Publishers' Pricing & Release Delay Tactics - An Individual Response

[riemann42]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

[/LIST]I feel with DRM I am renting the book. When I rent a DVD it cost about $3 for a few nights. I watch it once and return it. If I want to own it I pay $12-$20 and can watch it whenever.

So, if you want to rent me the book if should be about 10% of the purchase cost of a paper book.

BOb

What about Barnes & Nobel and eReader's DRM, which has no activation servers that can go down, and the software is free and readily available?

While I think DRM is holding back eBooks (pirates know how to break it, everyone else is inconvenienced), it seems like a cop-out to say that DRM completely devalues the product.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by riemann42

What about Barnes & Nobel and eReader's DRM, which has no activation servers that can go down, and the software is free and readily available?

Can you send me the link to the Kindle version of that "free" software?

Seriously though... it still restricts me from using the book as I want on the devices I want.

Yes, DRM can be broken... but since that is the case, why do they bother with it in the first place? It isn't about copyright it is about vendor locking.

But... this thread isn't about DRM it is about the new ebook pricing. The DRM is just one aspect that determines the value of the ebook.

BOb

[csdaley]

I really think the best message to send is just to not buy books for more than you are willing to spend. It is the exact same method I used when I bought hardbacks.

http://www.csdaley.com/2010/01/amazon-slap-down.html

http://www.csdaley.com/2010/01/book-...goes-boom.html

[Steven Lake]

Ya know what csdaley, after reading your two blog posts, you really got me to thinking. If all the mainstream publishers are going to push their ebooks up to equal price with paperbacks, then I'm gonna stay down at the $9.99 price point I've already been doing for my current novels. That ought to not only make my books more appealing, but it'll be more money in my pocket than theirs, as it'll push the volume sales to me. Screw them and their greedy money grab. My focus is on the customer, not the bottom line.

It's like an old mentor of mine said. "You take care of the customer first (you), the employee second (in this case that would be me), and everything else will take care of itself." So in short, if you're offering a good product at a fair price, and your competitor is either offering a lesser product at the same price, or an equal or even possibly better product at a significantly higher price, you'll win every single time. Well, ok, not every single time, but darned close.

So I say, let them. Let those guys jack up prices. I'll just keep my lower and reasonable, and even after my name goes big I will keep it reasonable, because I'm not after the $50 glass of lemonade like they are. I'm after the $1 cup that sells 50 glasses. Because of those 50 glasses, no less than 2/3rds should be satisfied customers who will either be back for another glass, or they will refer their friends to me and I'll get more glasses sold that way. Because what's the point of charging 50% more on a book if you lose half or more of your sales? I'd rather underprice the other people and double my sales. Because in the end I'd make more than they would.

Ain't this fun? I'm a firm believer in two things about greed. It's destructive to the person practicing it (and those who participate willingly or unwillingly in their greed), and constructive to the person fighting against it (ie, lower prices, legally, etc).

Ok, yes, the fact that they're raising prices kinda screws readers like you. But look at the bright side. It'll make you look at other people you might not have before, and in the process you'll quite often stumble onto a gem. I've done that with several authors in the past. I had never heard of them before until I stumbled onto them in the bargain bin, and a few of them were enjoyable enough that I bought their other books brand new.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I noted 4 titles that I decided were interesting enough to purchase:

1. The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight - available now at $9.99.
(Houghton, Mifflin)
2. This Book is Overdue - available now at $9.99 (HarperCollins)
3. Angelology - $15.37 preorder for 03/09/10 release (Viking)
4. The Infinities - $13.65 available now (Knopf)

Result: The first 2 books are sitting on my Kindle, and Houghton & HarperCollins get my cash, and my appreciation for the $9.99 pricing.
The last 2 books go into my "future buy & read slush pile" - no cash to Viking or Knopf.
...~~...
Multiply this scenario by 52 weeks per year - just for me - and the amount of potential lost revenue to publishers mounts up. Multiply this amount by the number of angry readers ... it could be interesting.

This is similar to the recent release of Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison. I went to Amazon to purchase the ebook only to find that HarperCollins had changed the release date of the ebook version by about 6 weeks. Within a couple of weeks it was available at three local libraries and as an ebook on the darknet (the publisher's version).

I was never going to buy a hardcover edition, delaying the ebook release doesn't make sense to me. I think this is a revenue loss to HarperCollins. Eventually the data will prove or disprove my statement.

Until then it is what it is.