Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Go to the book clubs section of MobileRead:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=245
Then look at the threads on nominations and voting.
I haven't worked out the statistics, but most of those titles are from large commercial publishers, even though the great majority of available eBooks are self-published.
So, when it comes to what counts most for me -- product quality -- not only do I praise the traditional publishers, so do a great many of us here, as shown by actual behavior. And this is despite being in a forum unusually friendly to self publishing. |
I would point out that we are in a period of transition and will be for some time. I expect we will see more Indie titles as time goes by.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
One part of their business model that's becoming obsolete is the cookbook. It is being harmed by free recipes on web sites. But that's not what these threads are about.
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True. Though I suspect there will always be a place for a well done (no pun intended) printed cook-book with nice colour photographs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Not obsolete is the model of paying advances to narrative authors on speculation that their book proposals, or manuscripts in need of editing, can be shaped into profitable products. This still works by producing books I wish to read. And the model of high prices for customers who who buy books shortly after release, and lower prices (or free through library borrowing) for the masses who wait, still gives them moderate profits, and me great reading experiences.
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You have picked only two elements of the BWM publishers business models to comment on. For both, I think time will ultimately tell. I don't think paying advances is necessarily obsolete, though I do expect advances will become much harder to come by. Nevetheless, I can't see the Stephen King's of the literary world ever having any trouble whatsoever in this regard. Likewise, the model of charging more for a book immediately after release and later reducing prices will probably prosper even amongst Indies. Baen's eARC (electronic Advance Reader Copy) concept goes even further.
One aspect of the BWM business model worth considering are the terms of their contracts with authors, including royalty rates and the way royalties are calculated, the treatment of the authors intellectual property, the authors influence over promotion, etc. I expect to see BWM publishers losing authors to Amazon and other ebook publishers, though not the very cream of the best seller authors who are well looked after under the existing model.
The BWM publishers do bundle some very useful services to authors, but they can ultimately come at a very high cost to the author. The unsuccessful books are, in a very broad sense, subsidised by the successful ones. This is a viable business model with higher prices, but much less so in a highly competitive environment, which we now have with ebooks.
But one of, if not the greatest problem for BWM publishers is the conflict between their print book and ebook businesses. I do not think consumers will accept paying print book prices for ebooks, yet the availability of cheaper ebooks no doubt has a detrimental effect on Print Book sales. Thus the BWM, to preserve the viability and maintain the level of their print book business, seek sometimes to delay ebook releases. But more importantly, they set ebook prices by reference to print book prices. This is not a problem faced by Amazon and other Publishers of EBooks where the only time such books see paper is through a print on demand service, if at all. They thus have no need to reference print book pricing at all in the pricing of their ebooks, as they don't really care about preserving a print book business.
And make no mistake. Whilst there will no doubt always be some demand for printed books, ebook are overwhelmingly the way of the future.