Why this Apple Fan doesn't read iBooks

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I certainly wouldn't want the big publishers to sell their ebooks directly. HarperCollins does. And those ebooks cannot be downloaded, they can only be read in an app.

Which is why I said:

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

They'd all be better served by offering DRM-free ePubs directly on their sites...

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Plus, I personally have no time to browse dozens of publisher sites. When I want to buy a book, I check Amazon, Kobo, Google Play and sometimes Smashwords. That's about it.

Which is why I said:

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

...in addition to selling on Amazon et al.

What is so difficult in reading an entire sentence?

[DNSB]

I and my wife have bought books from authors' sites on many occasions. If nothing else, the author gets more from that sale than the royalty on a sale on other sites. This does prevent the authors from having their books in KU.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

But this is not an option for many because of Amazon insisting on exclusivity. With even the 2nd player Kobo losing authors because of Amazon's " sell only here or not at all" rule. what chance do still smaller outlets have?

That's for those that choose exclusivity. But there are plenty of small publishers that do sell across the board. And then there's the big guys. They could sell DRM-free ePubs directly and not have to pay Amazon (or Kobo/B&N/Google) their cut and also list their wares on those other sites. There are a couple of small publishers that do this already (Games Workshop's Black Library and Rebellion's 2000AD).

[Sirtel]

I did read the whole post. But most of the big publishers will never agree to sell their ebooks DRM-free. So the only way they would sell direct is the way HC is doing it, making it impossible to remove the DRM. That's not what any of us would want, I think. To hope that they'll sell their books as DRM-free epubs is pretty futile. They won't.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by leebase

Amazon killed them.

Fictionwise and the like were no real competition to Amazon in the first place. If you think anybody was going to undercut Amazon on pricing over time, you are dreaming.

Amazon uses predatory pricing...selling the best selling books at a loss as incentive to sell their kindles. No business is going to willingly allow another business to turn their money making products into full time loss leaders, devaluing their products.

<beats dead horse>

Sorry, but that's just not true that Amazon killed them. Apple and the price fix 5 killed them when they changed the pricing for eBooks. Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard were popular sites back in the day. Amazon did not make it so eBooks could not be discounted by the stores. Apple and Co. did that.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I did read the whole post. But most of the big publishers will never agree to sell their ebooks DRM-free. So the only way they would sell direct is the way HC is doing it, making it impossible to remove the DRM. That's not what any of us would want, I think. To hope that they'll sell their books as DRM-free epubs is pretty futile. They won't.

I have bought some ePub from Simon & Shuster on their website. Not many though.

Tor has said that going DRM free has not caused their sales to drop.

Simon & Shuster has made Star Trek eBook DRM free.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sorry, but that's just not true that Amazon killed them. Apple and the price fix 5 killed them when they changed the pricing for eBooks. Fictionwise and BooksOnBoard were popular sites back in the day. Amazon did not make it so eBooks could not be discounted by the stores. Apple and Co. did that.

That's true. I used to buy from BooksOnBoard and Diesel. They both went out of business when the agency pricing came and they could no longer discount.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That's true. I used to buy from BooksOnBoard and Diesel. They both went out of business when the agency pricing came and they could no longer discount.

I did forget about Diesel.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

To hope that they'll sell their books as DRM-free epubs is pretty futile. They won't.

Doesn't mean it is not worth discussion.

Tor sells their books without DRM, so why not offer the books directly on their site? Though the Tor site is a headache. It's a bunch of news articles and such. But if you are looking for books published and available by Tor, forget it.

It would be a good experiment for the publisher Macmillan. They are already intending to sell DRM free books anyway.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by leebase

Amazon killed them.

Fictionwise and the like were no real competition to Amazon in the first place. If you think anybody was going to undercut Amazon on pricing over time, you are dreaming.

Amazon uses predatory pricing...selling the best selling books at a loss as incentive to sell their kindles. No business is going to willingly allow another business to turn their money making products into full time loss leaders, devaluing their products.

No-one was serious competition on paper books online or eBooks (in English) by the time Apple launched iBooks.

You have it the wrong way round. Kindle with Adds basic model is predatory priced to sell eBooks. The Fire Tablet is even more predatory priced, about 1/10th price of an iPad (yes inferior, but still dirt cheap) to sell Amazon content of ebooks and has the Amazon App Store instead of Google Playstore, though really a below cost Android tablet.

The content providers set the price on Amazon for ebooks. Amazon does do misleading adverts to get you to buy the product they sell.

Google will take a providers price as a guide and may discount, yet of big companies may have lowest market share. On actual sales (not KU which is book equivalent of PayTV) Amazon doesn't discount KDP prices.

Apple succeeded with iTunes because back before almost anyone was selling online music they did a deal with content providers to sell Albums per track. They weren't even first with an MP3 player.

It's totally unrelated to ebooks. Amazon already was #1 online paper book seller in English before the first Sony eReader. They bought out the world's most successful ebook platform in 2005, two years before the Kindle released, Mobipocket. Since then they bought Book Depository, Abe Books, Goodreads and what became CreateSpace.

Apple's lead with iTunes was a content and marketing coup. They had no legitimate competition.

But on books they are in a worse position than Sony was, who passed user base and shop to Kobo. Both Apple Books (formerly iBooks) and Google PlayStore Books may be doomed. Apple was never going to beat Amazon on ebooks like they succeeded with iTunes. Completely different scenario.
Also while a slim majority read ebooks on Apps, that's still nearly 50% on eink, which Apple doesn't deliver to.
Also Apple has only slightly more than Android market Share in USA.
Who reads Apple books other than on iPhone or iPad? How many iPhone/iPad users actually mostly use Amazon Kindle?

So do as many as 25% of USA ebooks read (biggest Apple market) are actually Apple Books?
But Amazon eBooks have over 92% of USA market. The ebooks from Apple Books and Google Playstore are vanity markets. We've sold more via Barnes & Noble (presumably Nook owners) than Apple Books, and B&N is struggling to sell ebooks.

It would have made no difference if Apple had won. The case was irrelevant.

[JSWolf]

Apple's idea to stop Amazon from the $9.99 NYT bestseller failed very badly. It meant there was no longer any more real competition. It didn't hurt Amazon at all. What it meant was that other stores could not undercut Amazon. Fictionwise has their buywise club that you could buy into and get discounts. It was worth doing. I did shop there because they had good discounts and ePub. BooksOnBoard had points and the points were used for discounts. There were other stores such as Diesel eBooks and some others I cannot remember the names.

The reason they are no longer with us is because Apple and the Price Fix 6 took away what allowed them to do business their way. Agency pricing did real damage.

Amazon was not involved and had nothing to do with these other shops closing when they did.

[DragonRiderOz]

I tend to agree with the cross-garden approach.

A Kobo e-Reader (e-ink?) was my first introduction to reading e-books on anything but a PC. Loved it. It also inspired me to put all of the books and stories I'd written to good use and self-publish, but that's another story.

When the Kobo e-Reader died -- okay, it died an accidental death under my foot -- I took to a Kobo tablet. Secondhand, it lasted all of two months and now sits in its own crypt fashioned from the bedside dresser's top drawer. Touchscreen doesn't work, but it allowed me to access other reading apps: Amazon, Kobo, FBReader, Libby, and the list goes on.

Nowadays, I use a Lenovo 10" tablet to read on my choice of either Kobo, Google Books, Libby, Overdrive... and if I dare... Amazon (yuck from me).

I used to read Apple Books on my iPhone, but as mentioned above, their walled garden makes it hard to backup the books I have actually purchased -- so I sucked that up and now stick to everything but Apple.

[HLS]

[QUOTE=leebase;4269600]It's not available for a LOT of the ebooks I buy on Amazon and wish to sync with the available Audible books. Can't speak to the "nearly all", as I don't have a comprehensive dataset to look at. I just know that OFTEN when I want to do so, I can't.

I've started specifically looking for KU books that have both as it's a nice feature and I'm already paying for the subscription.[/QUOTE

I have over 2000 ebooks and all of them have available audio companions. Even in my browsing nearly every book I find has one. I almost never come across an ebook without an audiobook unless its some obscure book from a no name author

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HLS

I have over 2000 ebooks and all of them have available audio companions. Even in my browsing nearly every book I find has one. I almost never come across an ebook without an audiobook unless its some obscure book from a no name author

I often find that ebooks that I am looking at do not have an audio version at the time I am looking at the ebook. Though audio book release times are getting closer to ebook release times, in most cases, there is a delay between the two. Oddly, trad publishers often take longer to release the audio version compared to indie publishers despite their longer lead times. I tend to the belief that they are waiting to see how well the pbook/ebook do before releasing the audio book for their less well known authors.

Of course, I also have my ongoing complaint about Audible Canada not supporting eInk Kindles though they might offer such support in mid-2023.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I and my wife have bought books from authors' sites on many occasions. If nothing else, the author gets more from that sale than the royalty on a sale on other sites. This does prevent the authors from having their books in KU.

This is true. When I asked the owner of DMR Books why I couldn't buy Renegade Swords III from the site directly as an EPUB, he indicated that he wouldn't be allowed to sell it anywhere other than Amazon if it was on KU, and that even though his cut was bigger when bought directly, the sales of direct purchases were negligible compared to Amazon and Amazon KU revenue. Which is a pity.