It's a double edged sword.
Author's don't want to bite the hand that feeds them. But they're writing as a career and they don't want to see their profits go down if hardcover sales are dropping as people buy the $9.99 ebook the same day.
So I really have no problem with putting e-books out a while after the hardcover to maximize sales of it first. Customers do have a sense of entitlement that they should be able to get a cheaper ebook version day and date with the hardback etc.
People are just selfish by nature. Customers want to save as much money as possible, and get what they want for a cheap as possible and as quickly as possible. We all want to make as much money in our careers as possible etc.
And it goes so far as people call other's selfish when they try to protect their incomes. Tell authors to get a day job so they can sell their books for less in the new e-book world and other types of comments I've seen on here.
I really feel for the authors in this. I'd hate to be anyone writing books, making music, making movies etc. in this era of moving to digital content. They're faced with rampant piracy and on top of that the paying customers want to pay MUCH less than they were before to say get a book on release date since it's now digital as well as in hard back.
Look, I won't pay more than $9.99 for an e-book. But I also have no problem having to wait a while after launch. I always waited months for paper back editions in the past, I see waiting for a cheaper e-book edition just the same. Let them make money on the hardbacks, and wait for the e-book or paperback if you want to pay less to own a copy.
I just don't see the big deal, and it is an sense of entitlement to expect to be able to get a $10 or less e-book version the same date as the release of the $20-30 hardcover edition. You either paid it or waited for a paper back in the past, why does it HAVE to be different with e-books? If some authors/publishers want e-books out at $10 the same day great. But we shouldn't expect that IMO.
Last edited by dmaul1114; 02-23-2010 at 02:51 PM.
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