Publishers Agonize(?) Over Ebook Release Dates

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

IMNSHO - the bottom line for publishers is money. Offering ebooks with hardcovers snags 2 impulse buyer markets immediately - those ebook & hardcover readers salivating for the release of the next book by their favorite author. Those waiting for paperback editions to read obviously don't have ereaders if they want to buy paperbacks. There is a clear separation of markets developing now that publishers are not grasping. Ebook readers want to read new titles immediately, and are apparently willing to pay higher prices for this, just like the folks that buy hardcovers. Offering ebooks at higher prices with hardcovers, and then lowering prices when the paperbook release occurs hits all buying levels and maximizes sales opportunities.

um... not so sure about that. i may be impulsive, but there are very few authors i am willing to pay hardback (well, let's say "first printing", since in france mostly they sell "broché" which are larger, nicely bound (sewn) editions, but not hardcovers) prices for. however if it's a book i want to read fast but not sure i want to spend that price on it, i will get it at the library, because i am impatient. after i've read it, the chances i will buy *any* edition, including a cheaper paperback, decrease dramatically. if they released the ebook at the same time as the hardback BUT not at hardback prices (i refuse to pay that for an ebook, whoever the author !), they might get my impulse buy of an ebook instead of me going to the library.

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Actually, what they are saying is that people will buy both the hard cover and the paperback (or ebook). If you leave the ebook out of the equation... How many people buy the hard cover and the paperback? If they bring out the hard cover together with the (more expensive than normal) ebook, I wonder how much less they would actually make... (I personally think they'd make more money than waiting with the ebook till the pocket came out...)

yep, i agree, i think they are losing money by trying to make more. ironic, isn't it ?

[EowynCarter]

I don't buy hardback anymore. Harry potter was the one exception i made.

You know, we french wait for TV shows, for movies, for books. I am patient.
I if i can't wait, i borrow the book to the library.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All this will do is kill off demand for this book. People that do not buy hardcovers and do buy eBooks will not buy this because of being treated like second class citizens. So way to go killing off sales.

I don't know how many folks would be quite so militant but I do think they will lose many sales opportunities. If I hear about a new book I want to read and I don't see it available as an ebook, I may not check again. I don't bother with paper any more so I will not buy the hardback. It's a lost sale. It may just slip out of my mind if it's not an author for which I have an established preference. If it's something that just piques my curiosity, I have a good chance of buying it if it's there but I won't file it away in my mind to seek it out later.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

IMNSHO - the bottom line for publishers is money. Offering ebooks with hardcovers snags 2 impulse buyer markets immediately - those ebook & hardcover readers salivating for the release of the next book by their favorite author. Those waiting for paperback editions to read obviously don't have ereaders if they want to buy paperbacks. There is a clear separation of markets developing now that publishers are not grasping. Ebook readers want to read new titles immediately, and are apparently willing to pay higher prices for this, just like the folks that buy hardcovers. Offering ebooks at higher prices with hardcovers, and then lowering prices when the paperbook release occurs hits all buying levels and maximizes sales opportunities.

I agree that offering the ebook with the hardcover is the best strategy but I don't follow why people who wait for paperbacks wouldn't have ebook readers. Most folks I know have both hardbacks and paperbacks in their libraries. My husband, who also has an ebook reader, is the sort that usually waited for paperback. He only bought hardbacks of his favorite authors because he didn't want to wait and knew he would likely read the book many times. He's more typical of my friends including the ones that read ebooks. The majority of their books are paperback and they make a conscious decision to wait for them. I'm a bit different. I bought books I wanted to read. If they were only available in hardback, fine. If I could get them cheaper in paperback, I would. I rarely waited for paperback to save money but if it was already out by the time I became interested in the book, I was happy to buy it instead and save a few bucks. I even know folks with ebook readers who primarily used the library before. I don't think there's a single type of book consumer that buys these things. There are advantages beyond the instant gratification.

[JSWolf]

A hardcover book is not an impulse purchase. An eBook at $9.99 might be an impulse purchase. I don't buy hardcovers due to the price. I only have so much money to spend and hardcovers eat too much of that money. In today's economy, hardcovers are a bad idea.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Wants me to register to read the article

The Firefox plugin bugmenot will fix that. It's a site (linked to the plugin) that collects registrations for free sites, so you don't have to make yet another login ID.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A hardcover book is not an impulse purchase. An eBook at $9.99 might be an impulse purchase. I don't buy hardcovers due to the price. I only have so much money to spend and hardcovers eat too much of that money. In today's economy, hardcovers are a bad idea.

I don't know about bad idea--it depends on what a person does with the book. If the goal is "read once, loan to spouse, then get rid of it," then hardcovers are a bad investment. If it's "use as a reference work, or reread several times, over the next decade or two," then the durability of a hardcover can be worth the extra $20-40.

I'm questioning the quote in the article:

“If you as a consumer can look at a book and say: ‘I have two products; one is $27.95, and the other is $9.95. Which should I buy?’” Ms. Raccah said, “that’s not a difficult decision.”

She seems to think people have decided they WILL buy the product, in whatever form it's available... and that nobody would choose hardcover over ebook. What, do hardcover sales end when the paperback comes out? I know they slow... but I've seen plenty of books where both versions were available at the same time.

[Teddman]

Until now John Grisham has not allowed any of his books to be released in electronic book form. But according to his agent, David Gernert, Mr. Grisham has not resolved how his publisher, Doubleday, should release a digital version of “Ford County,” a short story collection set for hardcover release on Nov. 3.

I've got news for Grisham's agent. ALL of his books are available in ebook form, and for free. Do you think big Grisham fans who are also early adopters of e-readers are just patiently waiting for him to finally get on the bandwagon?

Most of them probably just pirate his books and read away. And when the official editions of his ebooks arrive, those sales likely won't be made. Whereas if they on the market now, lots of fans wouldn't resort to piracy.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

I don't buy hardback anymore. Harry potter was the one exception i made.

You know, we french wait for TV shows, for movies, for books. I am patient.
I if i can't wait, i borrow the book to the library.

me too. (although, despite being forced to wait, i would not say i am patient. )

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All this will do is kill off demand for this book. People that do not buy hardcovers and do buy eBooks will not buy this because of being treated like second class citizens. So way to go killing off sales.

I agree 100%. If you don't provide an electronic version, avid ebook readers will mostly just not buy the book until it's release or they might forget about it by then (since the 'hype' surrounding the book will be all around the time of hardcover release). That's a lose-lose situation for publishers.

If you release both simultaneously, the ebook readers will be happy and you might leak a small percentage of hardcover readers who ALSO own an ebook reader device. But let's face it, people who read ebooks don't buy a lot of hardcovers imo.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All this will do is kill off demand for this book. People that do not buy hardcovers and do buy eBooks will not buy this because of being treated like second class citizens. So way to go killing off sales.

Not quite, or at least not yet. E-book purchase are still a fraction of the overall picture right now (1-2%) so I don't think they are losing huge chunks of income at this time; they are primarily trying to protect the existing pricing structures.

If anything, now is the time to experiment, before e-books become a significant and/or dominant part of sales.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Apparently it's a Firefox 3.5 issue (at least I think it is). It opens immediately in Chrome, go figure. *shrugs*

No, it's not... I'm running FF 3.5 also, and it opens fine here. But hey, whatever works for you :-)

[basschick]

i'll pay more for a brand-new ebook if i just can't wait - not more than the hardcover version (god, no!) but more than it will settle to in 3 months or so. i won't buy the hardcover versions of most books in any circumstance because they're big and bulky and i have no space at all. i'll buy books i really love in hardcore later, but the only hardcover i bought before i had read the book was the latest spenser novel, which i actually pre-ordered at a discount and just couldn't wait for. that's only happened once in the last several years, but i have paid around $12.99 for a charlaine harris and a jim butcher and a few others that were brand new and i was dying to read 'em.

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Apparently it's a Firefox 3.5 issue (at least I think it is). It opens immediately in Chrome, go figure. *shrugs*

I've no problems with Firefox or Exploiter, but then I am registered with them (I like the daily emails and find NYT a good foil to the UK media). Strange.

I don't know what the right answer, so lets see were an argument will take me. [EDIT: I'm not a publisher, so I'd really appreciate the publishers inputs and comments on my speculation of their thought processes. Also, I didn't expect to get were I got. Profound apologies to any publishers who feel upset by my take on them. If you are upset, you must be one of what I think of as the enlightened independents.]

I suspect people buy hardbacks for lots of reasons. For me:

1. It's a special book and I want that wonderful feel of a hardback, that will last many readings
2. It's very unlikely that the book will be available in any other format (less a case these days -- that role seems to have been replaced by the expensive Trade Paperback)
3. I'm buying it as a gift
4. It's the first edition of the first book every by an author that I've just enjoyed at a festival... (which is sometimes the same as 2, sadly).

None of these are really impulse purchases. For all of the above, I'm happy to pay more for the hardcover, and the ebook wouldn't attact me. I'd happily wait for the cheaper ebook, as I would for the paper back. For instance, I don't have Pratchett's Nation as I consider it too expensive, and will wait for the cheaper ebook. I'll do the same for Unseen Academicals.

So, are the publishers loosing anything by not releasing ebooks at lower prices? No, in my case not, and I suspect that is true in almost all other cases. All they are doing is spreading the time over which they can get income.

So what do the publishers loose by releasing ebooks at the same time as hardbacks, at the same price? Not much, though I'd guess very limited uptake. Most people would plump for the physical hardback, rather than the e-book. Most likely they'd loose sleep for fears over piracy (but then, that happens with p-books, so ....).

So what do the publishers loose by releasing low-priced ebooks at the same time as hardbacks. Probably some income (I suspect I'm atypical in having patience yet being able to afford the higher prices if I wanted). There will be people who buy cheapest. And it would probably damage the marketing pipeline.

And what about publishers that own printing works, or have shares in them, or contracts to print certain volumes? To them, ebooks represent a threat to the value of their investments, or to the bottom line with costs they have to pay. So at least some publishers (at least today) don't want to replace pbooks with ebooks.

So what to publishers think of the owners of liseuses? Generally we are people that have spent a several hundred dollars on something that needs their product(s). Or put another way, we must have disposable income, and are willing to pay more than a paperback price -- we gave the up-front cost of the liseuse after all. And if they make ebooks available quickly and cheaply, the real winners the the liseuse manufacturers.

So where does this leave the e-book release schedule and pricing? For the near term, I'm guessing the most sensible (i.e. lowest risk) answer from a publishers point of view is to delay e-books until slightly after the paperbacks, and charge more for them.

Caveat: it's the small, independents that will change the playing field by shaking the market up, capturing talent and forcing the big boys to take note. Kinda like in the movie industry.

[Barcey]

From my own personal experience (I used to purchase about 30% to 50% of my books in first release hardcover) I purchased them for the following reasons:

1) I liked the author and I'd been waiting for the next book for years and didn't want to wait another year for the paper back (ex: George R.R. Martin)
2) It was a book that I thought I would want to read more then once.
3) It was an author that other people I know enjoy and I was likely to loan it to them
4) The paperback was released and they were selling the hardcovers cheaper then paperback to clear out inventory

Other people I know would buy them read them right away and sell them second hand.

For me personally they've lost the hardcover sale regardless. They can charge a premium price for a new release and I'll probably pay it but I'll never pay the same or more then the paper release.

I believe that people that are buying electronic readers today are buying them because they understand the delivery mechanism is cheaper and it's easier to buy. They expect to share in the cost savings. They are also probably some of the publishers best customers because they love reading enough to shell out $350 for a dedicated reading device. These aren't the people they want to piss off through what can only be viewed as price gouging. There are already publishers that understand ebooks and there will be more.

I understand publishers wanting to experiment with different pricing models but I expect them to think it through end to end not only from their view but also from the view of their customer. It's not something to agonize over it's a business decision.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I don't know about bad idea--it depends on what a person does with the book. If the goal is "read once, loan to spouse, then get rid of it," then hardcovers are a bad investment. If it's "use as a reference work, or reread several times, over the next decade or two," then the durability of a hardcover can be worth the extra $20-40.

I'm questioning the quote in the article:

“If you as a consumer can look at a book and say: ‘I have two products; one is $27.95, and the other is $9.95. Which should I buy?’” Ms. Raccah said, “that’s not a difficult decision.”

She seems to think people have decided they WILL buy the product, in whatever form it's available... and that nobody would choose hardcover over ebook. What, do hardcover sales end when the paperback comes out? I know they slow... but I've seen plenty of books where both versions were available at the same time.

What I meant but didn't say very clearly is that hardcovers are a bad idea for most books that are just novels that would work fine as a MMPB. I do see the usefulness of hardcovers as reference works or other sorts of non-novel type books.

The thing is, that for the person to be deciding between the hardcover and the eBook, that would mean that said person would need a Kindle given that the article is focused on the Kindle (yeah like other devices don't exist). If said person owned a Kindle, then the only reason the person would be looking at the hardcover would be to decide if it was a book he/she might want to read and then go and see if it was available as an eBook with no intention of ever purchasing the hardcover. So we have two totally different audiences. That's where the publishers are losing focus. The people who buy eBooks aren't going to want The Lost Symbol as a hardcover and will want it as an eBook. So delaying the eBook release will not get the eBook types to get the hardcover. In fact, it may just piss them off enough to go find a free copy on the darknet once it gets there. Delaying the eBook will (IMHO) cause a loss of sales. And rightly so. You cannot treat your customers like cheats and thieves and expect them not to respond in some unfavorable way.