E-book Links for October 12-17: Kindle Singles, pricing insanity, eSuckers, iBookstore flopping?

E-Books: No Friends of Free Expression [Ted Striphas, The Late Age of Print] “I argue that however convenient a means Kindle may be for acquiring e-books and other types of digital content, the device nevertheless disposes reading to serve a host of inconvenient—indeed, illiberal—ends. Consequently, the technology underscores the growing importance of a new and fundamental right to counterbalance the illiberal tendencies that it embodies—a 'right to read,' which would complement the existing right to free expression."

eBook Pricing Goes Outright Insane! [Mike Cane’s xBlog]: "Pay more and get less! Tell me how that isn’t having contempt for all of us eBook buyers! Never in the history of American business has one industry done so much to guarantee its own failure."

The iBookstore six months after launch: One big failure [David Winograd, TUAW]: "Unless Apple and Random House can make nice, there are a ton of books that won't be sold by Apple, and customer expectations of getting anything they want, when they want it, fade away."

This Way To The eGress eBook eSuckers [Mike Cane, the Digital Reader]: "Going with pay-for services such as these are just a sucker’s game. You lose control of proper book formatting, you lose control of your ISBN and metadata ownership, and you’re forever giving someone else a cut of your money for work you could have done yourself."

How Writers Can Turn Their Archives into eBooks [Carl Zimmer, The Atlantic]: "if you're an author with an ill-fitting piece of writing you think is good — good enough that people might want to buy it — you can just publish it yourself and put your hunch to the test. No warehouse required."

Authors and ebook problems: expanding the net of responisbility [Rich Adin, TeleRead]: "Too many ebooks are being released that are poorly formatted and rife with errors that could easily be corrected just by proofreading the converted version before releasing the ebook on the unsuspecting public. This should be of primary importance to authors."

Kindle Singles: A new potential home for in-depth news? [Josh Benton, Nieman Lab]: "Not many people are willing to read 15,000 words on a laptop screen, and it’s not surprising that many great newspaper series don’t get great traffic online. But shift that narrative to a Kindle or an iPad, and maybe more people are willing to invest the time. Maybe even the money, too."

Kindle Singles Will Bring Novellas, Chapbooks and Pamphlets to E-Readers [Tim Carmody, Wired]: "Individual writers may benefit the most from the program, as it makes it easier for them to self-publish works that precisely for reasons of length can’t find support from traditional publishers."

Amazon Introduces The Digital Pamphlet With ‘Kindle Singles’ [TechCrunch]: "A perfect, natural length to lay out a single killer idea, well researched, well argued and well illustrated."