They didn't have to. But when SCE came out, it was promoted as an eBook-only series. Publicity stated it would "never be available in hardcopy", IIRC. As had the publicity for Sulu audios. So the similarity (to me) was worth mentioning.
If I already said this I apologize, but I just want to explain why I never got into the ebooks. For me it was mostly an issue of not being familiar with Ebooks, and I didn't control my finances until recently I would have had to convince my mom to buy them for me, and I doubt very much that she would have since she doesn't know anything about eBooks. Now as for me, it was pretty much the same thing, I don't have a reader, so I would have to read them on my computer, and I know nothing about which format to use, or how to go about saving them or whatever. Then, when I found out that the series was already coming out in PB for I decided to just stick to them at least at first. Now, I'm not completely against eBooks, in fact I was actually planning on buying the eBooks once I got caught up, but I guess now that won't happen.
I'm trying to do my part! I'm buying the collections as e-books right now because they're convenient for me (they weren't before). Once I catch up, which should be before the next collection comes out, or at most just that one), I'll start catching up on the e-books themselves. Thanks for the update, KRAD, even if it is tentative. Dave
Yes, but they didn't bring it back as a weekly series. That's the point. Sales of a reissue in a different medium may help convince executives to take a chance on reviving the property in a new format, but by themselves they don't justify continuation of the original format -- not if there isn't enough support for the work in that original format. As I've said, sales of CoE reprints might lead to new CoE fiction in paperback form, but I don't think it's likely to return in monthly eBook form until or unless we get to a point where larger numbers of people show they're willing to buy eBooks. And that might take a few more years to sort out the technological and licensing obstacles.
Firefly had the slight problem of Fox having the exclusive rights to the show for a decade or so. Even if the DVD sales were enough for another network like Sci-Fi to bring it back, they couldn't. Baen seems to have done well enough sorting them out. Unfortunately, the other publishers haven't yet got a clue.
^^Well, the publishers can't sort out the technological obstacles. That's a hardware issue -- getting digital-paper readers to the point that they're inexpensive, widely available, able to support multiple formats, etc. Also I think a good approach would be to design them with two "leaves" that fold open into facing pages, to more closely approximate the look and feel of reading a paper book. That might win over some of the traditionalists.
Actually, it's a DRM issue which the publisher can sort out. Baen has been doing well with no DRM. What I yhink a lot of people are having trouble with is that if they buy the eBooks to read on the computer that the DRM will get in the way so that when they do someday buy a portable reading device, that all the eBook they've purchased will be useless thanks to the DRM and incompatible format. The DRM will prevent converting to a format that the new device can handle. The DRM which is supposed to stop piracy also stops sales too.