Amazon Nails It

Looks like the Kindle 2 comes out today, with an interesting twist: an exclusive novel from Stephen King.

I predicted years ago (as a book editor at the time) that a powerful author would be the first to drive real disintermediation of publishers. At the time, I also believed it would be Stephen King! (He’s played with this before, but not with such good execution as I know the Kindle will deliver.)

More importantly, I’ve been delighted by my Kindle 1 and am thrilled to see it continuing to get better and reach more mainstream readers, while also helping break the back of the retail distribution chain for books. This is good for writers too: more reasonable distribution costs = more reasonable pricing for consumers = more room for author royalties.

With any luck, other variations of this technology will continue to arrive and Amazon won’t get to the point of punitive pricing. . . .

Anyway, if you’re thinking of getting one, consider this a +1.