MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - 3 Ways Pottermore Could Change Book Publishing

anamardoll · 07-01-2011, 02:20 PM

I agree with Jessica that pricing will be key, though. Most of the consumer base for these books will already own them in paper format, so this will essentially be "conversion costs". And customers generally have different individual expectations about conversion costs.

If the 7 series books are priced at $10 each, it'll be a $70 investment to convert. If they are $5 each, it'll be $35 to convert. And so on.

I can see a LOT of fans plunking down $35 on a whim to get electronic backup, search functionality, and so forth, even if the books aren't from their usual store source. But $70 for a side-load set that can't be synced across devices or (potentially) linked to an account for permanent download and backup (i.e., if you lose your nook, you don't lose your B&N books, but you may lose your side-loads if you didn't back them up)?

Hard to say how many will plunk down in that case, with this economy. More than 30,000, I'll bet, but how much more? We'll see, I guess.

07-01-2011, 02:20 PM	#132
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	I agree with Jessica that pricing will be key, though. Most of the consumer base for these books will already own them in paper format, so this will essentially be "conversion costs". And customers generally have different individual expectations about conversion costs. If the 7 series books are priced at $10 each, it'll be a $70 investment to convert. If they are $5 each, it'll be $35 to convert. And so on. I can see a LOT of fans plunking down $35 on a whim to get electronic backup, search functionality, and so forth, even if the books aren't from their usual store source. But $70 for a side-load set that can't be synced across devices or (potentially) linked to an account for permanent download and backup (i.e., if you lose your nook, you don't lose your B&N books, but you may lose your side-loads if you didn't back them up)? Hard to say how many will plunk down in that case, with this economy. More than 30,000, I'll bet, but how much more? We'll see, I guess.