eBooks are a good way to have the out-of-print pBooks available to those who want them. But this serious raise in price is going to jeopardize this. When a book is out-of-print and old enough people expect the price to be reasonable. The prices used to be reasonable. Who decided that the eBook prices are to be so high and in some cases higher then the pBook price? To be honest, the person or persons who decided this seriously need to be fired.
Exactly, JWolf. I'd love to get my hands on Vanguard #3: Reap the Whirlwind - but it's not available as PB (at least not at a reasonable price, not even 2nd hand), so I considered buying it as e-book... but sorry, I'm not willing to pay 10$ or even more.
You can get it here in PB at a pretty reasonable price. http://product.half.ebay.com/Reap-the-Whirlwind_W0QQprZ57195037QQtgZinfo In regards to pricing, it almost feels like the powers to be actually want the format to fail. Why else would you price something so non-competitively? Not that I'm looking for a conspiracy, but I could see a line of reasoning..."if ebooks really succeed, then the book stores will take an even bigger hit (esp in this economy), so lets discourage the medium so that we don't hurt our bread 'n butter profit centers." I mean, really, how can they justify $10 for an $8 paperback that used to be around $5 last year for new releases?
Just looking at it from a business perspective, I can imagine the following scenario: At the beginning of the new millennium, having witnessed the internet boom and the Napster-fueled collapse of the recording industry, publishers are terrified about the collapse of their own industry. Determined to keep it from happening, they elect to invest a large sum in developing ebook product and the hardware/networking infrastructure to support it. They spend 6 or 7 years supporting that infrastructure, but it never takes off in a big way, and they consistently lose money on the proposition. Along comes the biggest recession since the Great Depression, and book sales across the board, which have been losing ground for decades, fall through the floor - ebook sales collapse as well. Corporations restructure in an attempt to find a way back to profitability. One part of that restructure is that ebooks lose their subsidy. Then Amazon introduces the Kindle, and sets something of an industry standard for an ebook price: $10.00. S&S, which hasn't been making a huge ROI on their ebook line, adjusts their price to match. Raising the price of ebooks seems a better alternative to killing the product entirely. The bean counters raise the price, which may end up killing the product for them -- but them's the breaks. Ebooks will likely live on, as something of an upscale luxury, rather than a cheaper-than-dirt alternative for those who find the price of mass market paperbacks to be too high. It's not a conspiracy, it's just the interplay of market forces in a free-market economy. Those who buy ebooks may be passionate about the platform; there just aren't enough buyers to make it economically viable at a bargain price point.
A standard price for hardcovers, with paperbacks being priced at or below the price of their virtual equivalents.
Bleh...I like the idea of a conspiracy better. (I'm thinking brainstem sucking parasites, here...and not the cute ones either). Kidding aside...good points. However, and this is just a personal feeling, I don't think the world of publishing is as frought with piracy as the music industry is. Seems like there are pretty good safeguards in place for written content. And, not that I in any way condone it, it looks like most of what is out there is simply scanned and OCR'd, which cannot be fought via DRM anyways. I don't argue that it's a marginal industry at this point, but to charge a 20% premium over retail for what cleary costs less to produce appears to be a loosing proposition. Since the profit margins should be significantly higher on ebooks, should they not be promoting the hell out of them now...especially in today's reality of high manufacturing costs (and I wont even touch on the environmental argument)? I would be happy if there was even cost parity between ebooks and pbooks. In today's economy every dollar counts, and while I do enjoy the portability and lighter environmental impact of ebooks, I will not pay a premium. Once the economy settles, I will feel better about making the green decision, but cannot right now. I have gone back to pbook if I cannot find the ebook at even money. Fortunately, there are other etailers for ebooks that seem to get it. All of my recent purchases have been through BooksonBoard.com and Diesel-ebooks.com. Not the same deals as the old S&S, but better than retail pbooks.
I just sent S&S's Customer Service a kind of harsh message via their online form. I hope they get the point and realize all they will end up doing is lose customers.
amazon.com marketplace has some reasonable prices for new and used copies. I don't know your location, though, so I'm not sure how much extra cost you would have to add on...
Like I said over at MobileRead, I hope you get a reply, Jon. It's been about four weeks since I contacted them and I haven't gotten a response. I waited 10 days and wrote again, still nothing. I really, really hope you get a response; I'll keep my fingers crossed for an update.
Titan: Over a Torrent Sea actually released today! The first ebook in a long time that released on time. Hurray! S&S price for pbook - $8 S&S price for ebook - $10 (adobe, palm format) Diesel price for ebook - $9.64 (adobe, palm format) BooksonBoard price for ebook - $7.84 (adobe, mobi & palm format) Also available at Fictionwise, at a good price...maybe. If you can figure out their micropay/rebate silliness. Not available at eReader.com (nor any other recent Trek ebooks). Why is that site even still around? All of you ebook readers out there...speak with your dollars.
Or if the country you are in does not use the dollar, use your Pound Stirling or Euros instead Is the Euro still stronger than the US Dollar at the moment?
The exchange rate is at 1,26$ for 1 Euro - but the Euro was stronger about half a year ago with 1,6$ for 1 Euro. I'm hoping and waiting for the latter exchange rate again for any purchases of ebooks or generally from US-based sellers.
I was sorta thinking about getting into ebooks, but reading this thread has not thrilled me. Ebooks cost more than paperbacks? How does that make any sense?
It seems like a false economy to me. I don't see the point of buying a reader which could be upto 200 - 300 plus quid in price and then, buying ebooks at a few pounds less in price than a paper book, it would take several dozen purchases before you've broken equal with them (which would take upto two years given my purchasing pattern) and still, you've got the original purchase of the reader. Where as with a paperback, you go into a book shop (or where ever you buy them from) pay for it in one lump sum, no having to buy something special to read it on. Now, until that plasticpaper is created like in Minority Report where I can read the newspaper or a book, I will stick to my dead trees.
That's because you're looking at it only from a price perspective, and ignoring the other benefits a reading device can have. The PDA I use as a reader keeps hundreds of books in my pocket, so I don't have to worry about finishing one and not having another. It's backlit, so I can read in the dark. Plus it has other handy features (music/video playback, web browsing via wifi, solitare) that I use on occasion.
I never worry if I finish a book and I don't have another one to read. Period. If I am about to finish a book, I'll either look through my to read pile and read something from there or like now when I just have books I've read before on that pile, I'll pick one out. But if I'm away and not near my book collection, it's not the end of the world if I don't have something to read straight away. I own a rather powerful LED torch which I strap onto my head (think a miners torch) and I can use that to read that if I feel like reading in the dark. The only time I'd actually read in the dark is when camping and I don't really read when camping. I can play AV on my phone or if I had a seperate MP3 player, I would listen to it on that. As for email, I can check my email on my phone, I very rarely do though as I'm normally connected to a Network and if I'm away from the net, if I really feel the need to go online, I'll go to an internet cafe or the some such. But, I can go without the internet so having access to it through a PDA has no appeal what so ever. So yes, I am only looking at it from a price prospective because I can do ALL the things a PDA can do already and it ain't worth me forking out £300 on something to read a book when I can get that same book under a tenner normally.
I use a PDA, Dell Axim X51V, for reading my ebooks (also for watching movies, listening to music and surfing too). I keep a library of dozens of books on my device of many different genres. I also have a few books on my Windows Mobile Smartphone. If eReader has given us anything over the last few years it has been a robust, nice ebook reader program that runs on just about everything (even many phones). I have the software on my laptop, Mac, phone and PDA. That gives me plenty of flexibility to read wherever and whenever I like. I'm not sold on dropping $200-$400 on a dedicated device that does little more than display books.