I have just sent an email to Penguin about this decision. I sent it to
customer.service@penguin.co.uk
and a copy to
visitors@penguin.co.uk (which is actually the address to give feedback about their site).
The text of my email is below : if you think I have neglected to mention something essential, i encourage you to include it in your own letters
.
Quote:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I just read an article in the Telegraph entitled "Penguin will publish new book titles as 'ebooks'" by Gary Cleland announcing your decision to release new titles as ebooks at the same time as you publish the print edition.
I heartily applaud this decision as an avid reader and more specifically an avid reader of ebooks, and I am very pleased that Penguin (a publisher whose catalogue I have always appreciated) has shown itself to be open to the changing landscape of publishing formats. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing your new releases in ebook form.
However, this article also mentions your intention to release the ebooks at the same price as the print edition. Given the dramatic reduction in production costs of an ebook compared to a print edition, I find this decision to be quite undefendable. Quite honestly, I cannot justify paying the same price for an ebook as a print book, and cannot foresee doing so.
While I again enthusiastically encourage your decision to take advantage of the brilliant new opportunities for publishing offered by ebooks, I fervently request that you reconsider your pricing policy and allow the customer to benefit from the reduced costs that you will incur in producing them. If you persist in this pricing policy, I fear that this venture will not be the resounding success it could be, which would be a tragic and frustrating setback for Penguin and for readers everywhere.
Should you be interested in opening a discussion with the e-reading populace (or simply finding out what we are saying), I welcome you to visit the MobileRead forums here https://www.mobileread.com/ and invite you specifically to take a look at this thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22568 where we recently were discussing different models of pricing and ways that the publishing industry could evolve in light of the emerging ebook technologies which are becoming more and more accessible.
With my sincerest appreciation and encouragement,
A K
P.S. I was unsure of the correct address to send this to ; please don't hesitate to forward it to the appropriate department, or to inform me of a better-suited contact address.
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