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okay - I looked and listened to the sample and have a couple of thoughts.
1. HarperCollins delays the Kindle/Nook/Sony etc eBook because of low pricing. I think Amazon priced this around $9 and I'm sure the other stores were similar.
2. Meanwhile - they send a production crew out to Kim Harrison's office and film some of those "enhanced version" extras ... interviews with her about the process o putting the book together. BTW, this all looks pretty cool. I personally really don't listen to audiobooks and I don't care all that much about author interviews but many people are really going to like this enhanced eBook product.
3. They bundle the eBook with the Audiobook (and I'm talking the real audiobook here, not a Kindle like Text To Speech .. the REAL audiobook with a performer reading) that syncs to your reading of the ebook on you iPod/iPhone. The exact same audiobook sells on iTunes for $30 and is included for free with your "enhanced eBook" on iTunes.
4. and they sell all this for $14.99 on the iTunes site in February ...let me repeat that, $14.99 for the eBook plus audiobook while on the other side of their face they are trying to explain to their customers that Amazon and all must be stopped from selling the eBook alone for $9 because such an atrocity will end publishing as we know it and that is why they won't release those eBooks for another 6 weeks????
It has suddenly become very clear to me that this whole "eBook battle" has nothing to do with the evils of subsidized pricing or windowing or the true costs of publishing an eBook. What we are looking at is Publisher hatred toward Amazon and at least in this case a clear signal that HarperCollins has jumped firmly into the bed of Steve Jobs in an effort to knock Amazon off the eBook King of the Hill position.
Nothing against Kim Harrison in this whole thing. She appears very gracious and understanding on her blog and website in regards to the upset of the eBook readers who feel betrayed. She is kind of the "anti Douglas Preston" if you will.
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