Macmillan Announces $5.99 eBooks

[CyGuy]

If the books are not infected with DRM, and are available in multiple formats, a price of $5.99 is much closer to being fair, in my opinion. $5.99 is still a bit on the high side though, and really should be the maximum for new releases. Just my $.02 cents.

[Guns4Hire]

Well I am not sure why anyone would think that John Sargent isn't going to have his ebooks without DRM. He has made a lot of statements about piracy and how it should be combated. He is pro DRM and he is very RIAA'ish about it.

[asjogren]

Originally Posted by Guns4Hire

Well I am not sure why anyone would think that John Sargent isn't going to have his ebooks without DRM. He has made a lot of statements about piracy and how it should be combated. He is pro DRM and he is very RIAA'ish about it.

Then I think his company is doomed. He will get paid enormous amounts of money for pursuit of a strategy that will fail in the log term. He will win. His company will lose.

EVOLVE OR DIE.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by asjogren

Then I think his company is doomed. He will get paid enormous amounts of money for pursuit of a strategy that will fail in the log term. He will win. His company will lose.

EVOLVE OR DIE.

IF he actually follows his strategy of $15 for brand new ebook at same time as HB and then reduces price until it hits $5.99 when paperback is released, tehn well it seems a pretty fair pricing structure and one I believe will not cause ay real harm to his company.
And I expect other publishers to pretty much do the same thing. Except Lovely baen of course

[guyanonymous]

Evolve or die is a pretty good mantra, be it for a culture, belief system, or procedure.

[bgalbrecht]

Just looking at backlist Sue Grafton books, the in-print paperbacks are $7.99, the ebooks are $14 for most of them, some are $7.99, and Fictionwise has two for $25 and $30 respectively. I don't know if this is Fictionwise's fault, because at least one of them is $14 elsewhere. Still, I don't believe a word MacMillan's CEO says in this matter, since it's clear that their ebook pricing often is more expensive than mass market paperback. I don't believe they ever would have announced this if Amazon hadn't put the screws to them over the weekend.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Just looking at backlist Sue Grafton books, the in-print paperbacks are $7.99, the ebooks are $14 for most of them, some are $7.99, and Fictionwise has two for $25 and $30 respectively. I don't know if this is Fictionwise's fault, because at least one of them is $14 elsewhere. Still, I don't believe a word MacMillan's CEO says in this matter, since it's clear that their ebook pricing often is more expensive than mass market paperback. I don't believe they ever would have announced this if Amazon hadn't put the screws to them over the weekend.

but how is looking at the prices available NOW relevant, they have said they need to change their ebook pricing and have said it will start from March.

now if they don't do what they said then fair point.

[sassanik]

To put a positive slant on this, I think that smaller publishing houses, ones that release new ebooks regularly and are primarily webbased will take advatange of Macmillans higher prices. They will offer books at a lower rate and I think that when confronted with purchasing a $14.99 book or a $5.00 one for a smaller publishing house, many readers will at least give the smaller publishing house a try in hopes that they will have decent stuff at a lower rate!

So big companies beware, there are others out there that will happily sell books a lower rate and eat up market share!

Amy

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by sassanik

To put a positive slant on this, I think that smaller publishing houses, ones that release new ebooks regularly and are primarily webbased will take advatange of Macmillans higher prices. They will offer books at a lower rate and I think that when confronted with purchasing a $14.99 book or a $5.00 one for a smaller publishing house, many readers will at least give the smaller publishing house a try in hopes that they will have decent stuff at a lower rate!

So big companies beware, there are others out there that will happily sell books a lower rate and eat up market share!

Amy

Doesn't this happen now? with physical copies?

Big publisher release a book from a big author at $20 and eventually lowers price to $9 and then $6 etc

Small publisher releases straight away at $6.

End result neing the small publishers are still small publishers.
the market shows us that people will pay $15 for a new book by a big author.

BoB and fictionwise do those prices NOW and are still in business.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Just looking at backlist Sue Grafton books, the in-print paperbacks are $7.99, the ebooks are $14 for most of them, some are $7.99, and Fictionwise has two for $25 and $30 respectively. I don't know if this is Fictionwise's fault, because at least one of them is $14 elsewhere.

It's not Fictionwise's fault - those prices are all set by the publisher, not by Fictionwise (same at Mobipocket, where you'll see exactly the same prices.) If you take a closer look, you'll see that all the $7.99 e-books (which are more recent titles, to boot) are published by Penguin.

[mcl]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

It's not Fictionwise's fault - those prices are all set by the publisher, not by Fictionwise (same at Mobipocket, where you'll see exactly the same prices.) If you take a closer look, you'll see that all the $7.99 e-books (which are more recent titles, to boot) are published by Penguin.

Yes, and it's this "prices set by the publisher" behavior that we're about to see on Amazon, thanks to their capitulation to Macmillan's agency model.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by stustaff

but how is looking at the prices available NOW relevant, they have said they need to change their ebook pricing and have said it will start from March.

No, they've said retailers (well, Amazon in particular) have to change their e-book pricing to bring it into line with what Macmillan wants to charge.

Fictionwise and Mobipocket currently do exactly that, Apple will be following suit in March when their store goes live, and Amazon will be soon. If you want to know what Apple and Amazon's prices will look like in a month, look at what Fictionwise/Mobipocket's prices are today, since those are the prices Macmillan has set.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

If you want to know what Apple and Amazon's prices will look like in a month, look at what Fictionwise/Mobipocket's prices are today, since those are the prices Macmillan has set.

Macmillan has said that the typical price of new releases will be no more than $14.99. This is much less than the current list price of most such ebooks from Macmillan. There are many posters here who are deeply sceptical, with reason, of Macmillan but the $14.99 maximum seems to be a concession to Apple for opening the iBookstore.

[mcl]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Macmillan has said that the typical price of new releases will be no more than $14.99. This is much less than the current list price of most such ebooks from Macmillan. There are many posters here who are deeply sceptical, with reason, of Macmillan but the $14.99 maximum seems to be a concession to Apple for opening the iBookstore.

Most such ebooks from Macmillan are not new releases.

Also of note: Macmillan has given no timeline for the reduction in ebook price over time. However, current Macmillan pricing behavior is to keep ebook prices ridiculously high even for books that have been in MMB for a decade.


If Macmillan were on the Titanic, they'd cling desperately to it rather than move to a lifeboat, because they don't like change.

[sassanik]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Doesn't this happen now? with physical copies?

Big publisher release a book from a big author at $20 and eventually lowers price to $9 and then $6 etc

Small publisher releases straight away at $6.

End result neing the small publishers are still small publishers.
the market shows us that people will pay $15 for a new book by a big author.

BoB and fictionwise do those prices NOW and are still in business.

The difference is that small publishers can been seen easier in an online bookstore. They don't have to fight for distribution or shelf space.

If you look at Fictionwises top sellers there are a number of books by smaller publishers on it.

I would think that this number is considerably higher than the average bricks and mortar bookstore.

Amy