Originally written for eBookGuru - The Digital Magazine Devoted to eBooks

Amazon.com issued a press release on Monday (July 19th) stating that they have

“… reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle–the growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price from $259 to $189″

Regardless of whether it was the introduction of the iPad (which as I asserted in a previous post [The $50 eReader] hasn’t - and won’t - hurt Kindle sales) or the lower price point on the Kobo, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have recently reduced their eReader prices.

So what’s next?

The Kobo, while still a viable alternative, needs to lower it’s price point in order to make up for the lack of wireless connectivity. It recently received a favorable review from Engadget

“…its thinness, lightness, and comfort in the hand is far and away its strongest feature, and one that it beats a lot of its more robust competition prettily handily.”

“The rubbery “quilted” back is tacky enough that you can hold the 6-incher comfortably with just one hand, a move we’ve never perfected with the Nook, Kindle 2, or iPad.”

“Kobo’s device is, in practice, pretty awesome feeling”

but Engadget also mentions the lack of wireless access, calling it a

“huge drawback..”

It will be interesting to see who makes the next move, especially now that Sony has reduced the price of the Pocket Edition of their eReader to $149 as well. Of the 3 eReaders priced at $149 - the Kobo, the Sony Pocket Edition, and the Nook, only the Nook has wireless access in the form of Wi-Fi. Despite it’s bare bones approach, the Kobo clearly has an edge in usability. Combine this with a price drop and some firmware tweaks and the Kobo has the potential to become the eReader of choice for the budget conscious reader.

Also of interest in the press release is the increase in sales of Kindle eBooks.

Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 180 Kindle books.This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.

Due to it’s proprietary format the Kindle is the only reader capable of reading Kindle eBooks which makes it easier to track usage of the Kindle. As I stated in the previous post (RIP Cool-er?) the AAP reports growing sales of eBooks in 2010 vs. 2009. The Amazon press release makes reference to this, stating that

“Kindle book sales in May and year-to-date through May exceeded those growth rates.”

Other interesting stats provided in the press release:

On July 6, Hachette announced that James Patterson had sold 1.14 million e-books to date. Of those, 867,881 were Kindle books. [76%]

Five authors–Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts–have each sold more than 500,000 Kindle books.

Clearly other eReaders have their work cut out for them if these stats are any indication of overall eBooks sales. All the other eReaders together, all of which support the more open ePub format, appear to account for fewer eBook sales than the Kindle alone. Of course the Kindle has the dual advantage of Amazon marketplace and easy, instant access to that marketplace via Whispernet.

I envision even more changes in the eReader market in the near term, especially given that 2 major sales opportunities remain for 2010 - back to school and Christmas.

Who knows? Perhaps we see a $99 eReader before the end of the year.

Originally written for eBookGuru - The Digital Magazine Devoted to eBooks

I first wrote about the Cool-er eReader (Price Matters) about a year ago but even then the prognosis didn’t sound good, especially after Wired Magazine paned the reader.

“Cool-er E-Book Reader Leaves Us Feeling So Very Cold”

The one thing that the Cool-er did have going for it was price but with the recent proliferation of eReaders that apparently wasn’t enough, especially with the way the increased competition has resulted in a price war of sorts.

There’s hasn’t been much press on the Cool-er since it’s release - the release of the iPad from Apple, not to mention the Nook and the Kobo eReader - seemed to have dominated the news. However a quick search seems to indicate that the problems that plagued the Cool-er weren’t fixed.

As a result, while it is disappointing to learn that Interead, the company behind Cool-er, has been ordered to to wind-up it’s business, it is not all that surprising. eReaders and eBooks are a tough sell and a substandard product just won’t cut it - not unless the price differential is substantial.

The AAP - Association of American Publishers - reports in their May Statistics Press Release

“Year-To-Date E-book sales of the 13 submitting publishers to that category currently comprise 8.48 % of the total trade books market, compared to 2.89% percent for the same period last year”

Clearly eBooks are becoming more popular, helped in large part by the publicity surrounding the iPad and Apple’s foray into the eBook market with iBooks. With almost 300% growth year over year, there is obviously room for more than many players in the eBook market.

Unfortunately it appears that Cool-er will not be one of them.

Originally posted on Champagne Books Blog

Click cover for an Excerpt from Chapter One

Venus Inferno comes out very shortly and I’m very excited by it. It represents a couple of firsts for me and one second.

It is my very first - but probably not my last - novella. I rather enjoyed this shorter format, although at times it was difficult to restrain myself from dropping an element into the story that would come up later. There wasn’t going to be a later so if I wanted to say something, I had to say it now. I also didn’t get the chance to interweave very much social commentary into the story, which I missed more than the chance to expand on the storyline.

It is also the very first story I wrote in the first person, which was very usual. I’m used to the third person and being able to provide different vantage points to allow the reader insight into what is happening. It is also odd using the personal pronoun ‘I’ all the time. One can’t help but to identify with the main character. Admittedly this is an occupational hazard for writers but even more so in this case.

Venus Inferno represents my second published work with Champagne books. Hopefully there will be many more but having a second story accepted and published make it seem all the more real.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about Venus Inferno was that all of the main technology there is real.

Ion drives are real. They are slow compared to chemical rockets but they do exist.

Tellurium is real. It really is one of the nine rarest minerals on earth and it really does fall as snow on Venus.

Thermoelectric Materials are also real. And tellurium - in the form of bismuth telluride and lead telluride - really is a working element of thermoelectric devices.

Who knows? Maybe one day in the future they will be as commonplace as they are in Venus Inferno.

Let’s hope so.

Just got a new review for The Gender Divide from The Scattering.

Review is in 3 parts - Now Reading, Meet the New Boss (hysterical - made me laugh out loud when I read it), and Verdict.

Now Reading - http://thescattering.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/now-reading-the-gender-divide-by-david-boultbee/

Meet the New Boss - http://thescattering.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/meet-the-new-boss-review-the-gender-divide/

Verdict - http://thescattering.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/verdict-the-gender-divide-by-david-boultbee/

Some quotable lines

In the tradition of other socially-conscious science fiction, Boultbee’s novel incorporates contemporary issues of gender disparities into a future world, without (thank god) getting too preachy.

Descriptions of biological enhancements and Ryan Peters’s weaponized “nanites” are detailed and believable, but just as believable are the portrayals of social and psychological changes in a radically different world.

and my favorite

The result is a novel with the appeal of both a unique concept and a cast of characters embroiled in the classic drama of a love triangle.  David Boultbee’s The Gender Divide is, first and foremost, an engaging story, but does an excellent job as well in following in the tradition of science fiction as a mirror—not for the future—but for the present.

As a reminder, an excerpt of Chapter 1 is available on the website for The Gender Divide at http://www.thegenderdivide.com/?excerpt . Chapter 2 is also available for those interested - just email me and I’ll sent you the ’secret’ link

When I first came across this article on the male birth control pill I wasn’t sure what to think of it.

Birth control is a tricky subject, even leaving aside any ethical or religious issues. Regardless of who is responsible for birth control, it is the woman who is the most impacted by a pregnancy.

She is the one who has to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortunes known as pregnancy and childbirth. Oft times she is accompanied and supported by a partner but in many cases she is all alone. Sometimes she is the one who is left to make that most difficult of all decisions regarding whether to allow the pregnancy to continue or not.

So it is hard to argue for a male birth control pill when it is the woman who is affected. Harder still to imagine a woman relinquishing control of her body to someone else. A condom is a tangible form of birth control, something that a woman will know if a man is using or not. A pill? Not so much.

Admittedly men are put in this position every day but the impact of a mistake or worse, a calculated deception, isn’t the same. Don’t get me wrong, there are some very real consequences for men in situations like this but nothing like those faced by women.

So I can’t see this becoming casually common, not like the female birth control pill is. The consequences of a mistake, not the mention the risk of unprotected sex, are too great.

However there is a place for the male birth control for couples in a committed relationship.

The article states that during animal test (mice),

“…all their sex behavior was retained, which is a very important consideration for human men. A man who takes this pill could also be sexually active later on and have children.”

“Rather than undergo an irreversible vasectomy, a man could sterilize himself for short periods…

It also provides another option for Jewish couples.

“…it should be well received by religiously observant Jews. According to Jewish law, castration of any animal - human or non-human - is forbidden; not to mention that ’spilling seed’ or ejaculating outside the female body is not permitted. “

Despite it’s inherent limitations, it will be interesting to see what role this pill plays and how it affects the dynamics of a relationship.

Originally posted on The Writers Vineyard

Last month I mentioned how much I enjoy spending time on my deck writing and enjoying the view.

Well there is a downside to all that nature and I discovered it a few weeks ago. I came downstairs one morning to take the dog for a walk and noticed that the new sod I had laid under the deck had been rolled up. From the lingering odor I guessed that a skunk had been our nocturnal visitor. It was probably looking for food and rolling up our sod to eat the grubs underneath seemed like easy pickings - pun intended.

Over the next few nights I tried numerous tactics that I found while searching on the internet. Unlike the time when we lost my son’s hamster, these didn’t work. Every night I tried something new - cayenne pepper, hot chili pepper flakes, and finally moth balls. Needless to say my wife was not impressed by the resultant mess. Our lawn was a mishmash of red, green and white. And the shunk was still enjoying eating at Chez Boultbee.

Finally I went ‘high tech’. I headed to Canadian Tire and picked up ‘The Scarecrow’. No, this is not an actual scarecrow but a motion activated sprinkler. You hook it up to the hose, add a 9-volt battery, set the sensitivity and stand back. Literally. If you don’t stay out of sensor range, you are liable to get soaked, as has happened to me numerous times, including last night.

The end result? Success. Now when I go down in the morning the lawn is wet but intact. Occasionally we’ll still smell that distinct scent so the skunk is still around but as long as it stays off my lawn I’m a happy man.

This little ‘war’ and a busy month slowed down my writing a little but I still made some progress. Here is my last stat.

Next month I’ll probably be posting about my new release, a novella called Venus Inferno. It should be released mid-July and I’m expecting edits and cover art any day now.

Until then.

David

Posted by David Boultbee

Originally written for eBookGuru - The Digital Magazine Devoted to eBooks

The $50 eReader just got a lot closer.

There was a flurry of activity yesterday in the eReader market.

First Barnes & Noble came out with a $149 Wi-Fi only version of the Nook, putting pressure on the recently released Kobo eReader. While the Kobo has gotten some good press and has some nice features, it only has the ability to sync books via Bluetooth. Without Wi-Fi or 3G access the Kobo will be fighting an uphill battle. Barnes & Noble also dropped the price of the 3G version of the Nook from $259 to $199.

To add insult to injury (for both the Kobo and the Nook) Amazon lowered the price of the Kindle to $189 shortly after the Barnes & Noble announcement came out, putting it below the $199 3G enabled Nook and within spitting distance of the $149 Kobo and Wi-Fi only Nook.

While this isn’t the $50 eReader that I referred to earlier, this widens the price gap between eReaders and the iPad making it more unlikely for these devices to be in competition with each other.

It will be interesting to see how Kobo reacts to these price cuts. Also Sony has been relatively quiet recently but these new prices will put pressure on the lower end Sony Reader Pocket Edition ($169), let alone the Touch Edition ($199). Neither of the Sony eReaders have Wi-Fi or 3G access and the Pocket Edition only has a 5 inch screen despite being practically the same size and weight as the Kobo reader.

Regardless of what happens, readers and writers benefit from the increased competition.

During my recent speaking engagement at the Humanist Association of Toronto (HAT) one of the topics discussed was how the premise of The Gender Divide - the fact that women live four times longer than men -affected society. The short answer was that since women lived longer, they were able to amass more assets and control more wealth. This great economic power enabled them to take control in other areas such as business and politics as well.

I also referenced a post that I’d made last year (Womenomics) regarding the financial crisis, wherein I referred to an article that stated that none of the central bankers and regulators at fault were women.

I found it oddly coincidental to come across an article in the Globe & Mail last week entitled U.K.’s rich: Women overtake the men. The article states that

The number of rich women outnumbered men in Britain for the first time last year, their numbers and wealth boosted by longer lifespans and an aversion to risky investments (emphasis added)

The shift in relative wealth mostly reflects the fact that wealthy women have the longest life expectancy of any group in the U.K

… a more aggressive approach to investment by men that left them exposed to riskier assets during the financial crisis, also boosted the relative wealth of women

As I mentioned during the speaking engagement, one of the the things that I’ve found fascinating since writing The Gender Divide was the information that I come across that supports many of the concepts and theories postulated in the novel, particularly the stabilizing effect that women can have. Women seem less prone to take unwarranted risks and perhaps might even be more inclined to take a longer term view.

That’s not to say that men are to blame for the ills of the world. After all Canada managed to weather the financial crisis just fine despite having two men - Prime Minister Stephan Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty - at the helm.

However Canada seems to be the exception rather than the rule so perhaps business and society would benefit from the inclusion of more women at the higher level. Something to think about.

Originally written for eBookGuru - The Digital Magazine Devoted to eBooks

I just came this article in Wired magazine, speculating about whether a $50 Kindle could beat the iPad.

The idea of a $50 Kindle postulated in the article is very appealing. It was less then a year ago when I wrote about getting the price of an eReader below $200. The Kindle is still above this mark at $259 but the Kobo eReader (great user review here) is well below at $149 - $110 less than the Kindle. Heck, you can almost get two for the same price.

However there are a couple of items that I take exception to.

First, the idea that the Kindle and the iPad are in competition. The iPad is more akin to a laptop or a net-book whereas the Kindle and other eBook readers are just that - eBook readers. Admittedly some of the new readers coming to market are trying to be all things to all people and those are the readers that are more likely to fail. Not just because they will be competing against the iPad with its ease of use and cool factor, but because they will also be competing with all the iPad competitors.

The competitors, like the Dell Streak, will be lower in price, making them the more likely competition for higher end eReaders. It also seems likely - pending what happens to Palm’s Web OS post HP acquisition of course - that most of the iPad competitors will be running Android rather than Windows. Since both the Kindle and the Kobo have apps for Android, it is possible that Android based tablets could cannibalize sales of those eReaders.

So one way to dominate the eReader market is to make the least expensive eReader out there, an approach that Kobo seems to understand. The other way is to make it as easy as possible to read books using the same platform. Both Kobo and the Kindle have this down pat, with both eReaders having apps for the iPhone, Android phones, the Blackberry, and the iPad, as well as software for PC’s and Mac’s.

Apart from price, Kobo also has an advantage in it uses the open ePub eBook format, making situations like the author of the Wired article experienced unlikely. When Mr. Sorrel’s Kindle broke, he complains that

This effectively means I have lost all the books I bought, too.

As pointed out in the comments to the article, this isn’t true as he still has all those other options for reading his Kindle books. Unfortunately he is limited to replacing his Kindle with another Kindle if he wants to be able to read his books on an eReader rather than a phone or a computer. The ePub format is supported by the Kobo, the Sony Reader, and the Barnes & Noble Nook. If Mr. Sorrel had been using one of those devices he would have more options available.

As for the cellphone as an eReader replacement, this works for casual use. However most people will prefer a larger format that is easier to read in more conditions and has a longer battery life. Also accessories like the M-Edge Guardian Case for Amazon Kindle extend the usability of eReaders to places like the bathtub or the beach.

In short there is still a strong market and business case for a low-priced dedicated eReader. The more bells and whistles vendors try to add, the more they are competing with the tablet market and the more likely they are to lose.

This weekend I spoke to the Humanist Association of Toronto (HAT*) - a very enjoyable experience.

I sold two books and received an honorarium but more importantly I got to speak to some wonderful people about a topic near and dear to my heart - naming writing.

I had prepared some notes as I wasn’t sure of how many people would be there - I wanted to have something on hand in case I was placed behind a podium. As it turned out the gathering was just the right size for a round table forum, so my notes weren’t needed. However the process of preparing them ensured that I was prepared, which was the whole idea anyway.

There were probably somewhere between fifteen and twenty people and most of them stayed the entire time. The meeting was an hour and an half but I was supposed to speak for about forty-five minutes. I really didn’t have any idea what time it was or how long I’d been speaking until I called home from the parking lot and realized that I’d been speaking for close to two hours!

Of course I wasn’t the only one talking, although I did more than my fair share. I spent a substantial amount of time talking about The Gender Divide, and how I came up with the idea for it, and this sparked some very interesting discussion. There were some excellent questions asked and even some ideas that I may try to incorporate into a sequel.

The only sour note was the traffic in Toronto. Bletch. It took me just as much time to travel three city blocks as it did for me to get all the way downtown - and that was including driving through a torrential downpour on the 404 and even taking the notorious DVP (Don Valley Parkway for those of you not familiar with the GTA or the Don Valley Parking-lot as it is better known). I made better time on the way home by taking a different route out of the city, although I did get caught on the DVP this time around.

Despite that I had a really good afternoon and I would just like to say thank you to Tanya Long, the program coordinator for HAT, as well as to HAT, for inviting me. And of course a big thank you to everyone who attended. I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did.