eReader.com is getting aggresive with pricing

[=X=]

I've looked over at eReader.com recently and noticed their banner

New Prices:
New Titles $9.95
No eBook over $12.95
New York Best Sellers: $9.95
15% rewards on every book purchase.

With the 15% eReader.com AND the 12.95 cap eReader.com is now the cheapest place to buy eBooks. Some books are discounted up to 50% due to the price cap.

=X=

[wayrad]

I haven't tracked it, but my gut level impression is that their prices had actually gone up quite a bit since Fictionwise acquired them, although it was disguised by the somewhat complicated calculations involved in all the "rewards" and "specials". Hopefully this represents a reversal of the trend!

[ficbot]

I have not bought from them before, but I have bought secure ereader from Fictionwise. Can I assume this is the same thing and these books will just download into my iPod Touch, business as usual? Also, can they be 'liberated' in the same fashion to which I have become accustomed? (in other words, are these the same kind of file I would get at Fictionwise or is there a difference?)

[JSWolf]

Fictionwise owns eReader. So yes, the eReader you get at Fictionwise are the same as you get at eReader.

[JSWolf]

Too bad it wasn't Fictionwise.com doing this instead of eReader.com.

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Too bad it wasn't Fictionwise.com doing this instead of eReader.com.

I never have understood why they have two separate sites. Can anyone explain that?

[=X=]

Originally Posted by wayrad

I haven't tracked it, but my gut level impression is that their prices had actually gone up quite a bit since Fictionwise acquired them, although it was disguised by the somewhat complicated calculations involved in all the "rewards" and "specials". Hopefully this represents a reversal of the trend!

It's hard to blame eReader.com for this. I'd be more inclined to think this is the publishers fault esp when eReader has had similar prices to other eBook stores.

I'm just not too crazy about the eReader format it does not have good support for tables and images.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Too bad it wasn't Fictionwise.com doing this instead of eReader.com.

True.

Originally Posted by pking36330

I never have understood why they have two separate sites. Can anyone explain that?

They are different business units, having different stores allows them to run different promotions. Also eReader was acquired so in order to not alienate the existing client it's typical for business to maintain the old store front. I don't see Fictionwise going away now that Barnes and Noble goes away.

=X=

[JSWolf]

If you are purchasing eBooks with images over than the cover, eReader is the last choice I would make. Well, PDF is actually. But that's another can of worms.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you are purchasing eBooks with images over than the cover, eReader is the last choice I would make. Well, PDF is actually. But that's another can of worms.

Yes most of the books I buy have charts, graphs, and tables. And they don't look very good on the reader.

I was reading "The Coming Economic Collapse" where a table was displayed. Other formats show this as a table but eReader showed it as an image. The worst part was I could not read the image it was too small.

Other books on eReader worked out great. I bought my daughter a Ramona book and the pictures where fine. There is a difference between looking at an image and trying to read text.


=X=

[Sonist]

Well, I just did a quick search for Updike, and most (of the few available) titles on eReader.com are $12.95, while they are $9.99 on Amazon.

Unfortunately, both have meager selection (Amazon's is a little better), and neither has the Rabbit series (which is available in PDF format from www.diesel-ebooks.com, where Rabbit, Run goes for $7.87 - I will buy it and try on the Kindle DX.)

Similarly, on eReader.com, Vonnegut's titles go for $8.99, while on Amazon they are $7.19, and on diesel-ebooks.com $7.44 (mobi) and $7.87 for PDF.

[wallcraft]

There is an additional 15% "reward" if you sign up for their newsletter, which means that $12.95 is effectively $11.00 (and $8.99 is $7.64). I agree, though, that this site is unlikely to have the best price for back list titles.

[=X=]

I think it depends here is a counter example

Fictionwise $28/$23.80
Amazon $15.40
BoB $25.31/$22.65
eReader $12.95/$11

eReader.com is clearly the cheaper book.

On aside this book has Minority Report/Total Recal/Paycheck,etc... Each one of these books is selling for $9 individually.

=X=

[Kris777]

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/clay...e-book-pricing

Barnes & Noble Follows the Leader (Amazon) With $9.95 E-book Pricing
BY Clay DillowWed Jul 1, 2009 at 3:17 PM


When Barnes & Noble scooped up e-book seller Fictionwise.com--owner of eReader.com and eBookwise.com--back in March, the company said the purchase was part of an overall digital strategy that would culminate with the launch of its own e-book seller later this year. While B&N didn't elaborate further on its digital strategy, part of it came to light this week when eReader changed its pricing to match the price of books for Amazon's Kindle e-reader.

Previously, there was no standing pricing for the books in the eReader store; the prices were as variable as those at a brick-and-mortar retailer. Now, all new e-books sold on the site will be $9.95 or less (and no book will be more than $12.95). Amazon already offers its e-books, old and new, bestseller or obscure, at a single $9.99 price point, making them cheaper than the average hardcover at a bookstore.

As Fast Company contributing writer Adam L. Penenberg wrote in this month's cover story, Amazon is redefining the cost of a book in readers' minds, forcing other e-book sellers to follow suit and in turn forcing publishers to play ball. Publishers are still trying to get as money much as they can from e-book sales, and Amazon loses money on many of its $9.99 titles (paying publishers as much as $12 or $13 for some titles). B&N's new pricing indicates that Amazon is dictating to everyone else what an e-book should cost, much the way Apple defined the price point for digital music.

A behemoth like B&N can afford to jump into the game of losing money now to make money later, but smaller start-ups will have a hard time undercutting Amazon's pricing by cutting deals with publishers. Thus, B&N's concession to Amazon's pricing structure could mark the beginning of a brave new world in e-books, one ruled by the dictates of Amazon. Once readers have it in their heads that an e-book is worth ten bucks and no more, everyone from publishers to writers to competitors like B&N are going to have to bend to that price. It would seem that paradigm shift is already underway.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by pking36330

I never have understood why they have two separate sites. Can anyone explain that?

eReader site only supports eReader. Fictionwise has lots of different sites, eBookwise is one of their sites that only supports eBookwise. It is a convenience to those customers and eReader was purchased and the site maintained. Why muck with something that is making money, I guess.

Dale

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Why muck with something that is making money, I guess.

Except that it SERIOUSLY confuses potential customers. Let me get this right...I can only by eReader books at the eReader.com website owned by FictionWise, but at the FictionWise.com website I can buy eReader and other formats. Right?

Do my FictionWise dollars in my account work on the eReader.com webstore?
Why wouldn't they create a superstore and then you can select eReader, eBookwise, Mobi, or whatever format you want to filter everything but that? One e-commerce engine and one set of books HAS to be cheaper and more efficient. Somebody is paying for that extra overhead and it's the customers and each of their various webstores.