No e-book edition for new Stephen King thriller

[Quexos]

The plant turned out to be a disappointment for King. He eventually gave it up, after 6 chapters if I'm not mistaken.
I think the business model was flawed and to some extent it impacted on the quality of the work. When you release a story chapter by chapter, you can't make corrections anymore or decide that some chapter should come before rather than after. It was bound to be very linear. Of course to make a final judgement, the story should have been carried out to the end.

Originally Posted by BenG

King is fond of experimenting with a variety of ways to publish his work. Remember The Green Mile and The Plant.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I honestly don't think King really cares at this point. He could publish his book using monkey's blood on vellum made from the scrotums of albino wombats and it probably wouldn't hurt his sales.

Seeing that he mostly writes horror (or maybe fantasy-horror), it might actually increase his sales.

I wonder if I should add this book to my to-read list, because I really, really hate people who think that they can be the ones to make choices *for* me, if *I'm* the one who's paying.

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I do love his books, but no way am I buying a trade paperback. I can't stand those things, not to mention they're too expensive. So I guess I'll just be reading something else! Sorry, Mr. King.

I've sold my e-reader because it was not a book and I couldn't get used to it. (Not to mention, that there were very, very few books on sale that I wanted to read, which only *really* took off around 2010.) Now that I'm used to my KPW, I must agree: I hate paperbacks. I really do. If I'm going to read a paper book now, it better be a hardcover.

[Fbone]

I see Joyland is currently #3 on Amazon's and B&N's bestselling list.

[latepaul]

I'm amazed at the hostility to this to be honest. It's just a book, he's not stealing milk from babies. It looks like he just wants to release it as a paperback because that's more in keeping with the "pulp" style of the writing. Like a band releasing an album of retro songs as vinyl only or something. Gimmicky? yes. Evil and anti-ebook? hardly.

[orlok]

^ this.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by latepaul

I'm amazed at the hostility to this to be honest. It's just a book, he's not stealing milk from babies. It looks like he just wants to release it as a paperback because that's more in keeping with the "pulp" style of the writing. Like a band releasing an album of retro songs as vinyl only or something. Gimmicky? yes. Evil and anti-ebook? hardly.

Evil? Not quite. Anti-eBook? Of course, what else could he do that was more anti-ebook?

[Barcey]

Who's Stephen King?

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Evil? Not quite. Anti-eBook? Of course, what else could he do that was more anti-ebook?

He could refuse to have any of his books available as ebooks. He could campaign against ebooks. He could write articles and speak at events denouncing ebooks. He could boycott Amazon. He could give money to organisations that seek to ban ebooks (or set up such an organisation).

And so on. He could do a lot. He hasn't. He's just chosen not to publish his latest book as an ebook.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Quexos

The plant turned out to be a disappointment for King. He eventually gave it up, after 6 chapters if I'm not mistaken.
I think the business model was flawed and to some extent it impacted on the quality of the work. When you release a story chapter by chapter, you can't make corrections anymore or decide that some chapter should come before rather than after. It was bound to be very linear. Of course to make a final judgement, the story should have been carried out to the end.

To be fair the plant was released in ebook format in 2000 when ebooks were just really starting to get a foothold and even the Kindle was still years away from release (Nov. 2007). So if it was flawed it was probably due to the fact that no one was certain what could be done and not done with the tech. of the time.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Who's Stephen King?

Are you serious or just kidding?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King

[paulsalter]

I don't see how this can be seen as anti e-book, it's just one that he decided to put out in paper

when UR came out as an e-book only was he classed as anti paper books?

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by crich70

Are you serious or just kidding?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King

Kidding, but I've given up on his books a long time ago. I was never a fan so I don't really care. If he expects his customer's to kowtow to his whims like this though, I expect "who's Stephen King" to be a more common question.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Barcey

If he expects his customer's to kowtow to his whims like this though, I expect "who's Stephen King" to be a more common question.

*snorts*

Actually, on second thought...

*chortles*

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

*snorts*

Actually, on second thought...

*chortles*

lol

To be clear I just mean that he's doing more to damage himself then the future of ebooks. He obviously doesn't care though because he has too much money.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I don't think King's doing damage to himself at all.

Yes, e-books are now far more popular than they once were, and the effect of the more portable medium on physical stores is demonstrably great. But the percentage of people who are likely to take King's decision not to publish an ebook this once personally -- let alone attribute nasty motives to him which no one can prove or even suggest are likely -- is far greater on a site like MR than anywhere else.

We're a community of purists by virtue of our interests, and King is anything but -- he's been a populist from the very beginning. I'd be amazed if his decision in this case turned out to be elitist or self-indulgently exclusive, as people have suggested on this thread.

Besides, King is so rich that I doubt a total lack of sales from this point on would even touch him.

If he simply wants to have fun supporting this or that aspect of the book market with each successive book, then let him have his fun. Whether you like his writing or not, he's put in an inhuman amount of time generating novels and he certainly deserves whatever amusement he can derive from his constant task.