Thread: "The book publishing industry has entered a period of long-term decline"
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Old 05-03-2011, 05:42 PM   #23
sufue
lost in my e-reader...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
The "great classics of the past" are, on the whole, available free of charge - eg, right here at MR.

What makes the "Penguin Classics" series well worth buying, however, are the truly excellent introductory essays, explanatory notes, etc, that they add to the text, which enormously enhance the reading experience.
Well, er, the great classics of the ***LONG-AGO*** past are, on the whole, available free of charge. And many thanks to the MR folks who have worked hard on some really great ones available here!

But stuff from the only SOMEWHAT long-ago past is not available even close to free - as I've discovered due to my decision to use my son's English 11 class as an excuse to make myself re-read (and maybe enjoy this time) some books that were forced down my throat when I myself was in English 11, oh so many years ago.

Take, for example, the book (play) his class is currently reading - The Crucible by Arthur Miller, published in the 1950's, and thus more than 50 years old. Hardly a spring chicken, and yet the "price-set-by-publisher" Penguin Classic e-book is $11.99 - WOW! This compares to $8.94 for a new DTB from Amazon, prices in the $3 - $4 range for new from "second-tier" sellers, and a price of $0.01 for a used DTB from Amazon marketplace. Granted I have to add shipping to the DTB price - unless I can find a "free shipping" deal (fairly common) or I go to my local bookstore. But still, I'm sorry, $11.99 for an e-book of a 50+ year old work is ridiculous, even if it does have some good explanatory notes and essays.

Needless to say, I'd prefer to re-read The Crucible on my e-reader. But, not at $11.99, so I chose instead to find my old DTB from who knows how many years ago in our garage - and I found quite a few other things in the process too, including a few spiders . And, Penguin got squat from our family.

If traditional publishers think they can survive by driving prolific readers like myself (and my son) away with ridiculous e-book prices, I wish them luck. I hope instead that at least a few come up with a pricing model which still captures a fair amount of value from hot/new titles, but also more correctly reflects the likelihood that sales of old/backlist titles may truly be "optional" for many buyers, thus making those buyers quite price-sensitive.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...beating the drum again...but now I feel a little better...
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