Suckups, Suckers, And Sloppiness Mislead eBook Readers

On Wednesday, August 26, 2009, I posted: Google’s One Million eBooks Of Crap!

On Thursday 27th August 2009, Computer Shopper did: Google turns classic books into free gibberish eBooks

No other coverage of the one million eBooks from Google mentioned they were crap!

And how many linked back to the original story?

Here is the list of shame:

Click = big

Click = big

Click = big

Once again, I can’t trust most of the coverage out there.

How much of a suckup do you have to be to pimp free?

How unqualified to write about eBooks are these people that they never even took a simple few minutes to check the quality?

Update: One other site did. Munsey’s Technosnarl: Did Google Just Give a Million Reasons for Publishers to Opt Out?

eBook Notes For Monday, August 31, 2009

How eBooks plan to save libraries, newspapers and make us read: Can DRM be a good thing for once?

How to borrow an ebook: What you need to know — a very good overview, even if they leave out that MobiPocket books and PDFs are available in public libraries using Overdrive. After reading that, see: Sony Reader 101: Borrowing Public Library eBooks

German Buch News: 65,000 Ebooks Sold in Germany So Far in 09 — it’s a start.

Google English: eBooks will replace print in 20 years — waiting for the generational shift to happen. (Original item.)

A New Masthead

Because I want it made clear that I do what I do for them.

I answer only to them.

Cheated, ridiculed, crushed into poverty during their lifetimes.

I am their agent of vengeance.

The Devaluation Of The eBook

Hachette chief hits out at e-books

“On the one hand, you have millions of books for free where there is no longer an author to pay and, on the other hand, there are very recent books, bestsellers at $9.99, which means that all the rest will have to be sold at between zero and $9.99,” Mr Nourry said.

First of all, the “millions” of books are primarily unreadable crap (Google) or poorly formatted (Gutenberg). They are no true threat.

Second, whining about a $9.99 eBook price is too little too late. The race-to-the-bottom of eBook prices has begun. You got in bed with Amazon’s Kindle and now you complain about the blisters? Who forced you?

Third, what makes you think your customers see an eBook as having the same value as a $25.00-$30.00 hardcover? Wake up: they don’t!

Fourth, don’t sit there like a weakling and whine — do something!

Really, keep acting like this and my fantasy of buying Random House from Bertelsmann for a measly US$1.00 will come to pass. Thanks!