C.J.Beck

Press Release: Twitter alert -  @ cjbeckbooks -  cjbeckbooks is testing Amazon Books Kindle for a trial period - exclusive distribution of titles including SIZZLE - SPIKED - and the new comic condo crime novel SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS. Will author exclusives give Amazon Books the decisive edge in the e-reader war? 

Blame it on Apple.  A few years back they came up with the iPad but shelved the idea because CEO Steve Jobs saw the greater potential of a miniature iPad... 

Three years ago it launched as the" iPhone."  Then Apple launched the shelved iPad and its bookstore on iTunes.  That's right folks.  

The iPad was invented before the iPhone.  And the new iPhone 4G is off the hook.

It’s estimated  6.6 million e-readers (excluding iPads) will sell in the U.S. this year.  That’s 10.4 million to date. E-readers without wi-fi may sell for $99 before the end 2010. 

Apple CEO, aka "Celestial Elegance Obsessive", Steve Jobs says  the first 65 days the iPad was available, five million e-books were downloaded from its iTunes iBookstore.  If true, that translates into 22% of the e-book market.  cjbeckbooks.blogspot.com could not verify the figure independently. That share is expected to grow after Apple releases its iBook app for the iPhone this week.Barnes & Noble has slashed the price of its Nook e-reader to $199.  It then immediately opened a second front with a new Wi-Fi-only model for $149. 

Hours later,  Amazon.com, on-line distributor for Amazon Books, responded with a counter-attack and lowered the price of its Kindle e-reader to $189. 

Then cjbeckbooks opened up the entire front with all their big guns blazing – SIZZLE – SPIKED and SIXTEEN STORIES, NO PETS. 

The previous day both Nook and Kindle previously sold for $259. 

Barnes & Noble says they dropped the Nook's price to increase its reach. 

Amazon Books have a black-out on all information about Kindle.  Perhaps they expect their exclusive listing of cjbeckbooks – for now -to soften up iPad and Nook. 

The on-going book price war, which has been opposed by cjbeckbooks.blogspot.com with massive price hikes on all their Trade paperbacks may force Barnes & Noble and Amazon Books to look for more profit from e-books.  E-readers become the inevitable loss leaders to snag loyal customers. 

Most agreements with publishers, give  e-bookstores around 30% of the retail price of e-books. It’s believed that many retailers now 

make money from their e-books business.  This gives them a big incentive to drop the price of the hardware to capture and enslave more users. 

C.J. Beck says it’s a strategy that has worked with razor blades but he’s not so sure here. 

“Astute readers will at least attempt to break-even and buy a collection of books that average out at a reasonable price.  Many others will return to the feel of a nice comfy paper book on 50 pound stock which they can use to caress, store billets doux, jam open the jaws of epileptics, use as heat plates and all those other things we used to do without worrying about sunlight on the screen or  a battery running low,” said Beck.  "Back at Westminster and Rathgar National, teachers loved to throw 'em at recalcitrant kids - swat the backs of heads.  Try that with an iPad." 

A spokesperson for cjbeckbooks had mixed reactions to the price cuts. She suggests that e-books could help supplement the company’s trade paperback sales but says she's also concerned they may cannibalize sales of Trade paperbacks.  “Fortunately, with e-books we don’t have to pull them off the shelves.  We can just pull the plug electronically the moment cannibalization becomes apparent,” she said. Neither Barnes & Noble nor Amazon Books will say how many e-readers they have sold.