Fleming estate to publish James Bond e-books

[Blue Tyson]

Yep, New Year's Day is On The Beach Day.

[Blue Tyson]

There's a pretty good author year of death site here :-

http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/abyod/abyod.htm

[MSWallack]

The Young Bond books (by Charlie Higson) are actually pretty good. They're set in the '30s when Bond is a teenager at Eton. Higson does a good job of showing the growth in James (he's referred to as James instead of Bond; after all, he's still a kid) from a naive schoolboy to a more worldly young man who has seen the darker side of humanity. Higson stays true to Fleming's character and helps us see how that character became the spy who walked into Casino Royale.

Samantha Weinberg (writing as Kate Westbrook) wrote a very good trilogy of novels called The Moneypenny Diaries. They focus on Miss Moneypenny and do a terrific job of weaving real world events (the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cambridge Five, etc.) into the fictional world of James Bond. And James Bond plays a number of very important roles in the series. And before saying, "That's not a Bond novel because Bond isn't the main character," remember that in Fleming's "The Spy Who Loved Me", Bond wasn't the main character and is only in the last third of the book.

Finally, in addition to the novelizations mentioned by Blue Tyson, Christopher Wood wrote novelizations of "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker". These books are definitely not part of the canon (nor are any of the other novelizations, really).

So, to add to Blue Tyson's list, we have:

Young Bond : 01 Silverfin - Charlie Higson
Young Bond : 02 Blood Fever - Charlie Higson
Young Bond : 03 Double or Die - Charlie Higson
Young Bond : 04 Hurricane Gold - Charlie Higson
Young Bond : 04.5 A Hard Man to Kill - Charlie Higson (from the Young Bond Dossier)
Young Bond : 05 By Royal Command - Charlie Higson

James Bond : 15.1 James Bond and The Spy Who Loved Me - Christopher Wood
James Bond : 15.2 James Bond and Moonraker - Christopher Wood

Moneypenny : 01 Guardian Angel - Kate Westbrook
Moneypenny : 02 Secret Servant - Kate Westbrook
Moneypenny : 03 Final Fling - Kate Westbrook

[WillAdams]

The Young Bond series by Charlie Higson is surprisingly well-done and very true to the original Ian Fleming novels (which are to be blunt, a bit dated and racist) --- the delightful thing is that Higson achieves this w/o the aspects which make the originals unpleasant.

Highly recommended (we've been listening to them on long car trips w/ the kids).

William

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

There's a pretty good author year of death site here :-

http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/abyod/abyod.htm

Thanks! That does hit the spot in terms of actual data.

[aagstn]

This was such an exciting announcement until I saw the prices. I could buy the used paperbacks for $2 so I will pass on $10 digital copies.

[Blue Tyson]

Yes, an odd price for 50 year old work where you don't have to give a publisher a huge chunk.

[ProfCrash]

I have them all in paperback, most purchased used, so I am waiting on the price to drop

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I have them all in paperback, most purchased used, so I am waiting on the price to drop

This is another phenomenon that publishers need to understand (and monetize) better. Consumers often buy something they already have. (Hands up in the room anyone owning more than one ereader? it's ok ... we know who you are ... ).

The music industry knows this: it sells a single, an album, a reissue, a greatest hits, an anniversary edition "with original artwork", and then repeats the whole thing as it moves from LP to CD to mp3.

Publishers of content like the Bond series have a great opportunity with ebooks: repackage and resell. So, you change covers, you add new forwards, you make it a "series", you tie-in where possible to other trends (like movies or nostalgia -- Mad Men anyone? leverage that, Mr Bond!). And then price it to be accessible and an impulse buy.

Instead, alas, publishers seem to be, inscrutably, "Dr No".

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

This is another phenomenon that publishers need to understand (and monetize) better. Consumers often buy something they already have.... The music industry knows this....

And they charge full price for the back catalog stuff. Go figure.

Oh, and most of the sales in this respect are from format changes -- e.g. the music industry padded their bottom lines for years off of people repurchasing CDs of what they had in vinyl. The "Best Of" stuff is mostly for people who don't know the musician's work in question.

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Publishers of content like the Bond series have a great opportunity with ebooks: repackage and resell.... And then price it to be accessible and an impulse buy.

Why, what a surprise. Another suggestion to drop the price. I'm shocked.

If you read the article, apparently in the US the Bond ebooks make up 10% of sales. I.e. there are apparently quite a few people who are willing to pay the asking price. The retailers will also have the option to do some discounting; since the Fleming estate gets the sales data, they will see very quickly whether a lower price produces enough higher sales to make up for the lost royalties.

Keep in mind that price also affects the perception of value. If you price these at $5, that may foster the idea in the audience that this is cheap pulp writing rather than, uh... pulp writing that became very popular, I guess. Anyway, "price" has almost nothing to do with the public's misperceptions of "cost," and revolves around dozens of psychological and economic factors.

[SensualPoet]

Well, I disagree. Perception of value in this case has nothing whatsoever to do with the cover price: the value the Bond books have is already carved in stone. What's needed to move the merchandise is a new incentive to purchase: a change in formats (paper to ebook), a tie-in to current events or trends (nostalgia for the '60s), a fresh look at the Bond phenomenon with a foreward by (still living) icons of the 60s. There are many hooks for a creative marketeer.

Then price them to be an impulse buy. I don't believe I suggested $5; but I do believe $10 is too much. And let's be clear, as well: Ian Fleming did not write literary classics -- they are, in fact, "mass" appeal thrills and quite easily fit the "pulp" image as easily as Kellerman, Child et al do today. If it were me, I'd certainly keep them well below $10; probably $6.95 or $7.95.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Well, I disagree. Perception of value in this case has nothing whatsoever to do with the cover price: the value the Bond books have is already carved in stone. What's needed to move the merchandise is a new incentive to purchase: a change in formats (paper to ebook), a tie-in to current events or trends (nostalgia for the '60s), a fresh look at the Bond phenomenon with a foreward by (still living) icons of the 60s. There are many hooks for a creative marketeer.

No, the value is not a known quantity. Value is relative. A thing is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. Different folks have different conceptions of value.

Then price them to be an impulse buy. I don't believe I suggested $5; but I do believe $10 is too much. And let's be clear, as well: Ian Fleming did not write literary classics -- they are, in fact, "mass" appeal thrills and quite easily fit the "pulp" image as easily as Kellerman, Child et al do today. If it were me, I'd certainly keep them well below $10; probably $6.95 or $7.95.

You wouldn't pay $10 for the Bond books in electronic format, but you may not be representative. Amazon Kindle editions have conditioned a whole new class of ebook readers to see $9.99 as a default ebook price. If a large enough number of them are willing to pay $10 for the Bond books, what is the Fleming estate's incentive to price them at a price you're willing to pay? For a lot of people, $10 is an impulse purchase.

The question for the estate becomes "Will we sell enough additional copies at a lower price and lower margin to make more than we can make selling at $10?" Can they? Prove it. The fact that you would buy at a lower price isn't proof: you are one buyer, and you may not be representative of the market.
______
Dennis

[Blue Tyson]

However, 10 is a lot more than those books have been for the 50 year period they have been on sale - and they certainly are not as popular as they were in the past - so why would you think this price is going to maximise your cash?

Far more used book competition for these at really cheap prices than the latest Lee Child, too, given how long they have been on sale.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blue Tyson

However, 10 is a lot more than those books have been for the 50 year period they have been on sale - and they certainly are not as popular as they were in the past - so why would you think this price is going to maximise your cash?

It might, it might not. The question is who I might think the reader is.

Bond is a franchise, kept fresh by periodic movie releases. Far more people see the film made of any book than read the actual book. So each new Bond film is likely to generate a new set of people who haven't already read the books. For them, it's a new purchase. What's that worth to them? Sure, they might find a used paper copy, but maybe they'd just as soon get a new book, and pay the higher price. And if they specifically want an ebook instead of a pbook, and the standard price of an Amazon Kindle edition for a new book is $9.99, why should I assume they won't pay it?

The second class of buyers are those who already have the Bond books in paper, but want an electronic edition. Is $10 a higher price than they'll pay? Depends. How much do they want the electronic edition? For some folks, the fact that the book is available as an electronic edition adds value, and they will pay more for an ebook than for the corresponding mass market PB edition.

But I'd guess the number of new buyers getting a Bond book for the first time will be a lot higher than existing Bond readers looking to switch formats.

(I read all the Bond books back when, and likely still have them in a box somewhere. While I'd take ebook versions if you gave them to me, I might or might not get around to re-reading them. There aren't that many books I might want to read again, and the Bond books aren't on that list.)

Far more used book competition for these at really cheap prices than the latest Lee Child, too, given how long they have been on sale.

And if you are willing to acquire a paper book instead of an ebook, and price is the determining factor, the pbook is what you buy. If you insist on an electronic edition, you pay the retail price or look on the darknet and hope to find a quality version. The vast majority of ebook buyers don't go to the darknet. If their idea of an ebook is a Kindle edition, they may be unaware of the darknet, and even if they are, convenience rules. If they can simply go online, pay for and download the book and start reading now, that may well be more valuable to them than the cost savings of a darknet copy. What value do you place on your time?

Would the Fleming estate make more money overall at a lower price point? Perhaps. But pricing at the point they are is an understandable starting place. If they don't see the numbers they thought they might get at the higher price, they can try lowering it. But while you can start at a higher price and trying lowering it to increase sales, you will be far less successful if you start at a lower price, decide the demand is there, and try to raise prices.
______
Dennis

[Kali Yuga]

By the way, it looks like the UK prices are a bit lower -- e.g. the equivalent of $7, including VAT, for Casino Royale.

One good thing about the Bond series is that they can actually experiment a little bit with pricing, and see exactly how it works out. Once the initial bump is over, sales should be fairly consistent, so they could get a pretty good idea of the effects of price modifications.