Trek Books for Kindle
- Thread starter terpette
- Start date
Hi everyone! I'm back!
I got a Kindle for Yule and I'm trying not to go too nuts buying books. Anyone have recommendations for the best deals on Trek e-books?
Also, I wanted to point out to our author contingent... some of the book prices set for the Kindle are the same as the dead tree copies. Not all, but the current MM paperbacks are the same price, and that bugs me. E-books should be cheaper. I'll certainly buy more of them if I just have to download something instantly instead of driving the 20 miles to my nearest Borders!
Karen
What we have the the Agency model and you won't find deals of Star Trek eBooks from anyone selling them no matter the format.
Basically, the agency model, the publisher sets the prices, screws the customer and allow no sales or discounts at all.
So you will get a better price on the paper edition as you can get coupons in email from say Borders where you get nothing for the Star Trek eBooks. The Agency 5 (S&S is one of them) does not care about you as a customer. They don't care to make you happy with reasonable prices and occasional discounts. They are out for what they can get. Also, the quality of Star trek eBooks has gone downhill. The Typhon Pact ePub editions has embedded fonts. But they don't display because S&S doesn't bother to actually make sure their eBooks are formatted properly before releasing them. I have to strip the DRM in order to make sure the formatting is correct. So I go in and fix things.
Oh and do not buy any eBooks direct from S&S. I did and when I had a problem with one of them, I had a hell of a time finding someone to actually be able to deal with it. And the only way it was dealt with was to return my money. Pissed me off as I got it on discount and had to rebuy it at full price someplace else.
I know your Kindle is a nice toy. I have a Sony Reader PRS-650 that I enjoy using. But S&S is not making it fun to get their eBooks.
You have to first strip the DRM from the PDF and then you can TRY to convert it. But it will come out poorly and it's not worth bothering to try to fix. So if you have your Trek eBook in PDF, delete and buy them again in an eBook format. PDF is not an eBook format. I know the K3 handles PDF, but given that the screen is only 6 inches and the PDF is made for 8.5x11 and has wide margins, the PDF won't look nice enough on screen to enjoy reading it.
Think that's a matter of opinion. I enjoy reading on my Kindle. Of course the fact that the text size can be made larger than the text on a printed book helps. To me, the formatting issue is no worse than it is when changing a manuscript's font size from say, 12 to 16. Since I'm used to that, I'm also used to the mess that can make of margins and where chapter headings appear on a page, for example.
I happen to like how occasionally that means the chapter headings appear on a separate page from the beginning of the chapter.
I think you misunderstand. I'm not talking reading AZW/Mobipocket eBooks. Those aren't an issue. It's PDF that's an issue. Most PDF will look bad and be small on the screen. I have a Sony Reader PRS-650 and it handles PDF better then the K3. But that still doesn't make it good enough.
Basically, unless the PDF is made to fit the screen, it will not be a nice reading experience.
Ah, okay. I've read a few PDFs, and they could stand to use darker text sizes. Usually don't try to read more than few pages at a time.
It's not that they needs darker text. It's that because of the 6 inch screen and the fact that the PF is designed for letter sized paper and have wide margins and headers/footers, the text is small. Most PDF is not designed for a 6 inch screen. Also, PDF is not a true eBook format as a true eBook format is designed to be able to work on differing screen sizes which PDF does not as you can see,
I now have a Kindle, whoo hoo, and I just bought the first three Typhon Pact novels, but I wanted to buy what's Past as well, and it doesn't seem to have it on the Kindle. I click on the Kindle edition and it takes me to Remembrance of Things Past pt2.
Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
Congrats on your new toy. I love mine.
I'd also noticed the last two COE anthologies haven't been released in ebook format. It isn't just that they aren't available in the Kindle. They aren't available as ebooks, period. Each of the individual ebooks that make it up are still available and you could buy them separately but the anthologies aren't available. I've inquired here and from Simon & Schuster. S&S hasn't responded.
Some of the posters to my original thread on this board thought it was strange to be requesting an ebook version of a paper compilation of ebook novellas. Heck, you save money! It seemed like a no brainer to me.
Maybe they'll bring out ebook versions eventually. It seems sort of strange that they've released all the previous anthologies as ebooks and just not these last two.
- Byron
Oh, Kindle's text is dark enough for me to read. Actually it's better than the Adobe reader PDFs which mostly seem to have gray text for some reason.
The text for PDF is not as dark because the font size is smaller because the PDF is not designed for your screen size and thus, it's lighter because it's smaller. That and the fact that I think the default K3 font is darker then the default PDF font. So when you have a lighter font to start with and you then make it small, you get even poorer contrast.
That makes sense.
What bugs me is that some of the books are significantly cheaper, while others are the same price as the dead tree. If the ebook's not cheaper, I'll just go get the dead tree. Of course, that means I have to drive 20 miles to Borders instead of getting it right away.
And if we're close enough to when I'll see a particular author, I'll probably buy the dead tree copy right off their table and put the money right in their pocket rather than go to Borders.
And I'll be writing S&S about it, too. I was unhappy when they pulled the CoE line, and I'm unhappy about this. Don't claim people don't want something when you make it difficult for them to get it. It's like they want it to fail.
Karen
It's like they want eBooks to fail big time. How can they think that charging $4.99-$6.99 for novellas (SCE/CoE) is a good idea. Plus some of the Star trek eBooks are more expensive then when they were in print. I've seen some listed for $8.99. Even $7.99 is more expensive then the paper versions as with the paper version you can get a discount. Right now I have a 33% discount coupon from Borders I could use to buy a book. That makes the $7.99 priced book cheaper then the eBook.
S&S either wants eBooks to fail or thinks we are stupid or both.
You know, I've been trying really hard not to say anything, because you're clearly on a Righteous Tirade here and I know it won't make any difference, but I apparently can't resist trying at least once.
Let me make this clear: NOWHERE in the HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY has anyone EVER said that the cost to produce something was the determining factor in how it is, or should be, priced to buy. PERIOD.
The determining factor in how something is priced is HOW MUCH PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY. When movie theaters charge $4 for a coke, it's because people are willing to pay that much, ridiculous as it may seem, and it makes them the most money that way. When publishers charge full price for an eBook, it's because they're trying to find out if people are willing to pay that much. If people are, why on EARTH would they charge less?
OF COURSE the publishers want to make the most money possible. That lets them, in addition to live comfortably, HIRE MORE PEOPLE and PUBLISH MORE BOOKS. Which is ACTUALLY A GOOD THING.
The question is not "are eBooks cheaper to manufacture", because no one actually gives a shit. The question is "are eBooks more or less valuable than print books." And to me, the answer is absolutely MORE. I can access eBooks anywhere, they don't take up shelf space, I have data backups that I can keep forever and won't wear out... For ME, eBooks are worth more than print books. And as a result, I am absolutely willing to pay more to get them.
And if there are more people like me than there are people like you, it's actually a *REALLY GOOD IDEA* for publishers to keep eBook prices high!
You make the faulty and completely unwarranted assumption, backed up by no data whatsoever, that most people are like you. I see no reason to believe you, and I sincerely wish you'd quit posting the same unfounded rant over and over.
EDIT: And while we're at it, I've been doing some research, searching for eBook sales numbers and Amazon rankings and the like, and while it seems clear that the cheaper books are selling more, I see no evidence that this is making the publisher more *profit*. Lower sales numbers at a higher price often make more money. Is there any evidence, at all, that you can share that supports your position?
Let me make this clear: NOWHERE in the HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THEORY has anyone EVER said that the cost to produce something was the determining factor in how it is, or should be, priced to buy. PERIOD.
The determining factor in how something is priced is HOW MUCH PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY. When movie theaters charge $4 for a coke, it's because people are willing to pay that much, ridiculous as it may seem, and it makes them the most money that way. When publishers charge full price for an eBook, it's because they're trying to find out if people are willing to pay that much. If people are, why on EARTH would they charge less?
OF COURSE the publishers want to make the most money possible. That lets them, in addition to live comfortably, HIRE MORE PEOPLE and PUBLISH MORE BOOKS. Which is ACTUALLY A GOOD THING.
The question is not "are eBooks cheaper to manufacture", because no one actually gives a shit. The question is "are eBooks more or less valuable than print books." And to me, the answer is absolutely MORE. I can access eBooks anywhere, they don't take up shelf space, I have data backups that I can keep forever and won't wear out... For ME, eBooks are worth more than print books. And as a result, I am absolutely willing to pay more to get them.
And if there are more people like me than there are people like you, it's actually a *REALLY GOOD IDEA* for publishers to keep eBook prices high!
You make the faulty and completely unwarranted assumption, backed up by no data whatsoever, that most people are like you. I see no reason to believe you, and I sincerely wish you'd quit posting the same unfounded rant over and over.
EDIT: And while we're at it, I've been doing some research, searching for eBook sales numbers and Amazon rankings and the like, and while it seems clear that the cheaper books are selling more, I see no evidence that this is making the publisher more *profit*. Lower sales numbers at a higher price often make more money. Is there any evidence, at all, that you can share that supports your position?
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Amen.
See, the problem (to me) with the Agency model has nothing to do with the specific price being charged for e-books, but the fact that the publisher is dictating to the retailer how much they must charge for them. Meaning the publisher should be saying "this is how much you have to pay us for each book you sell" and not "this is how much you must charge for the book." The distinction here is that the retailer can then charge way less or way more if they wanted to to their customers just understanding that they still have to pay a certain amount to the publisher for it.
From a consumer's stand-point the Agency model has little effect. You could view it pessimistically saying "now retailers can't discount ebooks" but you could also view it optimistically saying "well, now retailers can't hike the price way up either". Agency is something retailers should be fighting against, not consumers because it doesn't affect them one way or the other.
Agency model does affect the consumer. Prices have been hiked overall way up. Also, we cannot get any discounts on agency eBooks. Just take a look at the prices for each individual SCE/CoE eBook and you'll see how bad it is. Also, some Trek eBooks are $8.99. More then the paper version. Also, the agency publisher says that the price of the eBook will drop when the paperback is released. Doesn't always happen. There are a good number of them still at hardcover prices even though there is a MMPB available.
But what you're failing to see is that it doesn't matter whether Agency is used or not.
With Agency the publisher states the price of the book. Be that a high price or a low one.
Without Agency the retailer states the price of the book. And they too could say "hey we've got consumers willing to pay a price higher for e-books than for p-books" and they they could hike the price up to say 9.99 or more.
The only thing that changes between Agency vs non-Agency is who is controlling the price, not what the price is.
With Agency the publisher states the price of the book. Be that a high price or a low one.
Without Agency the retailer states the price of the book. And they too could say "hey we've got consumers willing to pay a price higher for e-books than for p-books" and they they could hike the price up to say 9.99 or more.
The only thing that changes between Agency vs non-Agency is who is controlling the price, not what the price is.
That's all it is? I thought there was alot more to this than that. I think he's got a point the JWolf. It sounds to me like this could be alot worse. And besides just look at all of the books I listed in my last post, obviously not all of the publishers are making the retailers charge prices over the p-books. If what LS says is true, I have a feeling that most of those books would probably cost alot more if the retailers got to set the price.
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