News flash! Barnes & Noble buys Fictionwise for $15.7 million - Page 17

AdamGott · 03-14-2009, 08:45 AM

First sign of B&N takeover: one of this weekend's specials is 'all NY Timesbestsellers $9.95.'

This is fairly competitive with Amazon isn't it?

For me it's nice because non-fiction books that I am interested in are not on sale nearly as much as fiction books that interest me (my opinion of course).

nekokami · 03-14-2009, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamGott

First sign of B&N takeover: one of this weekend's specials is 'all NY Timesbestsellers $9.95.'

This is fairly competitive with Amazon isn't it?

For me it's nice because non-fiction books that I am interested in are not on sale nearly as much as fiction books that interest me (my opinion of course).

Woohoo! With the Fictionwise club discount and rebate, that brings Bone Crossed down to a near-paperback price!

jaxx6166 · 03-20-2009, 02:21 PM

I just read an article the other day about BN losing money, but after fguring the money they were supposed to lose in the recession actually came out on top.

The part that caught my eye at the end was that BN plans to launch their own ebook store by the end of the year...Ill see if I can find the link

Found it

dreams · 03-20-2009, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

The part that caught my eye at the end was that BN plans to launch their own ebook store by the end of the year...Ill see if I can find the link

Found it

And a quote from that article....

"Chief Executive Steve Riggio said in a statement that the company's outlooks account for the likelihood of continued difficulties in 2009. The bookseller has also cut costs to deal with challenging economic conditions, but Riggio said it will still look to grow the business, such as with its acquisition of Fictionwise earlier this month.

Barnes & Noble purchased the New Jersey-based electronic bookseller for $15.7 million in cash, saying it would give the company a presence in the e-book market prior to the launch of its e-Bookstore later this year."

kevindorsey · 03-21-2009, 03:09 PM

I'm not even sure if this is good or bad.

ChrisM12743 · 04-07-2009, 02:44 PM

The other day I tried to buy books on fictionwise and noticed ALL their prices were at least $2.00 More expensive than before B&N bought them out.
I figured this was going to happen, one of the reasons I purchased an E reader was to save money, after all there is no shipping, no inventory, and no overhead, yet they still charge full price! I sent them an Email and told them that I would no longer frequent their sight because of this (I have purchased dozens of books in the past). If this becomes the trend, these companies will render the ereader worthless, hell, if I'm paying full price, I might as well buy the book at the bookstore!

Lemurion · 04-07-2009, 03:21 PM

I don't think FW sets all the prices, but I know that since B&N took over there have been a few things that have bothered me.

The biggest one was ending the March SF sale early without notice. That annoyed me. I also didn't like how Customer service handled my concern, first taking a week to answer and then sidestepping my question to answer something I hadn't been concerned about.

I was concerned because the multi-format discounts (particularly for magazine subscriptons) had ended early and all the representative was concerned about were the rebates and how they don't apply to magazines. I was not impressed.

AnemicOak · 04-07-2009, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisM12743

The other day I tried to buy books on fictionwise and noticed ALL their prices were at least $2.00 More expensive than before B&N bought them out.
I figured this was going to happen, one of the reasons I purchased an E reader was to save money, after all there is no shipping, no inventory, and no overhead, yet they still charge full price! I sent them an Email and told them that I would no longer frequent their sight because of this (I have purchased dozens of books in the past). If this becomes the trend, these companies will render the ereader worthless, hell, if I'm paying full price, I might as well buy the book at the bookstore!

Since FW has always charged full list (unless you're getting a membership discount or promo) I'd look more to publishers, some of whom have been raising prices, than to the B&N buyout of FW for the higher prices.

ChrisM12743 · 04-07-2009, 03:42 PM

FW's Customer Service was never really good, however, when you mentioned the sidestepping issue (kind of like politicians), that is a new wrinkle! Whenever I went to FW I could always find something good at a reasonable price, now there is nothing. I fear for the remainder of the Ebook retailers out there, if enough of them get bought up by these conglomerations, we'll be using our E-readers as paperweights!

katewilly · 04-07-2009, 08:31 PM

So far I've been happy since the merger/take over. Several of the books I had on my wish list have come down to $10.00 or lower, and the micropay rebate last week was a boon for me.

It's still new, so I don't think B&N's bargaining power has really set in with publishers yet, but I think in the next several months we'll see FW's prices coming down with more formats becoming available...at least this is what I'm hoping for.

pshrynk · 04-08-2009, 09:01 AM

I've never had a problem with FW and will continue to buy from them. they were the first e-tailer to have the e-mail to Kindle function up and running.

Robertb · 04-08-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

I've never had a problem with FW and will continue to buy from them. they were the first e-tailer to have the e-mail to Kindle function up and running.

Dear All:

As a member of Astak (maker of EZ Reader and Mentor eBook Readers) I can say that we were scared to death when B&N purchased Fictionwise. We were in the midst of getting an SDK to port eReader on our devices.

What we have found is that nothing but good seems to have come of it. Steve and Scott are as friendly and reachable as ever, all their tech guys work like crazy to get the SDK done, and they pretty much are as independent and nice as ever. They appear to be growing in employees a little... but they are still the nicest company in the business and eReader will remain a free format.

What we have found, from talks with B&N, is that they do want to release their own eBook website later this year and that they have a team of 15 people who do nothing but talk with publishers to grow the library for both Fictionwise and B&N. While, of course, they want to increase their profits, the 15 people increasing the library is good for the end user.

I have only seen a plus from the buy by B&N.

Robert B

FizzyWater · 04-18-2009, 07:51 PM

Ooh, thanks for the update, Robert!

JSWolf · 04-18-2009, 10:53 PM

An example of prices going up is Simon & Shuster. The prices for those eBook has gone u and it is not the fault of Fictionwise.

MarciaCat · 04-18-2009, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

An example of prices going up is Simon & Shuster. The prices for those eBook has gone up and it is not the fault of Fictionwise.

Yep, higher prices and fewer choices (no LIT format for six months

)

03-20-2009, 02:21 PM	#243
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	I just read an article the other day about BN losing money, but after fguring the money they were supposed to lose in the recession actually came out on top. The part that caught my eye at the end was that BN plans to launch their own ebook store by the end of the year...Ill see if I can find the link Found it Last edited by jaxx6166; 03-20-2009 at 02:31 PM. Reason: linky

04-07-2009, 02:44 PM	#246
ChrisM12743 ChrisM Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: bookeen cybook gen3	B&N buys out Fictionwise The other day I tried to buy books on fictionwise and noticed ALL their prices were at least $2.00 More expensive than before B&N bought them out. I figured this was going to happen, one of the reasons I purchased an E reader was to save money, after all there is no shipping, no inventory, and no overhead, yet they still charge full price! I sent them an Email and told them that I would no longer frequent their sight because of this (I have purchased dozens of books in the past). If this becomes the trend, these companies will render the ereader worthless, hell, if I'm paying full price, I might as well buy the book at the bookstore! Last edited by ChrisM12743; 04-07-2009 at 02:47 PM. Reason: spelling issues

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Neo Barnes & Noble from the UK	Fith	BeBook	5	04-26-2010 05:20 PM
Barnes & Noble	mycart	Introduce Yourself	5	02-03-2010 12:14 PM
Nook Barnes & Noble Reader	Marc_liest	Andere Lesegeräte	99	01-25-2010 06:25 AM
Barnes and Noble bought Fictionwise	dhbailey	Sony Reader	1	03-05-2009 07:13 PM
Barnes & Noble buys Fictionwise for $15.7 million	zelda_pinwheel	News	0	03-05-2009 11:43 AM

03-14-2009, 08:45 AM	#241
AdamGott Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 2139614 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Kindle/iPad	First sign of B&N takeover: one of this weekend's specials is 'all NY Timesbestsellers $9.95.' This is fairly competitive with Amazon isn't it? For me it's nice because non-fiction books that I am interested in are not on sale nearly as much as fiction books that interest me (my opinion of course).

03-21-2009, 03:09 PM	#245
kevindorsey Evangelist Posts: 488 Karma: 258 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: kindle	I'm not even sure if this is good or bad.

04-07-2009, 03:21 PM	#247
Lemurion eReader Posts: 2,750 Karma: 4968470 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Note 5; PW3; Nook HD+; ChuWi Hi12; iPad	I don't think FW sets all the prices, but I know that since B&N took over there have been a few things that have bothered me. The biggest one was ending the March SF sale early without notice. That annoyed me. I also didn't like how Customer service handled my concern, first taking a week to answer and then sidestepping my question to answer something I hadn't been concerned about. I was concerned because the multi-format discounts (particularly for magazine subscriptons) had ended early and all the representative was concerned about were the rebates and how they don't apply to magazines. I was not impressed.

04-07-2009, 03:42 PM	#249
ChrisM12743 ChrisM Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: bookeen cybook gen3	FW's Customer Service was never really good, however, when you mentioned the sidestepping issue (kind of like politicians), that is a new wrinkle! Whenever I went to FW I could always find something good at a reasonable price, now there is nothing. I fear for the remainder of the Ebook retailers out there, if enough of them get bought up by these conglomerations, we'll be using our E-readers as paperweights!

04-07-2009, 08:31 PM	#250
katewilly Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 13912 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Alabama Device: sony 700, iTouch, iPhone, nook, iPad 2	So far I've been happy since the merger/take over. Several of the books I had on my wish list have come down to $10.00 or lower, and the micropay rebate last week was a boon for me. It's still new, so I don't think B&N's bargaining power has really set in with publishers yet, but I think in the next several months we'll see FW's prices coming down with more formats becoming available...at least this is what I'm hoping for.

04-08-2009, 09:01 AM	#251
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	I've never had a problem with FW and will continue to buy from them. they were the first e-tailer to have the e-mail to Kindle function up and running.

04-18-2009, 07:51 PM	#253
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	Ooh, thanks for the update, Robert!

04-18-2009, 10:53 PM	#254
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,796 Karma: 146391129 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	An example of prices going up is Simon & Shuster. The prices for those eBook has gone u and it is not the fault of Fictionwise.