Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Do many independent authors sell printed books? I would have thought (but perhaps I'm wrong?) that most of them only sold ebooks.
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A fair amount seem to do so.
The incremental cost for doing so through CreateSpace POD is low and now that Ingram and BAKER AND TAYLOR--the major US pbook distributors to B&M retailers--are treating indie POD books the same as tradpub titles many indie publishers are evolving from ebook-only to ebook-first to reach B&M bookstores.
This new program from Amazon fits in with that evolution: for people already predisposed to buying a new title in ebook form (anybody with a Kindle, no?) the bundle is actually discounting the pbook by (at least) half the ebook price. Given that most traditional publishers not named Angry Robot (and maybe BAEN) are unlikely to jump in soon, the biggest beneficiaries of this plan are going to be the indie publishers. So I would expect to see a lot more indies doing POD via CreateSpace as a result of this program.
One author that signed up for MatchBook right away said that the readers buying her pbooks were her most loyal and she was happy to have a way to reward them with a free ebook copy.
Not all authors intend to give the ebook version for free but since the price of the ebook can be changed at a moment's notice the promotional potential is very high.
Of course, the naysayers are already out in force:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/amazon-to-be...iment-of-both/
Bonus rant:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/amazon-your-kids-are-next/
The angst is just beginning; wait until the program launches and people start buying bundles for XMAS. "Gift the pbook, read the ebook."