This is my recommended read of the week. It’s a very thorough investigation into how the behemoth that makes everything from iPhones to Kindles works and abuses those who work for them. It is a very sobering article.
Kindle
Paul Kedrosky’s Charts Newsletter had this wonderful graphic highlighting the increasing woes of traditional media formats, thanks to millennials and GenZ. However, things don’t look bad for one category: books.

Kids (and older kids) are still reading books at a decent clip, and perhaps will continue to do so, mostly it is a good antidote to the fractionalized and noisy media environment. This is such a huge opportunity for innovation around the “book” format.
With digital book formats and the rise of audiobooks, there is an opportunity to make books more in sync with the new audience. For start, books could be leaner — most books are about 50 percent overweight. They could be published faster — the current cycle takes somewhere between 18-to-24 months before a book is available to the readers. My ideal book — given my millennial like attention span — is one that takes an equivalent of a flight across the country.
The old fashioned paper books have one problem — they take up too much space. I grapple with that issue all the time — I have too many books and need to give some away!
November 13, 2020, San Francisco
Why the Kindle App Is Just Better With Bookerly
I was spending too much time on Facebook and Twitter, so I took them off my home screen and replaced them with the Reeder and the Kindle apps, mostly to go back to reading the good stuff whenever I have a few minutes. The Kindle app is getting a lot of use, largely due to … Continue reading Why the Kindle App Is Just Better With Bookerly
Matt MacInnis
Matt MacInnis is the co-founder and CEO of Inkling Systems. He started the digital publishing company after leaving Apple. The rumors of the iPad might have had something to do with his decision. Introduction Almost every day I wonder why the book hasn’t been reinvented. New technologies have helped us make the publishing process and … Continue reading Matt MacInnis
Kindle Unlimited, Uninterested
So far, I have hesitated to try any of the new services — Oyster and Scribd — that offer you unlimited access to books for a flat monthly fee. Why? Rohit put it best on Twitter, “Feels a bit like gym membership – feels good to have it, not sure if it is fully utilized. Besides, … Continue reading Kindle Unlimited, Uninterested