Boycott all books over 9.99!!

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by dirtylc

I read that this morning and I believe that the older e book veterans are so excited about just having e books that they will fall for anything. The junior members are expecting and demand lower pricing, good for us. If we have to roll the companies, the sycophants, and anyone else in our way to accomplish this we will do so. In the great George Bush's words "Bring em on!"

Uh, huh?

[Barcey]

I don't consider it a boycott but I have set my own target prices for new releases and for MMPB equivalent. I've only been purchasing the books when they're under that price. Fictionwise lets you set an "Alert Price" for any books on your wish list and that's what I've done. Unfortunately some of the books I've been buying fall within my target price only because of Fictionwise micropay rebates and discounts so I'm not sure the publishers know what I was really willing to pay.

I recently deleted about 5 books from my wish list because the price hadn't changed in over a year. I was upset and didn't want to read them any more.

[BenG]

I boycotted paperbacks when the price went over $1.00.
I don't think it worked though.

[rmhartman]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

A boycott is unlikely to be effective. What might be effective is if everyone who didn't buy an ebook because of the high price (or the DRM) wrote a letter or sent an email to the publishers informing them of their decision.

I think protesting DRM is more important than protesting the price, but both are significant issues.

More importantly, however, you have to _both_ avoid purchasing any of the offending books _and_ notify the publisher as to why they have lost your business.

Some people say they do not "support" DRM-encumbered books, but they go ahead and buy them anyway. That counts as "support" in my ledger!

[dirtylc]

"If I can reasonably expect to sell 5000 copies of a book, and I decide that my work is worth, say, $20,000 to me (hardly a high rate of pay for 6 months work), then I need to make $4 profit per copy. If Amazon pays me 35% of the book's selling price, that means that the book needs to sell for $11.50 to give me my $4."

Yeah great math you happened to leave out speaking fees in which hot selling authors routinely make $5,000-10,000 an event. My school booked John Perkins and Greg Palast for about 15,000-20,000. For two hours of their time. The ebook will never be priced appropriately if the companies get away with setting the prices. You think that they will bring the price down after making a profits killing for years on ebooks. wow there's a bridge I should sell you all then.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dirtylc

Yeah great math you happened to leave out speaking fees in which hot selling authors routinely make $5,000-10,000 an event.

I'm not talking about "hot authors", but the "average joe" who tries to make a living from writing and who - believe me - nobody is going to "pay" to listen to. I am speaking from personal experience as an author.

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The publisher has a "right" to set whatever price they wish for their product.

You have the "right" as a consumer, to choose to buy or not to buy at that price.

You do not, with the greatest respect, have the right to "dictate" to the publisher what price they "should" sell their product at. At the end of the day, the market will determine what the appropriate price is.

Is it "dictating" by asking other consumers to band together and refuse to pay more than $9.99? Personally, I think this is just as reasonable as an individual consumer making the choice not to buy at a certain price. Or a consumer deciding to follow the boycott or not.

So that author that needs to make $20,000 for six months work (extremely reasonable) might decide to not publish -- unless he decides that his work will appeal to a larger audience. 35% of $9.99 is about $3.50, so he'd need to sell 5715 books to make his target paycheck.

Personally, I don't have a problem with someone trying to organize a boycott based on Price or DRM (although I doubt I'd sign on to either).

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not talking about "hot authors", but the "average joe" who tries to make a living from writing and who - believe me - nobody is going to "pay" to listen to. I am speaking from personal experience as an author.

Have you published any fiction?

BOb

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Have you published any fiction?

BOb

Maybe he's Harry Harrison...

[mjaopr]

I would like to "rent" a book. Have it for a week or so, then if I love it, buy it for keeps.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by mjaopr

I would like to "rent" a book. Have it for a week or so, then if I love it, buy it for keeps.

I would love that. Isn't that how Napster works now? You pay a subscription fee for all the music you want to listen to and can even load it on some players that support their DRM but if you want to own the song DRM-free, you can buy it. This model would be great for me since I read a good deal and rarely re-read anything.

[Ervserver]

One day some of the most successful authors will take the initiative and sell their books only in ebook form, perhaps on Amazon. This will open the door. Publishers will no longer be needed. People will swarm to ebooks

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

One day some of the most successful authors will take the initiative and sell their books only in ebook form, perhaps on Amazon. This will open the door. Publishers will no longer be needed. People will swarm to ebooks

Actually, quite a few do. I hope they don't just stick to amazon though, I want to read them too

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

One day some of the most successful authors will take the initiative and sell their books only in ebook form, perhaps on Amazon. This will open the door. Publishers will no longer be needed. People will swarm to ebooks

I agree. In addition to your point, once enough ereaders are in people's hands their won't be a need for publishers. With a little software you just publish it yourself -- getting people to read it, muchless pay you for it, is another question altogether. I imagine that in a few years publishers will be in the same straights as newspapers today. It'll be interesting to see who adapts to the changing market.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I agree. In addition to your point, once enough ereaders are in people's hands their won't be a need for publishers. With a little software you just publish it yourself -- getting people to read it, muchless pay you for it, is another question altogether. I imagine that in a few years publishers will be in the same straights as newspapers today. It'll be interesting to see who adapts to the changing market.

I think this would open the door for smaller, leaner companies that specialize in editing and marketing. Publishers do add value by separating the wheat from the chaff, editing and making the work visible to the buying public. They also add a good deal of bloat that I don't want to pay for. Most authors benefit from editing and I know I don't want to sift through 1000 horrible novels to find one good one. I'll pay extra for someone to do that for me.