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Old 01-08-2010, 05:51 PM   #45
Elfwreck
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhadin View Post
Now, because you want to read an ebook rather than a pbook you demand that they be released simultaneously. What makes for the sudden change? I don't get your intense dislike for publishers. Seems to me that a 3 month delay for a cheaper version is not unreasonable and is better than the 12 month delay that exists for paperbacks and with which you have been content for decades.
Because the ebooks are:
1) Usually priced to match hardcover (although releasing w/paperback might fix that)
2) Often not as well-formatted (lower quality = expectation of more versatility)
3) Sometimes not released at all--and in those cases, there's no incentive not to go to the darknet for them.

If the ebook isn't released with the hardcover, will the publisher list a publication date for the ebook? If not, customers don't know if it'll ever be available.

Quote:
I'm proposing that ebooks be the paperback substitute and that the delay be reduced.
Ebooks are not a replacement for paperbacks; they reach drastically different markets. PBacks reach low-income markets that don't have computers and dedicated ebook readers. Publishers who swapped their cheap, low-tech, well-established market for a high-tech market fraught with weird legal concerns would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Quote:
At least I offer a proposal that takes into account the varied interests. Where is your suggestion that balances the competing interests?
Publishers need to stop being terrified of the torrents, and pay attention to their *paying* customers. It doesn't matter how many unauthorized copies are floating around--what matters is how to get paid for as many as possible. And they can do that with low prices & user convenience.

Any big-name publisher could try an experiment: pick three dozen authors of equal rankings (however they rank them internally); offer half of those authors' works under the current glitchy ebook system, and the other half under Baen's system. Wait one year and tabulate the results.
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