Red alert:  Kindle ebooks market is about to get a whole lot more crowded.  And not with the good stuff.  Somebody got the bright idea to compile information already in the public domain and sell it as a 99 cent ebook on Kindle.  There are even learning systems out there (one for a whopping $27) to tell you step-by-step how to flood the market with these crappy Kindle books.  The business model:  the more stuff you throw at the Kindle wall, the more you can nickel-and-dime your way to success.  I don’t know whether to laugh or get mad.

Ordinarily, I would ignore these shenanigans but want to give you a heads up.  Why do you care?  Two reasons:  first, will the volume of 99 cent books drive down the price?  And, if so, how low can legitimate experts go?  And, second…buyers tend to paint with a very wide brush.  If spam books take over a particular segment — business growth, for example — will legitimate content be seen as the same thing at first glance?  It will be interesting to see how Amazon deals with these content farmers.

Bottom line:  spammers tend to bring the channel down with them (Exhibit A:  email marketing).  So we will have to work even harder on branding and promotion.