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?" 

iPad vs. Kindle, tablets and plain old books

I've resisted writing a Kindle vs. IPad post because too many others have done it already, and done it better. But after several comments from friends and co-workers who say they want advice from someone they know, I decided to bang something out. And since I use this site as a testbed, I’ll conduct an experiment at the same time and see what kinds of ads Google delivers to the left of this post.

This advice assumes you're interested in paying the money for a dedicated e-reader. If not, you'll want to stick to physical books or download a Kindle app to your smartphone or desktop. The Kindle apps aren't ideal options for extended reading, but they do in a pinch. And they're free.

OK, now to the e-reader question:

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Selling pop culture one chapter at a time

Gonzo pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman has stumbled into a new way to redistribute his books: One chapter at a time using an iTunes-like model of charging 99 cents a pop.

I say stumbled because on this Soundcheck interview (stream above), Klosterman doesn't even know where people can download his work using this new model.

I had to find out by searching Google, finally landing at a "Chuck Klosterman eCollection" page on the Simon and Schuster website.

Once there, the site is easy to use, with bright colors and clear titles enticing one to buy. If you're familiar with Klosterman's books, you know he has the attention span of, well, me. Which means he hops from subject to subject, with book topics running the gamut from Britney Spears to Lakers basketball. Thankfully, in addition to being able to buy e-book chapters ala carte, he sells $7.99 bundles of columns package by topics like sports, rock, pop, media and culture.

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