The $15 Boycott: Will you be participating?

[Yoshi 1080]

I think a good book is well worth the 15$. I'll continue buying what I want.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Well, this was just a stupid statement. I missed the qualifier - Macmillan doesn't sell EBOOKS to libraries. Not much class discrimination, unless people who can buy $300 ereaders are a protected class.

Please don't forget that the vast majority of people who read ebooks do so on a computer. One doesn't need a dedicated device to read ebooks from the library.

[ficbot]

I guess my problem is, I don't trust MacMillan to actually lower it later, since they have not ever done that yet. There are ebooks on sale at Fictionwise for $17 which have been in mass market paperback for over a decade. So they say 'we will lower it over time, sure' and it seems like they won't. As Dr. Phil would say, the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour

I remember emailing an author about a series where book 2 onward was available as an ebook and book 1 was not, and the author was very nice about it. She even said that I was not the first person to email her about this problem. And I thought this was completely ridiculous, there is a product people want to buy and they are refusing ti sell it. I feel like publishers don't even have a basic grasp of how to do business.

And---this might be an unpopular opinion, but anyway---I don't even mind hurting the authors a little right now. I love books and I love literature and I love authors, but imho they have been FAR too passive about this whole thing. If I can do something like a one-star Amazon review which might spur them into putting pressures on the Powers That be to help us finally fix this miss---for everyone's mutual benefit---then I say Power to the People, and I devoutly hope that any author who doesn't like it will run screaming to their agent or their editor or to whomever and get the problem fixed, because we readers have been struggling for years and it's clearly not getting us anywhere. Maybe if they fought as hard as we are rather than just saying 'I have no control' or 'that's not my job' we might make some progress here.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I think one thing they're not getting is that a lot of folks who used to buy paperbacks are willing to spend $10 but not $15.

This is important -- at least, it reflects how I feel. $10 for an e-book is already the top end. It's certainly out of bounds for a mass paperback -- which is the category I put e-books into. There is nothing of the "finer things" in an e-book like advanced formatting, presentation, "thingness" à la coffee table books ... it's about the content, stupid. For this (alone), $10 is a lot. Less current material, it's too much.

I can say categorically if "recent best sellers" were typically more than $10, I would not have even considered buying a Kindle 2 in the first place. That's an important "barrier" / watershed to even entering the category. But maybe destroying the whole platform is what Macmillan has in mind. It is a very short-sighted view.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Well, this was just a stupid statement. I missed the qualifier - Macmillan doesn't sell EBOOKS to libraries.

This still hits users at libraries that allow users to check out e-book readers, but that's a pretty small group, at least at present.

Not much class discrimination, unless people who can buy $300 ereaders are a protected class.

I don't think you're into the 'protected' category until you can afford to drop $300,000 on a device.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

Please don't forget that the vast majority of people who read ebooks do so on a computer. One doesn't need a dedicated device to read ebooks from the library.

This is the same argument, with respect, that says people prefer to watch TV on a laptop. Yes, a LOT of video is "consumed" on the Internet on a laptop ... but people do it because that's the only (easy) choice ... most prefer to consume "long-form" video on a lean-back TV in the living room.

E-books, the same. I've been fully aware of Project Gutenberg since its inception; I've never actually read anything till I bought a Kindle in Nov (when they deigned to sell to Canadians). Many people may read War and Peace on their computer; but many others (most?), if given a choice, would do so in a more relaxed environment.

I read tons of stuff on a computer -- interactive stuff. But not e-books.

[ShadowAuthor]

I said 'other' myself. Nearly all of the books I want to read are classics that are available for free or a few dollars at most. So much great (and now free) literature has existed in the more than 2,000 years prior to my birth that there is no end to what I can when I get the time. This isn't about the money. I don't mind spending more on a book if I truly want it, but I really don't read popular novels at all. I prefer classics and writing my own work.

Sad thing is, nobody comes out looking good in this one:

- Macmillan ends up looking like jerks for attempting to fix book prices (regardless if they are truly trying to make things better in the long run - I won't hold my breath).

- Amazon looks like somewhat of a champion of the consumer, even if deep down they're only trying to grab more money and market for themselves.

- Apple (particularly Jobs) looks like a for debuting a non-e-reader, e-reader that kinda started this whole avalanche rolling. I'm not even going to get into how much of a big 'ol bag of hurt (from every angle) the iPad is in this thread.

- The authors look weak, whiny, and greedy. Those that need the money the most are powerless to do anything about it, and those who have the most power to do something about it don't really need the money.

At the end of the day, all this will serve to do is further push pirating of ebooks. As mcl said earlier in the thread, "perception is reality." I couldn't agree more.

[BeccaAnn]

There are very few authors that would be willing to spend $15 for an ebook right away. I don't mind waiting for the price to drop (IF it ever does and more than $2) when the pback comes out. If I don't want to pay the high price, I go to library and get the hback to read right away.

[GlenBarrington]

Like every other purchase in my life, price is connected to percieved value. Will the proposed purchase return a value I consider equal to the cost?

I can be sold a book at higher prices, but they will need to convince me it is worth it.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

I don't think you're into the 'protected' category until you can afford to drop $300,000 on a device.

[scveteran]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Whenever possible, I will find other sources so the authors get paid. But if there are no legal sources for the ebooks other than these greedy ones, I'm going darknet.

Derek

So you are saying that $15 dollar price is enough to turn you into a thief. Wow.

I was completely floored after seeing that more than one fifth of the people here would steal because of a few dollars.

[guyanonymous]

There are 3 publishers now...at what point does this become price-fixing?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by scveteran

So you are saying that $15 dollar price is enough to turn you into a thief. Wow.

I was completely floored after seeing that more than one fifth of the people here would steal because of a few dollars.

Really? Why? It's not as if the big publishers cannot handle $9.99 ebook prices, just that they prefer to saddle ebook prices with print book legacy costs. And how is that anything but thievery on the part of the big publishers?

IOW, would you consider it all right for publishers to steal from you? Because every time you buy an ebook loaded with DRM that has had it's price jacked is condoning theft - out of YOUR wallet.

I say let the 'big boys' lose all the ebook sales they can - until they figure out that the customer is always right.

Derek

[Guns4Hire]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Really? Why? It's not as if the big publishers cannot handle $9.99 ebook prices, just that they prefer to saddle ebook prices with print book legacy costs. And how is that anything but thievery on the part of the big publishers?

IOW, would you consider it all right for publishers to steal from you? Because every time you buy an ebook loaded with DRM that has had it's price jacked is condoning theft - out of YOUR wallet.

I say let the 'big boys' lose all the ebook sales they can - until they figure out that the customer is always right.

Derek

There is going to be plenty of companies, people, posters, authors and blog this and blog that out there that are going to try to tell you (us) that eBooks cost quite a bit more than we perceive. Besides the very first eBook the cost is miniscule. So watch as they (you know who they is) switch gears (its already started) into trying to convince the public of this.

[The Hooded Claw]

I'm one of those who has always refused to pay more than $9.99, and I'll continue that policy. And of course there are always free classics, and there's always reasonably-priced science fiction at Baen Books website. (In case it isn't clear, I voted "other").