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

[JWolf]

I've been trying to find Troublesome Minds in Mobipocket format and all I can find is eReader and PDF. Is S&S cutting back yet again on the eBook formats they will be offering for their Star Trek eBooks? Is this yet another affront to those of use with readers? Whoever runs the eBooks at S&S really needs to get a clue. They way to alienate/piss off customers is to do just what they are doing by raising prices past the paperback prices and eliminating eBook formats we do want.

Whoever is in charge of this is doing a really poor job and I think it's time the axe fell and they got someone who can put the eBooks back the way they were.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Whoever is in charge of this is doing a really poor job and I think it's time the axe fell and they got someone who can put the eBooks back the way they were.

Sounds like the eBook arm of S&S was unprofitable before, so injecting good money after bad is not always the best move.

 

[JWolf]

But, more and more readers are being sold. And also, eBooks are an easy way to get most of the back catalog that are no longer in print. Given that some books are going for ridiculous amounts in the used market, eBooks would be a logical choice. But it's hard to make that choice when the prices are so high. eBooks do not cost more to make then paperbacks. So why price them like they do?

 

[ATimson]

Sounds like the eBook arm of S&S was unprofitable before, so injecting good money after bad is not always the best move.

The original ebooks weren't profitable. It would take a much smaller sales volume for the ebooks of print titles to be profitable.

Plus, not generating a Mobipocket version also means abandoning Kindle sales, which doesn't seem like a terribly bright move.

 

[Dayton Ward]

It seems to be hidden rather cleverly on the Mobipocket site. I had to enter the search term "troublesome minds" before I found it.

Yoo hoo!

 

[JWolf]

Mobipocket.com charges full price. And full price is higher then full price for the paperback. So that's out. I'm just wondering why Troublesome Minds is so hard to find with any sort of decent discount in Mobipocket format. eBooks cost less to make then the paper edition. So why charge more then the paper edition? it makes no sence and it loses customers too.

 

[Trekarama]

Hi Jon,

I remember reading some time back about publishers being worried about online piracy harming their profits. This may or may not be the reason for the steep price of ebooks. The rational is that if I buy a mass market paperback for let's say $8.00. I read it and then give it to a friend or relative to read, the publisher has has already made their maximum profit, as they expect a book to be passed along once or twice. Let's say I buy the same book in ebook format for a discounted price of $5.00. I then make several copies and either post them at various places or e-mail them to friends. The company would not make maximum profit and in fact may have lost money on future sales, because ebook format can be shared more readily, and on a larger scale than a physical book. I can see why publishers make the decisions they do, but I don't neccessarily agree with them. First, not everyone who buys ebooks have the intention to pirate them. Most people are law abiding citizens who are willing to pay for something rather than steal it. Secondly, many people myself included read almost everything exclusively through e-readers. To turn a deaf ear to a ever growing consumer base is just bad buisness in the long run. Hopefully, sometime soon the publishers will realize that e-books can be profitable if marketed correctly.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Mobipocket.com charges full price. And full price is higher then full price for the paperback. So that's out.

That's not what you said. Your original query was that you could not seem to find the e-Book in Mobipocket format.

You're welcome, by the way.

 

[JWolf]

Hi Jon,

I remember reading some time back about publishers being worried about online piracy harming their profits. This may or may not be the reason for the steep price of ebooks. The rational is that if I buy a mass market paperback for let's say $8.00. I read it and then give it to a friend or relative to read, the publisher has has already made their maximum profit, as they expect a book to be passed along once or twice. Let's say I buy the same book in ebook format for a discounted price of $5.00. I then make several copies and either post them at various places or e-mail them to friends. The company would not make maximum profit and in fact may have lost money on future sales, because ebook format can be shared more readily, and on a larger scale than a physical book. I can see why publishers make the decisions they do, but I don't necessarily agree with them. First, not everyone who buys ebooks have the intention to pirate them. Most people are law abiding citizens who are willing to pay for something rather than steal it. Secondly, many people myself included read almost everything exclusively through e-readers. To turn a deaf ear to a ever growing consumer base is just bad buisness in the long run. Hopefully, sometime soon the publishers will realize that e-books can be profitable if marketed correctly.

Take a look at Baen. They sell DRM free eBooks at reasonable prices. And they make a good profit too. Sell eBooks at reasonable prices and people will buy them. Make them DRM free and it's a win-win situation. When the prices are out of whack, then people go trolling the darknet to find the eBooks they want. So all S&S is doing is sending people to the darknet to find free eBooks. Put the prices back to what they were before the increase and they will have more sales.

 

[Steve Roby]

How many of Baen's books are licensed tie-ins? Could be that there are costs and terms and conditions in the Star Trek license that make the Baen model an impractical one for Pocket to follow.

 

[ATimson]

How many of Baen's books are licensed tie-ins? Could be that there are costs and terms and conditions in the Star Trek license that make the Baen model an impractical one for Pocket to follow.

That could explain the DRM (though I tend to doubt it). That wouldn't explain the pricing, unless they accepted a bad contract in their most recent renegotiations, as it used to be acceptable.

 

[fleetcaptain]

I didn't get into the ebooks myself til Slings and Arrows started to come out last year. I'm still collecting the last 3 books and about to read them soon. I was waiting til maybe a tpb came out but since it wasn't on the list for next year's releases, I just decided try ebooks out. I was sad to hear that Pocket decided to stop with that line.

 

[JWolf]

How many of Baen's books are licensed tie-ins? Could be that there are costs and terms and conditions in the Star Trek license that make the Baen model an impractical one for Pocket to follow.

That could explain the DRM (though I tend to doubt it). That wouldn't explain the pricing, unless they accepted a bad contract in their most recent renegotiations, as it used to be acceptable.

I understandand the DRM. I just don't agree with it. Anyway, other publishers have said that it dos not cost as much to produce eBooks as it does paperback books. Yes it's the same until it's time to make the books. But you don't have the same costs at that point. So there is no reason to have the eBooks be more expensive when they actually cost less to make and you can keep them around to fill in the catalog when the paper book are no longer being sold. So eBooks can be a win-win if they are not priced so high. To charge $9.99 for a book that in paper lists for $7.99 is calling the readers stupid. I'm sorry, but we are not stupid. So why treat us like we are?

 

[VanCardboardbox]

I agree with JWolf. For a content owner to price an infinite good higher than a scarce good is makes no sense. Why charge less for a book that requires print shops & staff, paper stock, ink, trucks, and cargo ships than for a digital version that can be downloaded an infinite number of times from a single copy at almost no cost? Even taking into account the technical infrastructure necessary to make ebooks available to consumers, the paperbacks cost more to produce and to distribute.

If publishers are using higher pricing to dissuade consumers from purchasing digital goods for fear of file sharing, one wonders why they put digital products out into the marketplace at all. But as JWolf points out, someone is buying all these Kindles and Sony Readers. If S&S isn't feeling inclined to sell books to this growing market, someone else will.

 

[OmahaStar]

It seems to me that S&S is back to being followers. When they started the SCE line of ebooks, as a monthly title, they were leaders in the publishing world. Since that went away, they've jacked up their prices, made it difficult to find more than about three basic formats, and have truly become followers instead of leaders. I hope they wake up and realize just what possibility they've got on their hands instead of letting it slip away.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The original ebooks weren't profitable. It would take a much smaller sales volume for the ebooks of print titles to be profitable.

Plus, not generating a Mobipocket version also means abandoning Kindle sales, which doesn't seem like a terribly bright move.

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.

 

[DimesDan]

Not wanting to sound crass or anything, but shit happens. live with it.

From how I understand it, they (S&S) are like the rest of the world's businesses are having to deal with some pretty direr financial problems, I assume they are trying to deal with this. Yes they may have not stopped selling discounted ebooks, but so bloody what, I would rather have a company that produces both hard and e copies of books, instead of, you know what, known at all.

And this is another assumption, but I really don't think they would last long as a company if they kept selling both ebooks and hard copies at low(ish) prices as I'm also really surprised that they haven't increased the price of a MMPB by another Pound, Random House for Star Wars novels have.

So. Please coming on here and bitching about the current situation of ebooks, as I have said and people who have a far more intimate knowledge of the situation have said, KNOW ONE who can deal with this posts here, NOT ONE and it is a futile act to come on here and do what you (Jwolf) have done.

 

[ATimson]

So. Please coming on here and bitching about the current situation of ebooks, as I have said and people who have a far more intimate knowledge of the situation have said, KNOW ONE who can deal with this posts here, NOT ONE and it is a futile act to come on here and do what you (Jwolf) have done.

Yes, well, talking to S&S's ebook department via the contact link on their website produces no response at all. At least posting here lets a wider group of people know what's going on, even if it doesn't influence them into stopping purchases from S&S.

 

[JWolf]

If people were planning on getting a reader of some kind for reading new Star Trek eBooks, this thread will let them know what's going on before they do.

 

[Defcon]

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