Should e-books cost more than printed books? Maybe

A co-worker recently lent me a fantastic business book called "Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action."

I've been so impressed with the book -- and I'm only halfway through -- that I decided I needed my own copy to mark up. When you borrow a book it's not exactly kosher to start leaving your own graffiti, no matter how valuable you might think your observations are. 

Markup is where the Kindle excels. I love being able to digitally highlight important information, see "public notes"  other Kindle readers of the book have highlighted, and view the Kindle community's most popular highlights to make sure I didn't miss any major points.

That layer of digital curating and social sharing is what gives the Kindle and e-reading an edge over paper versions. 

Having said that, I was bummed when I checked Amazon and learned the hardcover version of "Start With Why" could be had for $14,68, a full $4.31 less than the Kindle version. Really? 

I had never seen a Kindle edition that cost more than the printed counterparts. And I don't know the reasons why the Kindle price for "Start With Why" was higher than the hardcover price. It could be politics (some publishers don't want to promote low-cost e-books because their margins are lower). But something tells me someone smart figured out that in some instances, an e-book can demand a higher price because there's true value in the intangibles. 

Maybe "they" took their own advice and asked themselves "why?" 

The Daily: Going through the motions

It's been nearly three weeks since my "Five days of The Daily" post, in which I expressed mostly admiration for The Daily and where I thought it should go. 

Sadly, I feel like all that hope has evaporated. I feel like The Daily is going through the motions, hitting singles instead of triples and home runs. I find myself coming back to one question: What are they spending $500,000 per week on?

In the week or so after my initial post, The Daily seemed to believe in itself, tackling multi-part series on meaty subjects like education reform and a very good profile of a badly wounded U.S. serviceman who was voluntarily returning to the front lines. The reporting was good, the digital elements like video, extra photos and charts were good. Things were humming. Confidence was in the air. 

I love a fun headline as much as anyone, but the juvenile quotient has been growing in recent weeks.Then the bottom seemed to fall out. Coverage since devolved to little more than your normal metro tabloid, with big cheesy headlines (example at right), easy potshots, and goofy packaging of silly stories between serious news packages. I can't remember a recent story with a "Daily exclusive" label. Even the sports coverage, where it's really hard for journalist to be lifeless, is just that. This product seems just that: a "product" without any fight.

Couple other things I've noticed recently:

Click to read more ...

'Classic' bakersfield.com lives on in promotional poster

This version of the bakersfield.com homepage is at least five years and two versions oldLooking for bakersfield.com content from yesteryear? I wasn't on Sunday night but I found it outside a bathroom wall in Rabobank Arena. 

I did a doubletake at Sunday's Bakersfield Condors game when I was greeted by this old-school homepage outside one of the men's restrooms.

WTF?

This site design was put out to pasture five years ago when we introduced a new logo and content mix. And we've since launched another design, meaning this poster is promoting a look that's two generations old.  

The Californian has had marketing agreements with SMG, the entity that manages the arena for the city of Bakersfield, over the years. This particular promotion dates to at least 2006, and included other signage inside the arena. 

I distinctly remember seeing this poster a few years ago and telling our then marketing manager, "We need to update this." 

Shows you how much pull I had at the time because "classic" bakersfield.com apparently still has cache in some circles.