Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Has anyone mentioned that King released an eBook-only novella way back in Y2K?
I thus suspect his attachment is not to paper, but to experimental marketing.
I don't know much about Mr. King. But in literary history, experimentally-minded prolific authors sometimes will publish a book under a pseudonym. This can help them see if they are merely cruising on their reputation. Stephen King fans may want to be alert for this. |
I listened to a podcast of an interview with the publisher. Basically he missed the cheap pulp fiction paperbacks they used to sell in grocery stores with the campy covers. He decided to try bringing them back and had some success. He wrote a letter to Stephen King's agent asking if he would consider writing a blurb for one of the covers. His agent contacted him and said he wasn't interested in writing a blurb because he wanted to write a book instead. The publisher said that with his other books he does also provide ebooks but Mr King wanted to only do a paper version and he was supporting the decision.
I don't have a problem with him promoting pulp fiction and marketing it, but when you take your personal taste and tell your readers that this is how you have to consume it, then you're an idiot. I would say the same thing about someone that really liked ebooks and told their readers to buy it online and get over their paper fetish. If it's an economic reason then OK, otherwise the reader's preference is the correct choice.