Do Amazon and the Publishers want to Kill Digital Sales ?

[Scarpad]

I mean I love Ebooks, I love my Readers. But I can preorder the Paperback version of my Latest Star Trek Novel in paperback for $5.92 plus Free shipping, or I can preorder the Kindle version for $6.99. Both have a RSP of $7.99. I'm left scratching my head. Should'nt it be the other way around ? I mean it costs them nothing to push it to my kindle. It makes no sense

[Cinisajoy]

Some ebooks are cheaper and sometimes you can get a used or new pbook cheaper.
Quick answer is no to your question.

[eschwartz]

Ebook prices are generally set by the publisher, not Amazon.

And publishers feel threatened by ebooks, because they haven't adapted well to the digital world. They keep trying top artificially prop up the pbook market by making the ebook market uncomfortable to deal with.

[Dazrin]

Looking at a couple Star Trek books at Amazon it looks like Simon and Schuster set the prices like eschwartz said, without knowing what title you are looking at I can't be sure since maybe there are some ST books by other publishers (I doubt a pre-order would be though).

Either way, Amazon isn't trying to kill digital sales. If anyone is it is the publishers who have been trying to prop up paper sales by increasing the prices of e-books. That has been a main talking point from the indie side for the last few years.

[DrNefario]

I'm increasingly seeing no discounts on paperbacks here, either. I don't know if this is also part of their current deal with publishers, or if it's a side-effect of the agency deal on kindle books, or if it's Amazon playing the other side of the equation, or what.

It's really helped me cut down on my spending.

Until recently I had three paperbacks on my amazon wishlist with a total discount of 1 penny. I bought (half of) one of them as an ebook elsewhere, with my Nook conversion voucher, and I just bought another for full price from a high street bookshop. The third still languishes unbought on my wishlist and will do so until I'm about ready to read it.

[cvkemp]

I have and I do buy ebooks that are more expensive than paper ebooks. Why, because they are easier to store. I was one of these that had books stacked everywhere. I got my first e-ink reader and discovered how easy it was to store my books. So I managed to get the books that I wanted to keep in ebook format and I have sold or given away almost all of my paper books. Yes there are some paper books I still have because they are old books that were given to me by parents, grandparents and friends. They have special notes in them. I also buy and give some books to friends and family. But I only get ebooks for myself if at all possible.

[DiapDealer]

I can say with complete confidence that Amazon absolutely does NOT want to kill digital sales.

[Fbone]

The last Star Trek novel published is currently $1.99 so, perhaps, S&S will have the next one on sale shortly after release.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Looking at a couple Star Trek books at Amazon it looks like Simon and Schuster set the prices like eschwartz said, without knowing what title you are looking at I can't be sure since maybe there are some ST books by other publishers (I doubt a pre-order would be though).

Either way, Amazon isn't trying to kill digital sales. If anyone is it is the publishers who have been trying to prop up paper sales by increasing the prices of e-books. That has been a main talking point from the indie side for the last few years.

Both STAR TREK and S&S are owned by CBS so odds of a legal Star Trek book from another publisher is vanishingly low.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Both STAR TREK and S&S are owned by CBS so odds of a legal Star Trek book from another publisher is vanishingly low.

Is there a Star Trek Kindle World?

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Both STAR TREK and S&S are owned by CBS so odds of a legal Star Trek book from another publisher is vanishingly low.

I don't expect there is one but give how long ST has been around there might be an old book somewhere that was originally with another publisher and hasn't been transferred. Mostly, I needed to leave myself an out since I really have no clue.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The last Star Trek novel published is currently $1.99 so, perhaps, S&S will have the next one on sale shortly after release.

That's the first time that's ever happened. In fact that whole series was on special for $1.99 Maybe it's just a promotion of some kind. I doubt it happens with every new release.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And publishers feel threatened by ebooks, because they haven't adapted well to the digital world.

How is one to measure whether they have adapted well?

In my view, the most important measure is artistic. Are the books they are publishing as good as the ones in the past? I say yes. Of course, judgments here are utterly subjective. I do realize that the number of misprints in a book is objective, but it is utterly subjective how significant that is compared to quality of research and writing.

The less important, to me, measure is financial results. Book publishing is doing tremendously better there than what I think is the clearest point of comparison, newspapers. For example:

Penguin Random House Posts Record Profit for 2015

Why is it that book publishers are doing better than newspaper publishers? Maybe it's because of what Scarpad is complaining about!

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Why is it that book publishers are doing better than newspaper publishers? Maybe it's because of what Scarpad is complaining about!

Because book publishers don't rely on shrinking classified and advertising revenue?

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

The less important, to me, measure is financial results. Book publishing is doing tremendously better there than what I think is the clearest point of comparison, newspapers. For example:

Penguin Random House Posts Record Profit for 2015

Why is it that book publishers are doing better than newspaper publishers? Maybe it's because of what Scarpad is complaining about!

Hmmm. That is interesting. Independents are growing. I would be surprised if the total market is growing significantly.

The numbers have to add up somehow. So, I peaked at the link. The record profit is all due to cost savings from a merger. Actual sales are down a bit (2.1%). Similarly, sales are flat at other publishers.

On the other hand, I would have guessed the growth in independent authors and established authors selling backlist books had grown much more than the publisher numbers would predict. Possibly I am overestimating the growth in direct to consumer books because I purchase an increasing number of those.

Another possibility is that the small imprint press is disappearing and the independents are taking from them rather than the name publishers? It seems to me I have heard of a number of closures lately?