I read an article today in the WSJ about the new Apple Tablet and how it could potentially conflict with the toe hold that Amazon is establishing in the ebook market through the Kindle.
Initially, the article (Article Link) sparked the same concern that I as an aspiring author have had for ebooks. I, unlike JA Konrath, and extremely wary of the technology. I'm a conservative, I like paper books, I like having somehting to put on my bookshelf. Mostly though I don't like the idea that the kindle and ebooks are mucking with the price of books. How can I hope to make a living as an author, my dream, if they sell them for little or nothing?
Then, as I read the article, I realized that in truth the Apple tablet might be normalizing the industry. They did it with iTunes. Before iTunes everyone was downloading music higglety-pigglety. All of is was free (read stolen) and no one seemed to be able to get a handle on the methodolgy the industry would follow.
Amazon seemed to be tackling the ebooks introduction, but still it was concerning for me. Concerning I'm sure in much the same way an aspiring musician was concerned by Napster and Limewire in the early 2000's. I think that the Apple Tablet might be the beginning of the end for the cheap ebook. I think, and the WSJ article seems to imply this as well, the Apple Tablet might normalize and create a pricing model in the same way that iTunes did.
The question is, how can I, an aspiring author, take advantage of it, if at all?
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