PVI revenues drop - weakening e-paper orders!

[bbusybookworm]

True, and with the way Amazon has made books so cheap with all the promotions, often even after delivery charges (and that's if you don't get free shipping) paperbooks are so much cheaper, that e-books don't really make sense for most people, especially with the price of the reader itself.

[gmanacsa]

In addition to economic issues, there may also be a natural seasonal component to their sales numbers, with a drop in production and sales after the holidays. I imagine demand will pick up somewhat as the 2008 holidays approach.

[BooksForABuck]

Not sure that it's the price of eBooks that is killing sales. Amazon's discounts (compared to new books) are significant. Small publishers like mine offer eBooks MUCH more cheaply than paperbacks.

I do suspect that the economic downturn has impacted luxury devices like the Kindle and Sony Reader. That $359 price tag still does stick in my throat (believe me, running a small publisher isn't anything like printing money).

I love the concept of ePaper, but if it really can only be offered at a luxury price, then we need to keep on pushing reading on multiple devices--including PDAs, cellphones, iPods, etc. (Does anyone make a good eBook reader for iPod or Zune?).

Rob Preece
Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by beachwanderer

Plastic Logic won't be taking off as soon as that, i think:

Careers galore: http://www.plasticlogic.com/careers.php

They want high calibre scientists. Kovid, spark up a joint and apply!

[zelda_pinwheel]

[kovidgoyal]

.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

True, and with the way Amazon has made books so cheap with all the promotions, often even after delivery charges (and that's if you don't get free shipping) paperbooks are so much cheaper, that e-books don't really make sense for most people, especially with the price of the reader itself.

I think over time my Kindle will at least be a break-even proposition for me financially with the number of books I buy. Part of it is the low price on new releases and all the free classics, something readily apparent when looking at the ebook market. The other part of it was not something I truly realized when I decided to buy the Kindle. The free samples keep me from buying books I don't end up reading. I hadn't really thought about how much money I was wasting on books I didn't end up liking until I got the Kindle. When I started reading samples and NOT buying books I know I would have normally bought, I realized that I could likely save a bit of cash with this thing. I bought it thinking it probably wasn't that sensible financially. I think most people evaluating it are regarding it as a splurge and splurging isn't something folks are doing much of these days. Even if they did see the money saving potential of it, parting with $350 right now to save a little bit of money over the next few years is still a hard sell and when people are economizing they're probably cutting back on book purchases, too. They're buying 2nd hand and borrowing more from friends and libraries.

I do think part of the shrinking sales is also that a lot of the people who are going to spend that kind of money on reading have now already bought readers. With the hype of the Kindle release a lot of book lovers that didn't know such things were out there went and snapped up a device for themselves, Sonys and Cybooks as well as Kindles. Even with a good economy I think sales still would have tapered off a bit.

[Ebook lover]

I think the prices of eBook devices are too expensive, especially with the downturn of our economy.

[JSWolf]

eBook display devices are a luxury that a lot of people cannot afford now that prices for things is being way too high. Cut backs have to be made. And the eBook display device has to be something that's not purchased. If I was looking at the 505 now, I seriously would not be purchasing one. While I like and use my 505 a lot, I don't have to have it. I could use the library to get pBooks like I did before the 505.

The one thing I am doing to save money is using Bostons really good public transportation system more so then driving these days. Saves a lot of money on gas.

[RWood]

Yeah, I miss the "T" Boston has a great system. The DC area does not have a great system. From here it would be 15 to 20 minutes to drive to the nearest carpark, park, wait for a bus, ride for 30 to 45 minutes to the station, transfer, wait for a metro train, and then 45 minutes to an hour to get downtown. No wonder I have a home office and order a lot of stuff over the Internet.

The economic downturn is a lot of people reacting to the higher gas prices and the lingering fallout of the subprime housing market. Meanwhile China and Cuba are drilling just off the coast of Florida for oil while the US prohibits any US company from drilling there. Maybe we can buy the Florida oil from them.

[JSWolf]

I have about a 10 min walk to the bos stop where we have a lot of buses come past as it's apart of the route where a lot of the different buses go past. So I don't have to wait longer then about 15 min for a bus. Most times a lot less. Then I get to Forest Hills and usually there is an Orange Line train waiting. It's easy and no using all that gas or having to find a place to park. I love walking. I can even deal in the cold of winter.

[Argel]

You are very lucky - Boston is indeed one of the best cities in the world to get around on foot and public transport. As an infrequent visitor to feed my Red Sox craving, I always buy a tourist pass for public transport and spend the days walking around obscure suburbs just to get the flavour of the place.

Roll on the flip-down one-eye ebook reader that will let me do my 10,000 paces a day while reading.

[astra]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

might get Sony and Amazon to get off their backsides and launch the Readers outside the US.

My thoughts exactly. They need a fresh market.

JSWolf

If I was looking at the 505 now, I seriously would not be purchasing one. While I like and use my 505 a lot, I don't have to have it. I could use the library to get pBooks like I did before the 505.

So, if they announce a new prs-510 coming autumn, or 9.7" reader, you are not going to upgrade and you will stay with 505 for a foreseeable future(a couple of years)?

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I think over time my Kindle will at least be a break-even proposition for me financially with the number of books I buy. Part of it is the low price on new releases and all the free classics, something readily apparent when looking at the ebook market. The other part of it was not something I truly realized when I decided to buy the Kindle. The free samples keep me from buying books I don't end up reading. I hadn't really thought about how much money I was wasting on books I didn't end up liking until I got the Kindle.

Not to be annoying, but you have to consider that once the Kindle expires - and who knows, 2 years is probably expected to last, maybe up to 5, but for more you have to be really lucky - you have to buy another one to read your ebooks unless you dedrm them.

Or Amazon allows you to change formats if they do a newer Kindle-thingy with a different drm. It may happen, but the history of drm is not optimistic on that and since for now each e-book format is a different book in the eyes of the publishers, I would not bet on that.

And regarding samples, well it's really easy to get them either online or browse in the store. I've bought 70+ books e or p this year, and I sampled most of them before easily, even when I ordered them from the UK not being available here, and you can almost always find excerpts online, sometimes a chapter, sometimes much more...

So for me the argument that Kindle or Sony or any other e-book device saves money is not that convincing, at least if you buy e-books. But while 770 is my main reading device, I started using the Sony more now that is summer and I do some reading outside, and if Kindle would have a promotion like Sony had and come down to 50$, or even 100$, maybe when Kindle 2 is prepared, I would buy one too the way I did the 500.

[slayda]

Look at the bright side of the "high cost of gas". Pbooks still have to be shipped, i.e. as gas prices go up, pbook prices must also go up. Ebook shipping, on the other hand doesn't need gas, just electrons & bits so their cost should remain constant.