Amazon’s Kindle 2: Clash Between Old & New

By Stephen Palmer • February 12th, 2009 • Email This Post • Print This Post

Wired reported today that the Authors Guild is objecting to the new text-to-speech functionality found in Amazon’s Kindle 2. The updated version uses a digital voice to read books audibly.

“Until this issue is worked out, Amazon may be undermining your audio market as it exploits your e-books,” the guild told its members in a memo Thursday.

This is a classic clash between the old, Industrial Age business mindset and the new, Information age mindset.

The Authors Guild was founded in 1912, and, as their current actions indicate, they’re still stuck in the 1912 mindset. According to their website, “The Authors Guild has been the nation’s leading advocate for writers’ interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression since it was founded…”

The old business model was closed, protectionist, proprietary.

In contrast, the new world view necessitates openness, authenticity, generosity, and relinquishing control.

Technology gives customers unprecedented control. The music industry is fighting the exact same battle as shareware has exploded across the Internet. The newspaper industry is dying while a few within the industry refuse to read the writing on the wall.

The Authors Guild and the music industry may win a few battles here and there, but the war has already been won — by consumers.

Are consumers breaking laws, even being unethical? Probably. Should companies use the law to protect intellectual property? Sure.

But they shouldn’t fight wars that cannot be won. What the Authors Guild is doing is like farmers in the 19th Century fighting against industrialism. It’s like Saddam’s Iraq fighting the United States.

Give it up already.

Consider these comments by angry consumers taken from the report by Wired:

“So what you’re saying is if I read aloud to my kid I have to buy a second copy of each book? What if I read it to their friends? Do the blind have to have an authorized audio copy for everything read to them by a Kindle? Blatant abuse of copyright, and complete abuse of process to get more money. Ebooks often cost at least as much as the paperbacks without the printing or distribution costs…so free money anyways! Let them rot.”

“They’ve got to be kidding.”

“ok guild… guess you hired the wrong law firm to represent you in the first place…This is downright silly. Go home.”

“That’s kinda stupid. My computer has the ability to read my email or whatever text I need on demand. How is this added function on the kindle any different than the text to speech software available on my pc?”

What could the Authors Guild do for authors if they accepted inevitabilities, transformed their mindset, and put their time, energy, and resources into adapting to the new rules of Information Age business?

What if they became creative, rather than defensive and reactionary?

Whether you agree or disagree with the market shifts is irrelevant. The fact is that massive change is upon us. The new model — where your material is going to be distributed through technology whether you like it or not and regardless of copyright law — is here to stay.

So what does this mean? How can it translate into your business?

If you’re an author, give away your content by blogging your entire books. You’ll find that you’ll actually sell more printed books.

If you’re a real estate investor with amazing trade secrets, give them away and make money by monetizing a blog through advertising, products, and affiliate offers.

If you’re a musician, give away your music and make money selling merchandise to your tribe.

Shift your advertising dollars away from interruptive media, such as billboards and TV ads, and into social media outlets instead. Become a part of the conversations your customers are already having and serve them on their terms.

The core principle is to relinquish control. As we write in our free e-book The Hub Mentality, get out of the driver’s seat, let your customers drive, and you provide the car that they want to drive.

You can’t control what customers do. But you can facilitate the fulfillment of their wants.

In the case of the Authors Guild, they would better serve writers, as well as consumers, by embracing the new technology and urging writers to get Kindle versions of their books as soon as possible. They should see Kindle as a profound opportunity, rather than a threat.

So what’s your attitude? Do you feel threatened, or invigorated by new media? Are you in harvesting-opportunity mode, or put-on-the-gloves-and-fight mode?

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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.