Does S&S not care about people who read eBooks?

[ATimson]

^^^ Wouldn't anyone with half a brain check the availability and pricing of the eBooks before purchasing a rather pricey reader anyway ?

Depends on the reader. Right now, they're charging less insane prices for Kindle (equal to MMPB prices) than for other formats, but there's no reason to believe they'll stay that way, for those who know of S&S's past behavior. But if you don't know...

 

[Daddy Todd]

S&S does, apparently have some kind of e-book strategy (besides pissing off its customers, that is.)

At least according to this.

 

[JD]

I wonder if this will have any effect on Trek?

 

[cem1701]

I think one of the main reasons ebooks do not sell that well is the same reason that people have a mentality (one that I usually share) that if all a vendor is doing is delivering a digital good (IE. non-physical) that all the have to do is basically email me, then I am not willing to pay all that much for it. Take music. I will NEVER pay $1 for a song. If a CD in walmart costs $12 and I have the CD, why would I spend that much, if not more, to download it. 10-15 cents MAX for a song...then I will start downloading music. As far as ebooks... NO WAY would I be willing to pay anywhere near the cost of the physical book. $2-3 MAX is the price I would be willing to pay for an ebook. I'll just go buy the real thing.

 

[M.Robison]

Tis unfortunate that things are going to cost much more than they really need to...books included...

That's why I love a little store called Half Price Books!

 

[OmahaStar]

Tis unfortunate that things are going to cost much more than they really need to...books included...

That's why I love a little store called Half Price Books!

We have a HPB store in Omaha, and I thought it was a pretty nice little store. And then I visited the one in Minneapolis. The MN store looked like it had eaten ours. The whole Omaha store could have fit in the MN store's parking lot. And the variety, oh gods, the variety. And right across the street, a three-story Borders.

But I still love my Pageturners used bookstore.

 

[M.Robison]

Tis unfortunate that things are going to cost much more than they really need to...books included...

That's why I love a little store called Half Price Books!

We have a HPB store in Omaha, and I thought it was a pretty nice little store. And then I visited the one in Minneapolis. The MN store looked like it had eaten ours. The whole Omaha store could have fit in the MN store's parking lot. And the variety, oh gods, the variety. And right across the street, a three-story Borders.

But I still love my Pageturners used bookstore.

I could seriously lose a paycheck inside HPB, or any book store for that matter...yegads!

 

[ProwlAlpha]

HPB is the only reason why I goto my inlaws in the Twin Cities, well other than the fact they are are nice as hell.

 

[JD]

Tis unfortunate that things are going to cost much more than they really need to...books included...

That's why I love a little store called Half Price Books!

We have a HPB store in Omaha, and I thought it was a pretty nice little store. And then I visited the one in Minneapolis. The MN store looked like it had eaten ours. The whole Omaha store could have fit in the MN store's parking lot. And the variety, oh gods, the variety. And right across the street, a three-story Borders.

 

[Brynthe2]

Neither was firing Marco Palmieri, but S&S had to make some rash decisions over recent years. eBooks, both originals and reprints, certainly seem to have dropped off their radar, so presumably that whole department was causing major profit leakage.

While obviously the ebook only series have dropped off, I'd say that most new books are right on time with their ebooks (at least over the last 6 months or so - and I can only speak for Kindle versions.) Prior to that, Kindle versions of books took months to show up after the print versions.. now I'm seeing Kindle versions released on the book's "release date" pretty regularly (though thats usually a few weeks after they actually show up in stores.)

Prices have gone up on ebooks, but that seems to be the case across the board for Kindle, so I can't really blame S&S. Frankly, I'm paying for a story, for my entertainment.. the form it comes in is irrelavent to me.. so I'm not one to complain if the cost is comparable to a paperback.

As for DRM, its an unfortunate necessity, I feel, or else they truly would risk losing money across the board on ebooks.

Just remember, this is still a relatively new business model (in comparison to paper books) and will still take time to work out completely. Add in a shaky economy and it just adds a whole additional layer of difficulties to over come.

As for now, I'm mostly satisfied with how the ebooks are going, but I suppose if the Kindle availability were to change again, I'd have something to complain about.

 

[ATimson]

Prices have gone up on ebooks, but that seems to be the case across the board for Kindle, so I can't really blame S&S. Frankly, I'm paying for a story, for my entertainment.. the form it comes in is irrelavent to me.. so I'm not one to complain if the cost is comparable to a paperback.

Comparable is one thing. But non-Kindle formats are listing at 25% more than the paperback.

 

[Brynthe2]

Prices have gone up on ebooks, but that seems to be the case across the board for Kindle, so I can't really blame S&S. Frankly, I'm paying for a story, for my entertainment.. the form it comes in is irrelavent to me.. so I'm not one to complain if the cost is comparable to a paperback.

Comparable is one thing. But non-Kindle formats are listing at 25% more than the paperback.

In that case, I'd be pissed off as well.

I'd like to hear what the official justification is for that. Readers should not be penalized based on their choice of format, whether it be one of the various ebook formats or printed books. I understand the economy is creating problems all over the place, but pricing your customer's preferred product (digital vs. paper) out of their price range seems like a poor practice, if you're actually wanting to sell your product that is.

For me, there are very few books that I buy in paper format anymore (I'm still an avid Stephen King, 1st edition collector.) I can carry my Kindle with me wherever I go and always have a new book anytime I want. If they were to increase the prices on the Kindle versions above the paperback versions, frankly, I'd just stop buying the books altogether, and read something else. Hopefully, S&S is aware that there are customers out there like that and this is just a temporary setback, not a sign of the new norm.

 

[JWolf]

^^^ Wouldn't anyone with half a brain check the availability and pricing of the eBooks before purchasing a rather pricey reader anyway ?

Back when the Sony Reader PRS-505 and the Kindle 1 came out, prices for Star Trek eBooks were reasonable.

Prices have gone up on ebooks, but that seems to be the case across the board for Kindle, so I can't really blame S&S. Frankly, I'm paying for a story, for my entertainment.. the form it comes in is irrelavent to me.. so I'm not one to complain if the cost is comparable to a paperback.

Comparable is one thing. But non-Kindle formats are listing at 25% more than the paperback.

Actually, when the Star trek book first comes out, you can sometimes get it for less then you can on a Kindle.

 

[Thrawn]

Quite honestly, what's going on here is probably just experimentation with the new medium. It's all a question of demand. If the convenience of reading it on the Kindle is actually viewed as a commodity, and people will pay more for it, then more will be charged, it's simple economics.

I personally think that cheaper books is the selling point, not easier-to-read books, and that they'll come around eventually.

In any case, S&S is at least playing with the format; the Star Wars people are all but ignoring it entirely, only releasing completed series well after they've finished.

 

[JWolf]

Quite honestly, what's going on here is probably just experimentation with the new medium. It's all a question of demand. If the convenience of reading it on the Kindle is actually viewed as a commodity, and people will pay more for it, then more will be charged, it's simple economics.

I personally think that cheaper books is the selling point, not easier-to-read books, and that they'll come around eventually.

In any case, S&S is at least playing with the format; the Star Wars people are all but ignoring it entirely, only releasing completed series well after they've finished.

S&S is going downhill fast. They were releasing Trek eBooks in MS Reader format. Now they are ignoring MS Reader format. And they only sell PDF and eReader on their site. They do make Mobipocket, but you have to get that elsewhere. Also prices were reasonable too. Now they've limited formats, and raised prices. This is not how to keep customers or win new ones. Also, the Kindle is not the be all and end off of eBook readers. In fact, Amazon is going to lose the market big time if they don't get over having to have total control. ePub is going to be the format of choice and Amazon will be stuck with their modified Mobipocket.

 

[Thrawn]

Quite honestly, what's going on here is probably just experimentation with the new medium. It's all a question of demand. If the convenience of reading it on the Kindle is actually viewed as a commodity, and people will pay more for it, then more will be charged, it's simple economics.

I personally think that cheaper books is the selling point, not easier-to-read books, and that they'll come around eventually.

In any case, S&S is at least playing with the format; the Star Wars people are all but ignoring it entirely, only releasing completed series well after they've finished.

S&S is going downhill fast. They were releasing Trek eBooks in MS Reader format. Now they are ignoring MS Reader format. And they only sell PDF and eReader on their site. They do make Mobipocket, but you have to get that elsewhere. Also prices were reasonable too. Now they've limited formats, and raised prices. This is not how to keep customers or win new ones. Also, the Kindle is not the be all and end off of eBook readers. In fact, Amazon is going to lose the market big time if they don't get over having to have total control. ePub is going to be the format of choice and Amazon will be stuck with their modified Mobipocket.

Yeah, people said the same thing about Apple and the iTunes store. They adapted eventually.

Really, comfortable & commercially viable eBooks readers have been on the market for just barely two years. Industries simply don't change that fast. Give this another... oh, let's say, 5 years, and then you can bitch if they aren't doing it right.

 

[cem1701]

Like I said before, anything that is digitally delivered should be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than anything physically delivered. Music should be no more than $0.10-$0.25 per song and ebooks should be no more than $3 or $4.

 

[Thrawn]

Like I said before, anything that is digitally delivered should be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than anything physically delivered. Music should be no more than $0.10-$0.25 per song and ebooks should be no more than $3 or $4.

The market disagrees.

 

[ATimson]

Like I said before, anything that is digitally delivered should be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than anything physically delivered. Music should be no more than $0.10-$0.25 per song and ebooks should be no more than $3 or $4.

The market disagrees.

Show me people not buying significantly more at his cited price points than at their current ones, and you can make that assertion. Otherwise, it's hard to say that the market disagrees, when the market has never had a chance to voice its opinion on such prices.

 

[Smiley]

The prices for downloadable media can't be that much cheaper than those charged for the physical versions. It still takes the same amount of people to create the content itself. 50 cents savings in printing/distribution/storage costs is feasible, but not $4.