While this doesn't mark the first time that we've caught wind of Penguin's recent efforts in e-books, it certainly is balm for my battered soul to hear the CEO speak out so positively about them:
Quote:
I got the Sony Reader, and then I got the Kindle as well, and I never thought I would like it, but I do. Now on the Kindle I download manuscripts so I don't have to lug them. I took a 1,250-page manuscript the other day when I flew out of New York, and I stuck it on my Kindle. It was like, thank God I don't have to carry this [paper] thing and then feel guilty because I'm tearing up the pages because I don't want anyone to find it because it's not edited yet, and I don't want to carry it all the way back (laughter). So this is the answer to my prayers.
I think we have interesting times ahead of us on the e-book. We don't know yet what the price point on the e-book should be. On the one hand, we have people who say it's nothing but magnetic dots and dashes, it should be this [low] price. And I feel that it's a tremendous convenience to offer this format and that once you get into it it's the same reading experience and enjoyment for your money as if you had to carry this big hardcover around, so we're charging full price for it.
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Alas, he doesn't agree with my personal feeling that e-books should sell at a considerable discount to p-books. Oh well.
Check out the
Houston Chronicle for the full interview with Penguin Group's CEO David Shanks.
Related: Penguin USA to release back-list titles as e-books,
Penguin to publish new titles simultaneously as e-books