eBook sales are down 17%

[coldfox]

When e books first came out that were touted as being an alternative to print books, as they were going to be cheaper and easier for the consumer. What happened??? Some e books are now more expensive to buy then the print versions.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by coldfox

When e books first came out that were touted as being an alternative to print books, as they were going to be cheaper and easier for the consumer. What happened??? Some e books are now more expensive to buy then the print versions.

It's called agency pricing. The practice through which the publisher sets an ebook’s price and the retailer takes a commission.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

That is why using an e-ink device can be a better solution. They aren’t back lit, they don’t offer sings and bells of email and messages, and their screens are very similar to paper.

My first Kindle back in 2009 gave reading back to me. I can’t easily read paperbacks, and hard backs are heavy and expensive, and not that much easier to read as far as the font sizes etc. for me. I went from reading maybe one book a month to reading 6-10 per month. And it is wonderful.

Editing to add...as far as distractions from notifications, I know many tablet users who don’t pay attention to the Settings on the devices. Every time you install an app, it wants permission to use notifications. If I allowed all of my apps to do that, my iPhone would be dinging all the time. I’ve always been one to drill down into menus looking at all the options and tweaks. Many folks don’t.

Not to mention users who have their volume set at LOUD, regardless of where they are. At the doctor, church, hospital, grocery store...big fan of MUTE here.

I tend to forget until first notification then turn it off.
Oh tablets have volume? This one stays on mute.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by coldfox

When e books first came out that were touted as being an alternative to print books, as they were going to be cheaper and easier for the consumer. What happened??? Some e books are now more expensive to buy then the print versions.

I remember seeing folks on the Amazon Kindle forum insisting that is what Amazon advertised, that Kindle books would be less expensive. I’m pretty sure those users were wrong, but there was no telling them that.

Ebooks are not a byproduct or fad. They offer many benefits over print books. Expecting them to be priced lower is unrealistic. Many users, myself for one, are willing to pay more for a digital book. It is worth more to me, because it is better.

Font size control, built in dictionary, multiple readers at the same time, instant delivery, many books in one device, and so on, make them worth more to me.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

That is why using an e-ink device can be a better solution. They aren’t back lit, they don’t offer sings and bells of email and messages, and their screens are very similar to paper.

My first Kindle back in 2009 gave reading back to me. I can’t easily read paperbacks, and hard backs are heavy and expensive, and not that much easier to read as far as the font sizes etc. for me. I went from reading maybe one book a month to reading 6-10 per month. And it is wonderful.

Editing to add...as far as distractions from notifications, I know many tablet users who don’t pay attention to the Settings on the devices. Every time you install an app, it wants permission to use notifications. If I allowed all of my apps to do that, my iPhone would be dinging all the time. I’ve always been one to drill down into menus looking at all the options and tweaks. Many folks don’t.

Not to mention users who have their volume set at LOUD, regardless of where they are. At the doctor, church, hospital, grocery store...big fan of MUTE here.

I've owned several eink kindles over the years since I bought a Kindle 2 back in early 2009 and a DX later that year. And in all fairness the distractions are fewer when I use my eink kindle, but for me the distractions come when I'm reading something and I come across a word, name, or term I'm not familiar with and so I'll check the definition either in the on-board dictionary or wikipedia and when I look up from it ten minutes later, I've lost the original thread. When I do still read on my eink kindle or one of my tablets I generally do so with the wifi off to avoid the temptation of the information rabbit hole, but it doesn't always work. But notifications aren't really an issue, I only have a few and they are infrequent.

The other issue for me is that I don't seem to retain what I'm reading in electronic media as well as I do when I read from paper books. For some reason I seem to get a better grip on the material and I'm more likely to retain more of it for a much longer period of time. Especially since so much of my reading has shifted to non-fiction. When I was reading mostly novels it wasn't as important, but these days I probably read twice as many non-fiction books as I do novels or short stories.

Price isn't much of a factor, as typically the books I buy tend to be more expensive in paper than the kindle version is, but I get better value from paper so the extra expense is worth it to me.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I remember seeing folks on the Amazon Kindle forum insisting that is what Amazon advertised, that Kindle books would be less expensive. I’m pretty sure those users were wrong, but there was no telling them that.

That was actually an integral part of the value proposition of ebooks when Amazon rolled out the Kindle. Amazon used to subsidize large numbers of titles in order to entice customers to adopt the technology. But thanks to struggles with the big publishing houses, and the influence of Apple, this has gone away.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

That was actually an integral part of the value proposition of ebooks when Amazon rolled out the Kindle. Amazon used to subsidize large numbers of titles in order to entice customers to adopt the technology. But thanks to struggles with the big publishing houses, and the influence of Apple, this has gone away.

There are still over a million free books at Amazon.

[cfrizz]

The last report from Data Guy showed that a great number of people have simply changed their reading habits.

Amazon has the bulk of them, and a good many fiction readers are now buying/reading self published books for reasonable prices.

For the authors that are with the big publishers, I put myself on the waitlist of my library and continue reading until I get notification of the book has been made available for me.

I'm reading now more than ever before, but I'm NOT buying from the BPH!. I'm sure this is true for many people.

[darryl]

Exactly. It is certainly true for me.
This ridiculous claim is repeated every time new figures come out. But the figures it is based upon leave out a vast portion of the industry. The headline really should be something like "Sales of Big 5 Ebooks drop X%". And figuring out the main reason for this more accurate statement is not rocket science. It's not agency per se. It is the high prices that the Big 5 are setting for their books now they have the ability to do so.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by coldfox

When e books first came out that were touted as being an alternative to print books, as they were going to be cheaper and easier for the consumer. What happened???

Before eBooks, we would drive thirty miles to the big central library in Chester County PA. Now we pay Brooklyn $50 a year for a collection that, at least for newer releases, seems almost comparable, especially when combined with all the Pennsylvania libraries for which we have cards. So I'm going to say that eBooks are a lot easier, and, when you consider gas, and wear and tear on the car, a lot cheaper too.

As for all this big five bashing, those are the primary publishers whose books I borrow from public libraries. And they don't have to sell their eBooks for public library borrowing. Amazon publishing, in all forms, boycott libraries, making their books infinitely more expensive compared to the alternative of borrowing for free from an in-state public library collection. University publishing houses are almost as bad.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

There are still over a million free books at Amazon.

I should know by now, but what are you referring to? That sounds a lot higher than the number of public domain books which have been proofread after scanning. Are these copyrighted books no one is willing to pay for?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Before eBooks, we would drive thirty miles to the big central library in Chester County PA. Now we pay Brooklyn $50 a year for a collection that, at least for newer releases, seems almost comparable, especially when combined with all the Pennsylvania libraries for which we have cards. So I'm going to say that eBooks are a lot easier, and, when you consider gas, and wear and tear on the car, a lot cheaper too.

As for all this big five bashing, those are the primary publishers whose books I borrow from public libraries. And they don't have to sell their eBooks for public library borrowing. Amazon publishing, in all forms, boycott libraries, making their books infinitely more expensive compared to the alternative of borrowing for free from an in-state public library collection. University publishing houses are almost as bad.

I should know by now, but what are you referring to? That sounds a lot higher than the number of public domain books which have been proofread after scanning. Are these copyrighted books no one is willing to pay for?

Both. Most are public domain, but there are many copyrighted freebies too. Many of those are first in a "series" or "serial". Then you have the Kindle Select sales where authors can choose to put their books free from 1 to 5 days every 90 days.
Amazon started out with read a million free books on your kindle. 99% of those were public domain. "Don't think just the classics but all kinds of non-fiction too."
On the KS and copyright freebies, only about 10% are worth the bytes.*
*One person' s opinion done by study of self-published books. Repeated that study twice. There ain't enough money on earth to make me do it again.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Amazon publishing, in all forms, boycott libraries.

Steve. I haven't come across this before, and would be interested in knowing more. Would you please share your source.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

Screen fatigue is one of the reasons I've largely gone back to paper books. After I finish work and staring at a computer screen all day, it's nice to pick up some paper and get reading. I've also stopped picking up a tablet or ereader first thing in the morning, reaching for a printed book instead.

I feel as though it's helped me focus better on what's in front of me, rather than diving down the rabbit hole of information that is the web. I've read far more books in the last year and more of paper books than I did the previous three years electronically.

I don't want to imply that your experiences are irrelevant, but if screen fatigue were really big enough to drive ebook sales then we would see the same trend elsewhere.

We don't.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Amazon publishing, in all forms, boycott libraries,

Digitally they do seem to, yes. AFAIK their print books are available to libraries...

Sales

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Email: apubsales-wwu@amazon.com

AFAIK other Amazon companies (Brilliance Audio, Audible Studios) also don't make their titles available digitally to libraries. Brilliance used to, but AFAIK only physical media is currently made available although I could be wrong. As recall, this started around the time OverDrive went DRM-free on all Audiobooks.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Digitally they do seem to, yes. AFAIK their print books are available to libraries...

AFAIK other Amazon companies (Brilliance Audio, Audible Studios) also don't make their titles available digitally to libraries. Brilliance used to, but AFAIK only physical media is currently made available although I could be wrong. As recall, this started around the time OverDrive went DRM-free on all Audiobooks.

Thanks for replying Steve. I was hoping you would actually have a source. I did do a quick search on overdrive for about 4 Amazon imprint titles and didn't find a single hit, though that is hardly definitive. Perhaps rather than being a particular Amazon anti-Library policy they simply don't like to deal with Overdrive. Which doesn't really make a lot of sense since they seem to co-operate with Overdrive in lending books in Kindle formats in the US. Perhaps there will be someone reading who is better informed than either of us and able to share.