Kindle MatchBook: Get the Kindle version of a previously-bought paper book cheap/free

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Problem is, their bundle prices are higher than buying both separately:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...uk/#more-59535

So I've heard since, yes. Funny how there was no indication of that when they announced it!

I suppose this reflects the general price discrepancies between a high street / brick-and-mortar shop and online shop, but even so, it does make the whole thing rather pointless as people who would be interested in the bundled ebooks are likely to be people already comfortable with online shopping...

Still, even if this particular project doesn't seem likely to be successful once the potential buyers catch on, it's interesting to see big publishers finally experimenting. HarperCollins in general seems the most keen of the Big Six (or Big Five now, I suppose) to experiment with various ebook schemes. They might not always seem sensible, but I'd rather see a willingness from a publisher to try out different things than to try and pretend ebooks aren't here to stay or ignore them completely in their marketing efforts.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

HarperCollins in general seems the most keen of the Big Six (or Big Five now, I suppose) to experiment with various ebook schemes. They might not always seem sensible, but I'd rather see a willingness from a publisher to try out different things than to try and pretend ebooks aren't here to stay or ignore them completely in their marketing efforts.

I agree. The whole point of experimenting is to see what works, so there are bound to some that don't work. The trick is to learn from those.

[BearMountainBooks]

HarperCollins is definitely out front with experimenting (not counting Baen, which has always done a lot of experimenting, but they aren't a big 5 or 6). Carina Press has also done a lot of price experimenting and generally seems to keep their prices low.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

HarperCollins is definitely out front with experimenting (not counting Baen, which has always done a lot of experimenting, but they aren't a big 5 or 6). Carina Press has also done a lot of price experimenting and generally seems to keep their prices low.

My understanding is that Carina prices come through Harlequinesque gotcha clauses in their author contracts.

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/20...-carina-press/

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

My understanding is that Carina prices come through Harlequinesque gotcha clauses in their author contracts.

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/20...-carina-press/

Authors generally don't get paid all that well. But as a point of comparison, authors with larger companies who make it to "mass market" printing were and are generally making about 35 cents per copy--for a book that costs roughly 7.99. Now, I personally find that abysmal. So while they may be dropping the prices radically, and that sucks for the author, it puts them in a position to earn what was a standard earning for mass market for YEARS. Some authors get as much as 70 cents for mass market depending on terms, number of printing and so on.

The kicker may be that without the lower pricing the ebook doesn't get noticed at all. I know there are some readers who feel that self publishing forced prices down that low and I think there is some truth to that--but the enormous amount of freebies being thrown about are even more to blame (IMO).

One of the Carina authors I REALLY love (her books, not her) just had her book for free over the weekend. I've read it, loved it and was saddened to hear that Carina must believe the best way (and possibly the only way ) to get attention for the series (the latest book coming out in two weeks) is to play the free game. She'll get zero, the publisher will get zero...and MAYBE the series will find new readers. Tough game all around.

(I don't know if it is still free. The book is by Julie Moffett -- No One Lives Twice -- an excellent, zany cozy read.) There is a prequel and it's only about 2 dollars or so. I read them out of order, but it's probably worth reading them in order. I think the prequel is called No Money Down. I did a blog entry about it and listed the order of the books. Stopyourekillingme probably has the order of the series too.

[jangell2]

Well, crap. I recently learned that two of the three "New Annotated Sherlock Holmes" volumes are not ebooks on Amazon. They cost over $20 but I have the hardcovers. But they are not eligible for the Match program.

[Fluribus]

I had completely forgotten about this Match program. I went to check the page recently. I ended up with slightly less than two dozen matches. Less than I had hoped. Of those, I bought about six. I might buy another six or so.

[faithbw]

I checked the page again and to my surprise, two of my purchases qualified. I bought the Oxford World Editions of both Jane Eyre and Middlemarch a while ago and now I can the Kindle editions for free. However, I don't think the Kindle editions are the Oxford World Editions I bought in print. Hopefully, the books will have good formatting and some notes but if not, that's ok. At least I didn't have to pay anything.