04-17-2010, 08:56 AM | #16 | |
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04-17-2010, 10:43 AM | #17 |
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Everyone ought to just keep in mind that this model of pricing only works because 90% of the people who are complaining about it are still buying the books. That is the only thing Jobs and the rest of the industry cares about. You can complain all you want, but if you're still buying the books, then the industry couldn't care less about the complaints. Just refuse to buy the books - good Lord, why would anyone ever need to pay for a book anyway? There are enough samples of quality literature on Project Gutenberg alone to easily fill a couple of lifetimes worth of reading, a good deal of which was written by people who write like they actually graduated from elementary school. Anyway, just vote with your wallet.
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04-17-2010, 10:50 AM | #18 | |
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I agree one hundred percent. The publishing industry and, shamed as I am to admit this, the independent publishing world are criminally bland at the moment. I've now shifted all my reading to Public Domain works where the writing and the stories are by far more interesting, engrossing and challenging. |
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04-17-2010, 11:06 AM | #19 | |
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04-17-2010, 11:40 AM | #20 |
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I honestly don't understand what all the crying is about. I've had a reader for over 3 years now and I've yet to actually buy a book. There is so much available in the public domain that it can keep even the most avid reader busy for years.
I also honestly don't understand why everything is always Apple's fault. They brokered deals for their ebookstore just like they did with the music labels. There is absolutely no reason that Amazon/B&N/etc can't broker their own deals. At the end of the day, if you don't like the price, don't buy it. Crying here and playing the blame game is a waste of time. |
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04-17-2010, 11:51 AM | #21 |
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I think it is a huge step forward since the backlists are or will be available and the ebook are be available at the same time as the hardcover and the price of the ebook will be lowered automatically when time passes.
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04-17-2010, 11:54 AM | #22 |
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04-17-2010, 01:29 PM | #23 | ||
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04-17-2010, 02:23 PM | #24 | |
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The biggest reason I don't buy ebooks is the quality of modern "literature" is poor at best while being sold at a premium. Before B&N closed in our town, I'd flip through the new books to see if I wanted to buy the ebook version and invariably the answer was no. I also believe that if I'm going to buy the book, I expect proper spelling and grammar. I'm reading a somewhat interesting Creative Commons novel and I was going to donate to the author but the level of misspelling is unacceptable. It seems that he didn't even bother to use a spellchecker or have a second set of eyes proofread it. Murdered is consistently spelled mirrdered. AU appears anywhere that All is used as the first word of a sentence, etc. |
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04-17-2010, 02:25 PM | #25 | |
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04-17-2010, 03:04 PM | #26 |
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So while I still agree with the general premise, I just have to say again that some of y'all need to get a grip. Really.
Availability will improve, since the major publishers will not have to worry about ebooks sabotaging high-margin hardcover sales; e.g. Macmillan's CEO has publicly stated they will put out the ebook at the same time paper first goes on sale. The real issue that has temporarily affected availability is that a few smaller ebook retailers did not handle the transition to the agency model properly. Perhaps they didn't get enough notice, perhaps their DBA's suck, but whatever happened it was short-lived. Meanwhile, on Amazon alone the number of ebooks has gone from around 400,000 to nearly 500,000 since January 1st, 2010. Thus, it's a tad silly to conflate a retailer fumbling a major pricing change with "ongoing lack of availability," especially since the numbers indicate otherwise. Prices also aren't affected nearly as badly as the Chicken Littles proclaim. Some new ebooks are expensive, others are still at $10 or so. As a title gets older, it will drop in price -- just in the same way that a new hardcover gets released as a less expensive paperback after a delay. I'm sure someone will drum up a handful of titles that cost more than they are willing to pay, but really you'd have to do a full analysis with a representative sample of commercial titles, before and after the agency model, to get an accurate picture. I might add that the $10 price point was not exactly universal prior to the agency model. Sony, B&N, Amazon and others didn't always hew to that exact price point, and when they did it was often subsidized by the retailer in order to try and gain market share. Lastly, ebooks are still in their infancy, and sales still only account for 5% or less of the total book market. There are plenty of people who have never bought a commercial ebook, who will not necessarily have the expectation that "ebooks ought to be $10," and won't flinch nearly as badly at paying $13 for a NY Times Bestseller in ebook form. IMO all this doom, gloom and bile is not fully justifiable, and I seriously doubt it will result in the destruction of an entire tier of the book industry as some believe (or desire). |
04-17-2010, 06:12 PM | #27 |
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Sales of eBooks has been up while sales of hardcovers is down. This should say something about such high prices.
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04-17-2010, 07:39 PM | #28 |
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There was no crying (notice the lack of a crying smiley). I am not playing a game and stating my opinion (first letters of the first post ..."IMO") is not a waste of time and if it is, it is my time to waste.
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04-17-2010, 07:40 PM | #29 |
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Or maybe not. Maybe no one else would have gone that route.
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04-17-2010, 07:42 PM | #30 | |
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