Joe Wikert on One-Click eBook Sampling

Wikert is, as usual, on to something:

I rarely buy print books these days but I still love visiting my local bookstore to browse the latest releases. The scenario typically plays out like this: I find something interesting and I pull out my iPhone to see if it's available in the iBookstore or the Kindle store. If it is, I press a few more buttons to have the sample sent to my iPad.

What's wrong with this picture? First, you could argue I shouldn't be browsing in my local bookstore if my intent is to buy online. That's an issue the brick-and-mortar stores need to figure out. And when they solve that problem, I hope it's by embracing the online world, not asking everyone to leave their iPhones at the door!

Actually, what's wrong here is the fact that I have to go through so many steps to get an ebook sample. Why don't the major bookstores have apps that let me take a picture, and with that one simple click, push the ebook's sample to my device? Sampling is one of the key steps I take along the way to making an ebook purchase. I've probably got a couple dozen ebook samples in my Kindle and iBooks apps on my iPad; I have yet to buy an ebook without sampling it first.

So here's a chance for any book retailer with a mobile app to dramatically extend their reach. ...