Mobi ebooks more expensive than average

[tibiafry]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Lock them all up in a big warehouse with gags in their mouths and force them, Clockwork Orange style, to watch a movie with a flashcard that says: DRM = USELESS?

I'm sure that would convince me. LOL. Now start to think seriously. Try to give me arguments. I'll use them to convince my publishing partners.

And PLEASE, think from the publisher Point of view, not from the reader's.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by tibiafry

I'm sure that would convince me. LOL. Now start to think seriously. Try to give me arguments. I'll use them to convince my publishing partners.

And PLEASE, think from the publisher Point of view, not from the reader's.

tibiafry, what do you think of the arguments you've already seen (that drm is costly, ineffective, and makes customers unhappy and therefore less faithful) ? from a publishing point of view, are they convincing ?

[sirbruce]

Fictionwise has a whole section of unprotected books for sale, so it must be possible. I don't know what it costs the publisher to do one or the other.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

tibiafry, what do you think of the arguments you've already seen (that drm is costly, ineffective, and makes customers unhappy and therefore less faithful) ? from a publishing point of view, are they convincing ?

If you are intent on viewing every customer as a potential criminal, it is hard to envision providing content without DRM.

As you note, the arguments (and some small amount of data) are already out there, if the publishers are willing to think about this with an open mind (and try to imagine things from the customer's point of view).

They ignore them at their peril.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Fictionwise has a whole section of unprotected books for sale, so it must be possible. I don't know what it costs the publisher to do one or the other.

as do Baen, and PanMacmillan, and O'Reilly, and Packt, and...

[basschick]

*sigh*

i just went to buy a book by charlaine harris. at BoB it's $7.59 in adobe, microsoft and ereader - in mobi, it's $22.75. at fictionwise it's only available in adobe and microsoft. so i wrote to the publisher, who will send me another form letter, and posted on the author's board. and now i have to decide if i want to spend my money in a way that validates the publisher and distributor's pricing, which i really don't want to do.

my options are to not read the book, which is disappointing, or buy a reader that reads another format - and not a sony as it isn't available for sony - just for the books they won't make reasonably available in mobi. or to buy the book in paperback, and at the moment, i REALLY don't feel like spending my money in a way that's being forced on me.

[koland]

Originally Posted by basschick

my options are to not read the book, which is disappointing, or buy a reader that reads another format - and not a sony as it isn't available for sony - just for the books they won't make reasonably available in mobi. or to buy the book in paperback, and at the moment, i REALLY don't feel like spending my money in a way that's being forced on me.

Or, buy it used or read it at the library (even better if it's possible to read the e version, but print is ok), then include that info in the email to the publisher and author, making sure they know that you making sure they don't get any money from the book and that you would have purchased it had it been available at a reasonable price in your format.

Or wait a few weeks for mobipocket to reprice it as if it were a paperback, not a hardback (which may not occur, but usually does, eventually).

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by basschick

*sigh*

i just went to buy a book by charlaine harris. at BoB it's $7.59 in adobe, microsoft and ereader - in mobi, it's $22.75. at fictionwise it's only available in adobe and microsoft. so i wrote to the publisher, who will send me another form letter, and posted on the author's board. and now i have to decide if i want to spend my money in a way that validates the publisher and distributor's pricing, which i really don't want to do.

my options are to not read the book, which is disappointing, or buy a reader that reads another format - and not a sony as it isn't available for sony - just for the books they won't make reasonably available in mobi. or to buy the book in paperback, and at the moment, i REALLY don't feel like spending my money in a way that's being forced on me.

This looks like a pricing error from Mobipocket, either the publisher never told them to lower it, or they missed it. You'd have better luck getting it fixed by posting on Mobipocket's forum and asking them to fix the pricing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tibiafry

From a publisher point of view I can tell you this:

I make an ebook. I want to offer several formats. Perfect. Mobipocket charges me with 10% of the selling price, while other formats (Adobe for epub and PDF) costs 0 without DRM and only 0.15 € with DRM. That means, a ridiculous % for sure below the 10% mobipocket gets. So, I , as a publisher, want to stimulate my client to get another version (so I get more money).

If you went without DRM, you could charge less and more people might then purchase your eBooks because the prices would be lower. DRM does nothing but get in the way and raise costs.

[basschick]

the book is over 3 years old... it's been paperback for over 2.

Originally Posted by koland

Or wait a few weeks for mobipocket to reprice it as if it were a paperback, not a hardback (which may not occur, but usually does, eventually).

i'll try that, thanks

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

This looks like a pricing error from Mobipocket, either the publisher never told them to lower it, or they missed it. You'd have better luck getting it fixed by posting on Mobipocket's forum and asking them to fix the pricing.

[basschick]

just an update - i took AnemicOak's suggestion (thanks to AnemicOak and some reputation, btw) and posted on the mobipocket board. they said they would contact the publisher and two days later the price was down to around what you'd expect to pay for a paperback rather than a hardback

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by basschick

just an update - i took AnemicOak's suggestion (thanks to AnemicOak and some reputation, btw) and posted on the mobipocket board. they said they would contact the publisher and two days later the price was down to around what you'd expect to pay for a paperback rather than a hardback

Glad it worked. It seems that some books just slip through the cracks and with a little nudge they'll get them fixed.

[Over]

This all sound too... "Hey, let's keep the high price until someone notices, mwah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah *cough* *cough*"

I guess I should start wiriting a template, so that I won't have to write a letter from scratch for each book I want to buy.

[MelC]

Originally Posted by basschick

just an update - i took AnemicOak's suggestion (thanks to AnemicOak and some reputation, btw) and posted on the mobipocket board. they said they would contact the publisher and two days later the price was down to around what you'd expect to pay for a paperback rather than a hardback

Must now go to Books on Board as I have had my eye on number 5 myself....

Mel

[fugazied]

In this case a pricing mistake may have been made?

But I know that in some industries, distributors offer different pricing to different retailers (eg. the computer industry). A similar thing might occur here, one seller might be selling 1000s of mobi so gets them at a much cheaper rate.