Very interesting article from The Bookseller

[Huxley The Cat]

Hi all,

You may find this article from today's online issue of The Bookseller interesting:

http://www.thebookseller.com/in-dept...al-battle.html

It's mainly about rights issues and the pricing of eBooks, however it also has interesting snippets of information about readers:

"Sony is gearing up to launch its e-Reader in the third quarter of this year. Amazon is understood to be readying its Kindle for a British launch in 2008—or a Kindle II, which may feature both e-book and digital audio downloads. Eindhoven-based Polymer Vision, an offshoot of electronics giant Philips, is releasing its lightweight Readius in mid-2008. It has a five-inch flexible, rollable screen and 30 hours of battery life."

Regards

HTC

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Huxley The Cat

Hi all,

"Sony is gearing up to launch its e-Reader in the third quarter of this year.

I'm somewhat puzzled by that one. Sony "released" their eBook reader in the US well over a year ago! Are they talking about releasing it world-wide, perhaps?

[Huxley The Cat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm somewhat puzzled by that one. Sony "released" their eBook reader in the US well over a year ago! Are they talking about releasing it world-wide, perhaps?

Sorry Harry, I should have made it clear, The Bookseller is a UK trade magazine, so I would guess that this is big news for all us UK-based e-book enthusiasts.

Regards

HTC.

[JSWolf]

That would be nice if 3rd quarter Sony did release the 505 in the UK.

[DaleDe]

The article flies in the face of the folks around here that believe eBooks should be substantially cheaper, some say a $1, because they are digital and free to reproduce. To quote from the article:

Producing e-books still has many of the costs associated with print publishing such as advances, editorial, sales, marketing, promotion and publicity. In addition, there are a host of new costs, including converting files to multiple formats, digital warehousing, anti-piracy protection, and content and metadata tracking. The upfront investment is so formidable that Random reckons it may not turn a profit in the US—a far more buoyant e-book market than the UK—until 2013.

Futhermore publishers’ costs may not diminish after their initial investment. Sara Lloyd, Pan Macmillan’s head of digital publishing, writing for The Bookseller Daily at this week’s London Book Fair, said continuing costs would include infrastructure investment, as well as constant updates to software and systems.

Another interesting item is that Author's get a higher percentage of money on eBook sales than they do on book sales. I know I do, by the way.

Dale

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Huxley The Cat

—or a Kindle II, which may feature both e-book and digital audio downloads.

Doesn't kindle already support MP3 and Audible books? Or, maybe the are adding the ability to download the Audible books on wispernet?

BOb

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That would be nice if 3rd quarter Sony did release the 505 in the UK.

While we're dreaming, why not dream of a 510 UK launch?

[Lemurion]

I would take some of the references to increased costs due to a multiplicity of file types with a mine of salt.

Fictionwise managed to convert 19,000 titles to a new format in less than a month and managed do do so without worrying about passing the cost to consumers. Baen added LRF without any major concerns for cost either.

Given that Baen can make a profit with sub-paperback prices on eBooks (and higher royalties) I would suspect that Random House is choosing to inflate the costs of their works. I think the highest reasonable cost for an eBook is still roughly the same as that of a paperback (when dealing with fiction).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Given that Baen can make a profit with sub-paperback prices on eBooks (and higher royalties) I would suspect that Random House is choosing to inflate the costs of their works. I think the highest reasonable cost for an eBook is still roughly the same as that of a paperback (when dealing with fiction).

What sort of paperback do you mean? The publishing industry has this NEW paperback format that is taller, thinner and has larger print all so they can make more money on the same content. So are we basing eBooks prices on that sort of paperback or the normal paperback? I refuse to purchase any paperback in this new format. Not only does it feel unnatural in my hand, it's also more expensive. They go from $9.99 on up. That is just a way to get more money from me for the same content that works well in a regular paperback which I will not give in to. I will not get such because I dislike the cost increase and the feel.

In most cases, eBook prices are based on the latest prin edition. So when they go from hardcover to this new paperback, eBooks will still be overpriced. It's not until the print edition makes it to the regular paperpack (if ever these days) that the eBook price might be reasonable.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Very interesting article, yes. thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by DaleDe

The article flies in the face of the folks around here that believe eBooks should be substantially cheaper, some say a $1, because they are digital and free to reproduce.

i am one person who thinks that ebooks should be substantially cheaper (although i've never dared to propose 1$). i recognize there are costs associated with producing digital media just as with print media, however i suspect that the publishers may be playing things up just a bit in the quote you included... and apparently i am not the only one : to quote again from the article,

Mark Le Fanu, SoA general secretary, says: “I am not entirely sure the costs will be as great as publishers say. If you look at the audiobooks download market, publishers are selling content through a lot of intermediaries and many of the costs are being carried by third-party distributors such as Audible.”

i think this (third-party distributors lessening the costs for publishers) is an important point which publishers may be neglecting. not to mention the fact that, as you mentioned, once a file is created, it can be sold countless times, whereas each printed copy must be paid for ; and a reprinting can involve starting the layout from the beginning, apparently. surely this is more expensive than converting the kindle edition they've already got to lrf. maybe kovid needs to explain a few things to them.

(should i mention how much money they would save, if they dropped DRM and its associated costs ? not to mention that they would probably thereby increase sales, effectively getting two hits with the same stone...)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I would take some of the references to increased costs due to a multiplicity of file types with a mine of salt.

Fictionwise managed to convert 19,000 titles to a new format in less than a month and managed do do so without worrying about passing the cost to consumers. Baen added LRF without any major concerns for cost either.

Given that Baen can make a profit with sub-paperback prices on eBooks (and higher royalties) I would suspect that Random House is choosing to inflate the costs of their works. I think the highest reasonable cost for an eBook is still roughly the same as that of a paperback (when dealing with fiction).

right, what he said.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What sort of paperback do you mean? The publishing industry has this NEW paperback format that is taller, thinner and has larger print all so they can make more money on the same content.

That's the Trade Paperback (TPB) you're referring to. It ain't new, by the way, I've got one here that was published in the 1977 (cover price of $4.95, if anyone's interested).

The "normal" paperbacks are called Mass Market Paperbacks (MMPB), if I recall correctly.

All that being said, I share your view that the MMPB is the norm for paperbacks, and I don't usually like the TPB's either, with the occasional rare exception.

Baen's prices are usually $4~$6 (for those who don't know) so they're below the MMPB and way below the TPB prices.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

not to mention the fact that, as you mentioned, once a file is created, it can be sold countless times, whereas each printed copy must be paid for ; and a reprinting can involve starting the layout from the beginning, apparently.

Also not to mention the fact that a file is usually created as part of the process of creating the print version.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

(should i mention how much money they would save, if they dropped DRM and its associated costs ? not to mention that they would probably thereby increase sales, effectively getting two hits with the same stone...)

Agreed. I think a few things in the article where more excuses than facts.

For example, the marketing, editing, etc, etc are the same fixed costs for any book... they don't change. For the foreseeable future they are doing those things for every book anyway that they are bring to print.

Also, they talk about file conversion, digital warehousing, etc. Give me a break. Isn't all publishing, layout, done electronically anyway. Are you telling me that publishers don't already have storage facilities for the digital source of their books? Heck, they could use Amazons S3 service with no needed infrastructure and store all they want for $.10 (10 cents) a month per gigabyte. You can store alot of compressed text in a gigabyte.

File conversion? Give me a break. If they used a common source format like .epub which is what they compressed (zip/rar) and stored they could provide that format to printer/retailers etc and the retailers could create the formats that they sell... or even better, .epub could be made avialable directly if only ebook readers would support it. Even if the publisher did the conversions, it takes very little processing power to do this and it could all be automated in a batch when a book is released and then those formats could be stored so the conversion isn't run realtime.

The other cost they talk about such as "infrastructure" is generally borne by the retailer, stuff like web sites, transaction costs, cc processing etc... unless the publisher is going to sell direct.

BOb

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Also not to mention the fact that a file is usually created as part of the process of creating the print version.

That would be nice if it were really true. Fact is that many publisher's don't have source control over their submissions and can't reproduce a full source digital edition of the final document. They produce pages digitally, not documents.

Dale