Amazon says 'will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms'

[guyanonymous]

Volume of buyers for games continues to increase dramatically (at least since the 80's). That, I believe, has offset the increase in development costs.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

Volume of buyers for games continues to increase dramatically (at least since the 80's). That, I believe, has offset the increase in development costs.

Could that perhaps provide a clue to the book publishing industry???

[guyanonymous]

The market (# of potential readers) has expanded exponentially while all costs associated with manufacture and distribution have diminished. Similarly, there are more published works available and more authors out there.

In any other environment, would people not readily accept that the value of a resource/product to have decreased.

If there was a scarcity issue (i.e., Gold) that would be one thing - but there isn't.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

Volume of buyers for games continues to increase dramatically (at least since the 80's). That, I believe, has offset the increase in development costs.

Perhaps the publishers can entice more people to read and get people to purchase more books by offering cheaper books? I don't think gouging customers for more money on problematic ebooks is going to generate greater sales.

And as we all expected. It seems like other publishers are asking Amazon to raise the prices on ebooks.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/r...-e-book-price/

If the price does rise as I see they will, I really hope they address quality issues with ebooks.

[Guns4Hire]

Originally Posted by MerLock

And as we all expected. It seems like other publishers are asking Amazon to raise the prices on ebooks.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/r...-e-book-price/

Yeah great idea run half your customers to the darknet. Brilliant. More and more the idea of going out and grabbing a book and mailing a check/paypal to the author is sounding better and better to me.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

Volume of buyers for games continues to increase dramatically (at least since the 80's). That, I believe, has offset the increase in development costs.

No, it hasn't. Not when game budgets leaped so dramatically with the transition from the PS2/Xbox to the PS3/360. It's a major major problem.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by asjogren

"Also, it's not quite as simple in a corporate environment to run a word doc through mobigen in order to create an ebook. There are multiple runs involved for different formats, and both DRM and software licensing costs to be covered (as well as the salaries of the people doing the conversion). These are all added costs that have to be covered somewhere."

Then if SmashWords.com gets a stable of top notch authors, these neanderthal-likes are doomed just as their namesakes.

EVOLVE OR DIE

Why would top-notch authors go to Smashwords (which I like and use) when that means fewer sales at lower prices with no bookstore placement and no advance? Most books are still sold in paper form in bookstores.

[guyanonymous]

I think that portions of the game industry have done an admirable job providing increased value to those that purchase their product.

When I purchase a game now...

a) I can buy it online
b) I get seamless updates usually (via Steam)
c) I often get "perks" if I buy the game early
d) I often see fre DLC (free downloadable content)
e) A community to discuss the game is typically available (or fan-generated ones rise up)
f) A community usually generates new content (maps, weapons, characters, everything) for a lot of the games out there
g) And lest I forget, they usually provide demo's allowing one to try the game before you buy it.

They've managed to do something I swore I'd never accept - willingly purchase something with DRM - DRM that is for the most part unobtrusive. No more having to refer to a page of codes using a red filter or keep a CD/DVD in the disk drive.

I've spent more on computer software in the past 5 years, despite it being easier than ever to find/download pirated programs/games (and no - it's usually easy to find them without viruses/trojans etc, despite what the media says).

The only intrusive DRM that's caused me problems has come from Adobe (I purchased their Design pack) and MS (despite having legal copies of XP and Vista 64bit, now and then I get the "invalid serial#" as many others report. It's easy to fix, but a pain all the same. Oh - and GTA IV was hell with MS's DRM confounding the issue.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

I think that portions of the game industry have done an admirable job providing increased value to those that purchase their product.

When I purchase a game now...

a) I can buy it online
b) I get seamless updates usually (via Steam)
c) I often get "perks" if I buy the game early
d) I often see fre DLC (free downloadable content)
e) A community to discuss the game is typically available (or fan-generated ones rise up)
f) A community usually generates new content (maps, weapons, characters, everything) for a lot of the games out there
g) And lest I forget, they usually provide demo's allowing one to try the game before you buy it.

They've managed to do something I swore I'd never accept - willingly purchase something with DRM - DRM that is for the most part unobtrusive. No more having to refer to a page of codes using a red filter or keep a CD/DVD in the disk drive.

I've spent more on computer software in the past 5 years, despite it being easier than ever to find/download pirated programs/games (and no - it's usually easy to find them without viruses/trojans etc, despite what the media says).

The only intrusive DRM that's caused me problems has come from Adobe (I purchased their Design pack) and MS (despite having legal copies of XP and Vista 64bit, now and then I get the "invalid serial#" as many others report. It's easy to fix, but a pain all the same. Oh - and GTA IV was hell with MS's DRM confounding the issue.

Exactly, the gaming industry continues to give people a reason to buy their products while publishers seem intent on hurting ebook sales.

I believe the motive of publishers is to delay or prevent ebooks from going mainstream. Publishers don't need to sell ebooks to stay alive, in fact ebooks are hurting their profit margins by decreasing hardcover sales.

Honestly, I don't see why they even went into the ebook business to begin with.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

They've managed to do something I swore I'd never accept - willingly purchase something with DRM - DRM that is for the most part unobtrusive. No more having to refer to a page of codes using a red filter or keep a CD/DVD in the disk drive.

And of course, in the console market, no one talks about DRM. (I know there are pirated PS3, Xbox360, and Wii games, but I just don't think they are a major issue for the industry)

(and karma for reminding me of those awesome red filters, code wheels, and other great and useless copy protection measures of the old days)

[guyanonymous]

BUT...you can resell a console game...not a game purchased via steam

But when I reflect back, I didn't actually sell games when I was done with them (or any software), I passed them on to individuals who'd enjoy them (the entire game, dvd, box, etc).

[kjk]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

BUT...you can resell a console game...not a game purchased via steam

Publishers like EA are adding features like free DLC available only to the purchasers of new games (via a one time code)...used game buyers have to pay to access it...the game industry seems willing to try a lot of new things.

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by kjk

Publishers like EA are adding features like free DLC available only to the purchasers of new games (via a one time code)...used game buyers have to pay to access it...the game industry seems willing to try a lot of new things.

I just have this impression that the gaming industry is filled with young and intelligent people who are able/willing to think outside the box.

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I also don't think that ebook only versions to "test the waters" would lead to prices that are that much lower. In fact I think the reverse. Even if I accepted the idea that ebook sales are a "gimme" with no added cost to that of a paper edition and thus do not have to cover their share of the sunk costs from before the two editions fork, that would only apply if there was a paper edition. Without firm plans for a paper edition, the ebook would have to bear all those costs such as the author's advance, the cost of cover art, editing and everything else involved in acquisition.

If there is a way to get a representative sample of 'paper' buyers to read the things on e-readers, I don't see why you couldn't use ebook 'sales' (or ratings) as an indicating for whether or not to do a paper run. After seeing how indicative ebook sales/ratings are for paper sales, they can then decide whether or not to invest additional money in the book or not.. It's not really rational to become more risk-acceptant if expected value is lower than the expected cost. (Yes, they will have a different EV calculated when they decide to do so anyway, but that's only because they don't trust the statistics/sample then.)
Of course, this all requires flexible thinking, and some risk-taking, which may be unrealistic for those status quo thinkers, but that's what being a company in a free-market society is all about.
Still, I don't really see what they have to lose. If they're losing money on most of the titles anyway, the possibility of losing some money on a small-ish pilot project shouldn't matter too much.
Explore/exploit. Landscapes shift. ;-)

[llreader]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The cost to make eBooks is cheaper then a hardcover. So I'm not paying that much for an eBook that is still in hardcover. If we go on the premise that the extra $$$ is going to the hardcover binding, then eBooks should be less then paperback prices from day one as there is no expensive binding to pay for.

Yes, and I think a lot of people feel this way. The truth is, though, that the hardcover price is really an "early adopter" price more than anything.

Personally, because I need to import English language books here, I am willing to pay the price of a full paperback copy - it saves me time, mony, and polluting shipping. I can live with that.

What doesn't make sense to me is paying more for the electronic copy. My friend Ethan just published a book, and the Amazon price for the hardcover is $16, but the Kindle version is going for $19. I don't know how that makes any sense. They haven't even told him how many of the ebooks he has sold, much less how they set the price, so I can't provide any more information.

I think, if publishers are going to an "early adopter", "regular price" differential, I can live with that. But ebooks need, at minimum, parity with pbooks.