Quote:
Originally Posted by sufue
Sadly, they have to avoid both kinds of death, since in theory  their stock price reflects both near- and long-term business potential. Although I LOVE to complain about (and boycott) the Big 6, I still don't know if I'd want to be in the shoes of their senior management!
In general, though, they seem to be more in a "running scared/protect the current business model" mode, rather than trying to figure out how to proactively shift their business models. I'm not sure that's going to be a successful approach. And it's very sad for those of us on the early edge of e-reading. |
Avoiding either death is important in the long run, but avoiding the fast death is most important in the short run as it doesn't provide a chance to recover.
I also think they're not so much trying to protect the current business model as to maintain a survivable revenue stream. They don't have the reserves (it's a tight margin business) to sustain them while a new model ramps up to sustain them - if they jump all the way it has to be able to sustain them immediately.
Their management really is trapped.
As for boycotting, I'm not boycotting any publishers because I really don't care how prices are determined. I simply don't buy any book that I think is overpriced. I do buy books that I think are priced reasonably.
I've been buying fewer books from the Big Six, but I'll happily take advantage of their freebies.