1:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 1:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 2:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
What one chooses to use to compress his work largely depends on how much loss you're willing to put up with. For example, I'm personally pretty happy with the age-old DVD-quality video. I'll upgrade to better equipment when I have no other choice (by that time, it will be a cheap upgrade too). Other people won't settle for less than HD/Blueray (or whatever). Others are happy taking a scratched up VHS tape and compressing the hell out of it.

As for bandwidth, what are you talking about when you say "Asia"? Taiwan? Small island, compact infrastructure. Singapore? Small island, compact infrastructure. Hong Kong? Small island, compact infrastructure. Japan? Small island, compact infrastructure. (Or Islands, as the case may be, but you get the point.) The United States? Big land mass with people spread out everywhere. There are other factors, such as government interference, that certainly contribute.]]>Jun 28th 2008 4:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Bring it on! (the only thing is: I'm Down Under. Nothing more needs to be said :(]]>Jun 28th 2008 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
And we never carry our books around. That'd be absurd. But a price drop would be nice. We have had digital books offered at slightly less, and everyone opts for them. I just bought a neurobiology book for $110, and it wasn't even required for the course. Just goes to show you how we 'smart' kids mindlessly will throw away our money for anything at the bookstore, including kindles and supported textbooks.

Count me in!]]>Jun 28th 2008 2:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 3:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/that´s funny because everybody is talking about green energy today, and my bio textbook already had green "powerhouses" in it. haha]]>Jun 28th 2008 2:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/]]>Jun 28th 2008 3:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 3:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 4:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 3:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
For a new book, a publisher typically gets 35-45% of the list price. Distributors, middlemen, and the bookstore get the rest. The author's cut and the cost of goods comes out of the publisher's pocket. In addition, the publisher is usually responsible for returns of books that didn't sell from bookstores. So the bookstore has very little risk regarding old inventory not selling.

That remaining 55-65% is almost pure profit for the middlemen and the bookstore - mostly the middlemen.

Textbooks are usually different because of the limited print run. Unless you can get about 5,000 to 10,000 books per print run, your cost of goods will be pretty high. Not to mention the size of some of those textbooks.

Textbooks could, theoretically, drop in price a bit because of this, but I wouldn't count on it until I saw proof. The publisher is likely to want the same amount they've always received. However, by going with Amazon, the publisher gets a break from not having to deal with unsold returns (Amazon does this with paper books as well). Not having to deal with returns will save the publisher a nice chunk of change (which they will probably try to pocket) as well as far fewer headaches.

So, after Amazon adds in their cut, I'd expect a $100 paper textbook to drop to maybe $50-60. ]]>Jun 28th 2008 4:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
dumbass is (c) Striker 2008, all rights reversed.]]>Jun 28th 2008 4:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 4:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
Oh and mitochondria is red here :p]]>Jun 28th 2008 5:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 6:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
Based on what facts do you state that the Kindle is selling pretty well?

The link you provide goes to an Engadget story that talks about the Kindle being in stock. It doesn't mention any sales figures.

As far as I know, Amazon has not released any Kindle sales figures. Something being out of stock doesn't mean it is selling pretty well.

Do you know something we don't?


]]>Jun 28th 2008 10:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 10:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
Wife: She has her fathers eyes
Husband: She has her mothers mitochondria
]]>Jun 28th 2008 2:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 28th 2008 2:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
Textbook publishers are a different, much bigger, profit-driven (often publicly traded) animal. As such, they are much more conservative. I have not seen any "textbooks" in the Kindle store.

(Despite the above comment about being mission-driven, not profit-driven, Princeton University Press is a very highly regarded and successful university press. Many of their titles in the past few years have sold very well.)

If the URL will post, here's a direct link to the original (correct) story:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/24/kindle
]]>Jun 28th 2008 8:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
The singular is mitochondrion.]]>Jun 28th 2008 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/Jun 30th 2008 8:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/
I wouldn't hold my breath, and I would expect to end up buying the same book at least two or three times over those years. I don't like DRM on my music or moives, but can live with it. I will absolutely not accept DRM on my books, especially vitally important books like textbooks, and those of you that do should think twice about what you are really saving.]]>Jun 30th 2008 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/28/princeton-to-start-publishing-kindle-edition-textbooks/ Before textbooks can get onto an e-book (unless they are JUST text), they need to make a e-book reader at least 8.5 by 11 size at the minimum. Then there is the issue of color...]]>Jul 1st 2008 10:55PM