Kindle or The Nook?

[B.R.Stateham]

I have a book out doing fairly decently in online sales thru Barnes and Noble. And on Amazon as well. So I'm thinking--why not milk this new cash cow? Why not throw together some stories about the two characters which are in the book, stories I've written earlier, and make it an e-book reader? I own the stories, so I don't need to share royalties with anyone.

But which e-reader? The Nook is Barnes and Noble's entry. And its a cool critter. Two screens, the largest being the black and white reader--the smallest a color screen. The market for B&N is large--and the related book is doing well in that semi-captured market.

On the other hand, Amazon's Kindle is the proven war horse. And there is a huge market to tap into.

So which one should I pick?

[John McFetridge]

Why not both?

See what Joe has to say.

[B.R.Stateham]

Yes, John--that's an idea as well. To be honest, I don't know if you comment to one you're stuck in their format. Or if there is any exclusivity clauses anywhere.

[John McFetridge]

Have a look at JA Konrath's blog, he's giving all the details about putting his books out on every format.

[I. J. Parker]

My agent also seems to think that electronic versions should go to more than one reader. My preference is Kindle, simply because I have Amazon pages and they do a good job pointing readers to my other works.

[Jon Loomis]

I just think it's funny that B&N's product is call the Nook e-book reader. Get it? But then I'm basically twelve.

[Daniel Hatadi]

Tee hee!

[B.R.Stateham]

Ha! I'm glad I'm not the only twelve year old who noticed the little play on words.

[Lisa Fernow]

You're supposed to be reading in bed.

[jKathleen]

You can't put other books that aren't on Amazon on your Kindle, I like B.R.Stateham, am Trying to figure which to go with, Sony Reader is a good seller and takes everything, So I have heard. and it is selling fast because of the price, this Holiday season. You can’t even buy a Nook until after the 10th of Jan now they are sold out so maybe they are the best..

[Eric Christopherson]

The market for ebooks is not yet huge, I'm afraid. I've got a book that's sold about 660 copies in the last four months at $1.99 on Kindle for which I get 35% (you do the paltry math) and that's enough to put the book in the top ten among all independently published mystery/thriller novels at its price point--and to outsell a number of backlist books by famous authors on Kindle offered at the same price. (Joe Konrath has at least half the books in this top ten. I really ought to try marketing like he does, but I don't have any expertise or much innate interest and rare posts like this one are as close as I've come to marketing. Oh, let's make it an official marketing effort then: here's the link to my book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002HMCLFQ)

But ereading is the future. Sales of ereaders are expected to be double next year from what they were this year (which was 3 million), which was an explosion of its own over 2008. So when ebooks are 10% of the market in two years or so instead of 2-5% now (depending on who you ask), well maybe that's money not to be sniffed at.

Some info to consider as an indie author: Kindle has DRM and the only way to get on the Nook, I believe, if you are an indie author, is to go through Smashwords, which doesn't offer DRM. Smashwords will also get you on the Sony ereader and Canada's Shortcovers. You get a bit higher percentage of the sales from Smashwords than from Amazon when you sell for B&N's Nook or the Sony ereader or Shortcovers (even though Smashwords and their affiliates all take their cuts).

[I. J. Parker]

Congratulations on the sales rankings. That's excellent.

[Eric Christopherson]

Thanks, Ingrid. The sales have been gratifying, considering the little pond I'm swimming in, and hearing from actual readers through the Amazon review system has been really cool too.