Quote:
Originally Posted by cstross
It's all about internal publishing industry politics.
|
SNIP points 1-5, all of which are very sensible
Quote:
Originally Posted by cstross
6. They recognize that they could boost ebook sales by cutting the prices. But if they did that, they'd risk cannibalizing the sales of their dead-tree editions, and reducing their profitability. Their hands are tied so they can't streamline their processes to make a bigger profit on the ebooks; if they cut the ebook prices by even 10% below the dead-tree prices, they're eating into their profits. And that brings us round to point #2 above.
|
Of course they
could give it a try, but the (perceived) risk is a killer. Never mind the actual hard data from Baen... They don't appear to be able to assimilate actual data.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cstross
7. Moreover, ebook sales of DRM'd high-cover items are so piss-poor -- figures in double digits are not uncommon, compared to the four to five digit sales expected of a hardcover -- that there's no pay off in sight to act as an incentive for executive risk-taking (like, oh, selling ebooks for what everyone understands is a realistic price).
Finally,
8. You try selling a novel to a major publisher without giving them the ebook rights! I've tried it, and my agent just gets knocked back -- withholding ebook rights is a deal-breaker, because despite all of the above nonsense, everyone knows that ebook rights are going to be worth something sooner or later. So they insist on buying them, even though they can't use them effectively. And at the end of the day, we writers have to earn a living so we can eat and excrete more of the product, so we knuckle under.
|
Have you considered trying to sell them
non-exclusive eRights? That would at least let you sell the ebook somewhere else, too. Alternatively, have you considered selling to Baen, who at least get it?
Xenophon