Will 2011 be the year of the indie ebook?

Posted by Suzy Vitello Soulé on January 3rd, 2011 at 09:53 AM | | Tweet

From Coker: Publishers of all sizes will begin to realize obscurity is the biggest threat facing their business. Solution: maximize availability of product, leverage metadata, create books that resonate with readers, enlist fans as extension of sales force.

My mom sent me a Kindle for Christmas—an unexpected, yet happily received gift.  I know I’m the last on the digital communications block to get an e-reader, but, folks, I tend to wait, wait, wait it all out.  Until the bugs are squashed and the price is dirt cheap.  So, if it were up to me, I’d have my Kindle by Halloween.

Well, in short, a week in, I’m hooked.  Sort of. I love the instant access to words part, and I love the free anagram game that came with it, but, being somewhat of an anachronistic hag, I miss paging, flipping and handling the actual object. I’m just gonna say it: Kindles are not one bit sexy. Their wafer thinness and grayscale look remind me of watercress. Whereas the analog book, the thing we’re not supposed to judge by its cover?  Well, the tactile variety alone slaps a smile on me every time.  I like the tower of partially eviscerated reading material at my bedside, next to desk, on the coffee table and in other random piles.

That said, ebooks are here to stay, and, according to Mark Coker of Smashwords, the next big development in the digital delivery system will involve leveling the playing field for the indies. As ebook sales continue to rise, Coker claims that indie ebook authors are becoming increasingly savvy and professional, and have access to, essentially, the same tools the big boys have.

Caveat: Coker’s company, Smashwords, is an ebook distributor, so, of course he’s putting on the rosy glasses.  But.  The immediacy of the digital medium, the ease with which folks can purchase ebooks, the lower production costs of an ebook and the perpetual scrambling we’ve seen in the halls of traditional publishing do point to a flurry of activity in this sector.

What I’d like to see though, is a similar spike in visual interestingness.  I want more color, sharper images, sexier interfaces and more variety.  Though I’m enchanted by Kindle’s inner-workings, on the cover, it’s a tad plain.