Quote:
Originally Posted by alex@waterstones
f anyone would like to raise any issues with me that are not included in the survey or for which they require a direct response then please by all means send me a private message.
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Lovely to see a Waterstones representative here at Mobileread. I've filled in the survey, and added a few comments at the "any other comments" at the end.
I forgot to mention a couple of things that you might find directly relevant to Waterstones, or anyone else setting up an ebook store.
(1) You must have a good search system for
just the ebooks. I have no interest in searching through 100 results for the five ebooks hidden in the list.
(2) You must have a reliable order history/re-download system.
You don't currently have (1). I've tried the advanced search, and when I didn't get an error from the search, I always got all formats, not the ebooks I selected in the formats popup.
I searched for the last couple of books I bought from fictionwise.
I couldn't find Heinlein's Stranger in as Strange land in ebook format.
I did find The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.
At Fictionwise that cost me $7.64, with a rebate of $3.06, taking the net cost to $4.58. Checking Paypal, that was £4.39, net £2.63. Granted, this was in a sale, so my current cost would be $7.26 or £4.17.
Now, you have to charge VAT. So I could see paying £4.80 for the book. Your price? £5.51.
You know - I'm surprised. That's actually not too far off, assuming you occasionally do sales too. Because it is, after all, over twice what I actually paid for the book.
One thing that would definitely attract me to a UK store would be if there was some indication that the text wasn't the same as the US version. For instance, if the Harry Potter books ever make it to ebook form, there's no way I'll be buying the US versions.