3 ms·

The lack of convenience of epub-books is caused by the lack of content only available in epub format. If DRM-free epub books were to become the dominant format,

by maggit 15y ago

The lack of convenience of epub-books is caused by the lack of content only available in epub format. If DRM-free epub books were to become the dominant format, the convenience would come. You argue that Rowling must be doing this for the money and that she will likely sell fewer copies because the distribution channel is foreign to the buyers. This doesn't quite add up. The other extreme analysis would suggest that Rowling is sticking her neck out for epub, trying to push it to the dominant position to force ereaders to take the format seriously. Both analyses are extreme. The truth usually lies between the extremes.

eridius 15y ago
I don't understand your position. The iBookstore is purely ePub. Amazon has already said they are adding ePub support to Kindle. ePub is already the dominant ebook format for interchange (I don't consider PDF to be ebooks). If Rowling were to sell her books on the iBookstore, they would be every bit as much ePub as if she distributes them herself. What's more, the iBookstore doesn't mandate DRM, so even the argument that she's doing this in order to promote DRM-free is a red herring. Sure, by all means distribute the ePubs yourself. Rowling can publicize DRM-free ebooks using the ePub format. But there's no reason for her to avoid also selling her books on the existing bookstores. Let the consumer choose which place to buy their book from. The only reason that makes any sense to avoid selling on the iBookstore is a desire to avoid giving the 30% cut to Apple. And convenience goes out the window as a result.
- maggit 15y ago
  > I don't understand your position. That's fully understandable. I based my comment on several misunderstandings. So, with my newfangled knowledge, I might say that "self publishing of epub books" would become awesome if it were more common. Instead, however, I will refrain from digging myself deeper into this hole :)

by maggit 15y ago

eridius 15y ago

I don't understand your position. The iBookstore is purely ePub. Amazon has already said they are adding ePub support to Kindle. ePub is already the dominant ebook format for interchange (I don't consider PDF to be ebooks). If Rowling were to sell her books on the iBookstore, they would be every bit as much ePub as if she distributes them herself. What's more, the iBookstore doesn't mandate DRM, so even the argument that she's doing this in order to promote DRM-free is a red herring. Sure, by all means distribute the ePubs yourself. Rowling can publicize DRM-free ebooks using the ePub format. But there's no reason for her to avoid also selling her books on the existing bookstores. Let the consumer choose which place to buy their book from. The only reason that makes any sense to avoid selling on the iBookstore is a desire to avoid giving the 30% cut to Apple. And convenience goes out the window as a result.

maggit 15y ago
> I don't understand your position. That's fully understandable. I based my comment on several misunderstandings. So, with my newfangled knowledge, I might say that "self publishing of epub books" would become awesome if it were more common. Instead, however, I will refrain from digging myself deeper into this hole :)