Publisher Lunacy

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by leebase

I read Dune: the Sisterhood, and enjoyed it. Then again, I've enjoyed all of the series.

Lee

Frank Herbert's Dune series was a masterpiece. Meanwhile, Brian Herbert's Dune series is the literary equivalent of Goosebumps for adults.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Next to Stonetools you would be the last person I would have expected to start a thread with a title like that. Perhaps a wake up call? You can argue this issue all day, of course. But it is quite obvious that publishers have not yet fully embraced ebooks and seem to quietly hope they will go away.

Wake up call? Probably not. It's not like I ever thought publishers could do no wrong.

I still have no problem with publishers taking control of the pricing of ebooks. I have no problem with an ebook being priced at or close to the price of the hard back. I was ready and willing to pay the $15 new ebook price...even though the hard back is discounted to $13.50 on Amazon.

I don't see ANY sense in simply withholding the ebook for a year. Money is money. If the ebook is priced to give the publishers the same money...what's it to them if I read the hard back or the ebook?

I don't have any problem with the hard back pricing window. If I wanted to buy a cheap paper back....waiting until after the hard back pricing window is simply "how it's always been". Never bothered me. It was "pay now and enjoy, or wait and pay less".

But Tor isn't giving me my "pay now" option in ebooks. That makes no sense.

This is quite different from complaining about the price of ebooks and how it costs nothing to make them and therefore I should be able to buy new release popular fiction at used paper book prices. THAT line of reasoning I've never agreed with.

I have money, I'm willing to pay for their product.

Lee

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

I have money, I'm willing to pay for their product.

Lee

But they don't want your money.
They only want the mney of hardcover buyers.

I would take the hint and take my money elsewhere. And not come back.
It's not as if there aren't plenty of other good writers and good books out there.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Mr Card said that an "enhanced" ebook will be available in a few weeks for both Kindle and Nook.

Added: With illustrations but abridged.

The full ebook version in 2013.

Abridged is NOT enhanced. It's just plain stupid.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Abridged is NOT enhanced. It's just plain stupid.

Abridged is cool. You get done quicker. As a kid, I read Classics Illustrated.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Abridged is cool. You get done quicker. As a kid, I read Classics Illustrated.

And you miss out on content you want to read. I dislike abridged.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

This is even more baffling: enhanced... AND abridged?? Aren't those terms kind of opposites? What could they possibly be thinking?

Maybe it is a really bad book?
So they have done you a favour by taking lots of it out?

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Maybe it is a really bad book?
So they have done you a favour by taking lots of it out?

It seems to me that Tor is "reinventing" the Baen ARC "model" (except way worse, of course).

In this twisted reality, customers are expected to pay twice, once for "privilege" to read crippled version early on, the second time for a full blown release.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Abridged is NOT enhanced. It's just plain stupid.

The enhanced likely refers to things it may include, besides the abridged version of the story, such as author notes, reference sketches, etc.

[cjr72]

I know you want the e-book but situations like this is when I resort to buying used. You get a perfectly legal copy and the publisher doesn't get a cut. When it comes to music I pretty much go with used CD's exclusively at this point and roll my own FLAC and MP3 files. It's an extra hassle I know but the thought of sticking it to the music industry in a perfectly legal way gives me the warm-and-fuzzies inside.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

The enhanced likely refers to things it may include, besides the abridged version of the story, such as author notes, reference sketches, etc.

Even still, it's a substandard version.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Abridged is cool. You get done quicker. As a kid, I read Classics Illustrated.

Quite a few of Classics Illustrated books are IMPROVEMENTS over the original text, in my opinion. They're quite lovingly written. I quite like The Time Machine one -- much better foreshadowing, imho. I blogged about that awhile back.

However, in general I do NOT like abridged versions.

[elcreative]

Bowdlerising, abridging and simplifying rule, OK...

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Quite a few of Classics Illustrated books are IMPROVEMENTS over the original text, in my opinion. They're quite lovingly written. I quite like The Time Machine one -- much better foreshadowing, imho. I blogged about that awhile back.

However, in general I do NOT like abridged versions.

I did book reports from Classics Illustrated. In school, I hated reading. So I'd always look for shortcuts to get it over with.

Every blue moon or so, I'll read an abridged book; but mostly avoid them. With audiobooks, I won't do abridged versions unless they're dramatized productions like the BBC stuff. Those I really enjoy.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

However, in general I do NOT like abridged versions.

Especially when they shorten the title.