New Opportunities For Both Publishers And Readers Thank To E-Book Readers

E-book readers suddenly became all the rage during 2009. The launch of Amazon's Kindle 2.0 and Kindle DX readers created a good deal of publicity for these devices. Other manufacturers responded with their own readers - Sony with its Daily Edition and Barnes and Noble with the Nook reader. Other companies - such as Microsoft and Apple - made it known that they had devices of their own in development and scheduled for release in the near future.

Since e-book readers are consumer electronics devices - and relatively new ones at that - it's easy to become swept away in the analysis of the technical specification of the various individual readers. The Kindle can download books wirelessly with no need for a broadband connection, a Wi-Fi hotspot or a computer of any kind. Barnes and Noble's Nook has a color screen, the Daily Edition reader from Sony lets you borrow books from participating libraries - and so on.

However, without diminishing the technical achievements of the various companies involved in any way, it may be worth taking a moment to consider that e-book readers may very well be the biggest single change in both publishing and reading since the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440. The introduction of the printing press quite literally put books in the hands of the common man as it hugely reduced the publishing costs involved.

There really haven't been any significant changes in the way that books are read since that time. There have certainly been efficiency improvements in printing technology. Word processors and computers have reduced costs further. Even so, the end product has remained remarkably similar to what Gutenberg produced - printed text on paper.

As a consequence of the end product, publishers had certain restrictions. They have been producing a physical product for years, which carries some level of cost and also needs to be delivered, either to a bookshop or possibly by direct mail to the customer's home.

E-book readers do not just represent a way of carrying out the existing process more efficiently. They completely change the rules, both for publishers and readers. For a start, there is no physical product. This means that there is less consumption of materials. No paper, ink, chemicals, bindings etc. And with no physical product, there are no delivery costs.

What this means is that not only do e-books cost less to publish and deliver, but they are - even when taking the materials used in the production of the e-book reader devices into account - less harmful to the environment.

It also opens up more possibilities for publishers to market both authors and books in different ways. A publisher who wishes to showcase a particular author could, for example, offer a selection of their work at either very low prices or even completely free. Another tactic, which is now becoming increasing common, is to offer the first book in a series free - obviously in the hope that the reader will then purchase other books in the series or possibly other books by the same author. This isn't impossible with traditional books of course - but it would be a much more costly undertaking with a higher risk element if a traditional print run was involved.

The Amazon Kindle store contains a pleasantly surprising number of free Kindle books. All Kindle books, free or otherwise, have their first chapter made available as a free download so that prospective readers can sample the book before they buy. One possible benefit is that readers maybe encouraged to experiment a little and to try authors who they may have previously overlooked.

As understandable as the present excitement with the technical capabilities of e-book readers is, it will be the additional opportunities for publishers and the increased choice coupled with instant access for readers that is going to change the way that we look at books in the future.

Check out the Amazon Kindle reader and find out how you can save money by downloading free Kindle ebooks straight from Amazon's Kindle store.