The elections are coming, and Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle wants to cash in on the bipartisanship fervor.
A pair of biographies on the potential first ladies -- one on Michelle Obama, and another on Cindy McCain -- are being made available exclusively to Kindle readers over the next few days, months before the books hit retailers.
It's a major marketing coup for Amazon's e-book reader, but it's really just common sense on the publishing side. News-driven biographies need to hit the market quickly to be effective, and the old-school way of printing, shipping, and arranging distribution logistics can take weeks, if not months, to complete. By then, the subject matter may already be stale.
In fact, while Obama's biography won't be out until later this year, the McCain read will come out in book form only if her husband wins come November. In other words, Kindle sales of the online version of McCain's book will actually help eliminate the possibility of the title's investment being a complete loss.
Sure, the Kindle audience -- by most unofficial accounts -- is still quite small. Lower prices and new features will help change that in the coming quarters. However, publishers are now embracing the reinvention of the book distribution process.
That's great news for Amazon and Sony (NYSE: SNE) as they make their mark in e-book gadgetry. It should also be welcome news to publishers, who can now eliminate some of the risk of news-driven projects. After all, Olympian winner biographies may be hot right now, but will the market still be there in a few months? When a team wins it all, a catastrophic disaster strikes, or a feel-good story wins the media's fancy, Andy Warhol's legendary 15 minutes of fame can tick by awfully fast.
By the same token, it's also bad news for traditional booksellers. Even as chains like Borders (NYSE: BGP), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), and Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) wait for print copies, Kindle's digital downloads are stealing their thunder.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hasn't been open about Kindle sales figures, but he's got a hot hand in a hot story right now. So whether Obama or McCain emerges victorious in two months, Bezos can't lose. How's that for a bipartisan victory?
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