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mimrie · 09-14-2008, 10:21 AM

Just got my Sony reader and while it will take me several years to work through the back catalogue of classics I've omitted to read I thought I'd browse the Waterstones site to see what they were offering to encourage the uptake of e-books in the UK; here are a couple of examples...

Karin Slaughter FRACTURED; ebook list price £17.99, sale price £14.39. The paperback edition has the same list price but is on offer for £8.99!

Sadie Jones OUTCAST; ebook list price £12.99, sale price £10.39. The paperback has a list price of £7.99 and a sale price of £5.59.

The story is the same for most recent releases. How do they expect anyone to invest in DRM protected ebooks that make it difficult to lend to friends and impossible to donate to charity shops if they are going to charge these ridiculous prices?

I've read the various threads about pricing of ebooks and the bottom line is that it is cheaper to produce and distribute them than their paper counterparts. It seems to me that Waterstones has too much invested in traditional publishing to be entirely committed to ebooks.

09-14-2008, 10:21 AM	#1
mimrie Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Sony ereader	What are Waterstones up to? Just got my Sony reader and while it will take me several years to work through the back catalogue of classics I've omitted to read I thought I'd browse the Waterstones site to see what they were offering to encourage the uptake of e-books in the UK; here are a couple of examples... Karin Slaughter FRACTURED; ebook list price £17.99, sale price £14.39. The paperback edition has the same list price but is on offer for £8.99! Sadie Jones OUTCAST; ebook list price £12.99, sale price £10.39. The paperback has a list price of £7.99 and a sale price of £5.59. The story is the same for most recent releases. How do they expect anyone to invest in DRM protected ebooks that make it difficult to lend to friends and impossible to donate to charity shops if they are going to charge these ridiculous prices? I've read the various threads about pricing of ebooks and the bottom line is that it is cheaper to produce and distribute them than their paper counterparts. It seems to me that Waterstones has too much invested in traditional publishing to be entirely committed to ebooks.