Another Author Signs Kindle Exclusive - David Morrell

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Especially in this case eBook buyers who don't own a Kindle/Kindle Reader. Due to DRM and the legal issues of shifting the format, it makes the product unavailable to them. ie ... nook/iPad/Sony people are locked out of the availability unless they want to get shifty.

iPad people are fine whatever happens, we have access (legitimately) to all the bookstores.

[SensualPoet]

@ Kumabjorn: Naked Edge is $9.99 and sold in Canada. If it's $13.99 in Sweden, all I can say is ... ouch! (The file size is bigger than normal: 1.2 MB; about twice normal.)

@ MrPLD: I don't think tying a title to Amazon only is risky if the distribution is strictly as an e-book. But I agree that Amazon AND an ePub edition widely available makes most sense. I would prefer DRM PDF to disappear except for titles that absolutely demand it -- where formatting, like poetry, needs to be preserved.

[clockworkzombie]

I finished reading Naked Edge yesterday. Superb. My local bookshops do not stock him anymore unless it has been remaindered. Some of the back catalogue is still not available in ebook format. I hope Stephen Hunter does something similar. In Australia only three of his books are available, so I purchased some Lee Childs books instead.

[J. Strnad]

Exclusivity deals just encourage piracy, IMO. It engenders a *&#!-you attitude in everyone who doesn't have that format.

[mish]

I think it is wonderful that another traditionally published author is self-publishing an original work. Fabulous!

The part I have heartburn with is the exclusivity deal. This is a major pet peeve of mine. As a Sony user I feel like the red-headed step-child of the ereading community. It is like the author is basically saying, "If you don't own a Kindle you are meaningless to me and I don't need or want your money...go buy someone else's book." And ya know what? I do. I take my money and give it to another author who respects the fact that there are other ereaders out there and who want to reach out to *all* readers (and don't charge me more than the Kindle format...another pet peeve).

I would even be okay with a limited time exclusivity, like 3 or 6 months maybe, then open it up to all formats. But this complete exclusivity deal just rubs me the wrong way.

Okay, off my soapbox now (but I'll just leave it here in the corner in case it is needed again).

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by mish

I think it is wonderful that another traditionally published author is self-publishing an original work. Fabulous!

The part I have heartburn with is the exclusivity deal. This is a major pet peeve of mine. As a Sony user I feel like the red-headed step-child of the ereading community. It is like the author is basically saying, "If you don't own a Kindle you are meaningless to me and I don't need or want your money...go buy someone else's book." And ya know what? I do. I take my money and give it to another author who respects the fact that there are other ereaders out there and who want to reach out to *all* readers (and don't charge me more than the Kindle format...another pet peeve).

I would even be okay with a limited time exclusivity, like 3 or 6 months maybe, then open it up to all formats. But this complete exclusivity deal just rubs me the wrong way.

Okay, off my soapbox now (but I'll just leave it here in the corner in case it is needed again).

[L.J. Sellers]

I understand why the exclusivity of the deal is a concern to readers who don't use Kindle. However, I'm excited that a bestselling author has decided to self-publish. The more this happens, the more acceptable it becomes. I just negotiated with my publisher to get my e-book rights back, and I'm moving in the direction of being completely independent. So I can't help but like this news.
L.J.

[MrPLD]

L.J.Sellers,

Congratulations at claiming back your eBook independence. I like to think that we can do without the publishers (as much) when it comes to eBooks, though it is up to us to market our work - probably a lot easier if you already have an established reader base and name.

Paul.

[emellaich]

Well, this exclusive deal has gotten him two pages of free publicity hear on MR, and who knows how much promotion elsewhere. And, I didn't see a term for this deal. He gets another publicity punch in a few months when he 'discovers' the wider world and announces his formerly Kindle-only books are now available at B&N.

[EricDP]

So I have three choices:

1. Buy a kindle (but I already have a reader and don't want to have another, and don't want to spend a $139.99 surcharge for the privilege of reading this author)
2. Learn how to break amazon DRM (free, and once I've done it I can apply my skills into the future.)
3. Don't buy any more books from this author

Hmmm... I rule out #1 right away. Five seconds of googling and I discover that #2 is quite trivial, so now I just need to decide if I won't support this author anymore on moral grounds, or if I'll still buy the books, but break the DRM (which is currently legal in Canada - at least until parliament next sits, at which point I might become a criminal for trying to read the book I bought on the device I bought.)

[carld]

4. Read the book on Kindle4PC or one of the other Kindle apps.

There's nothing unusual or evil about exclusives, they occur everywhere digital media is sold.

[meromana]

Originally Posted by mish

(and don't charge me more than the Kindle format...another pet peeve).

Try not to be too hard on the authors when books are priced differently at different retailers; we don't always have control over the price. In fact, most of us lose sleep at night over the fact that some of our readers are forced (by their choice of ereader) to pay more than we want them to!

--Maria

[mish]

Originally Posted by meromana

Try not to be too hard on the authors when books are priced differently at different retailers; we don't always have control over the price. In fact, most of us lose sleep at night over the fact that some of our readers are forced (by their choice of ereader) to pay more than we want them to!

--Maria

For a trad book, yes, the publisher sets the price and the author has no control over that.

However, self-published authors have complete control over the price set for the book. What you can't control is when a retailer discounts a price and that in turn can affect your Amazon price, which is why many authors raise their price on Smashwords. They are basing their price on the royalty, not the product, and expecting the non-kindle buyer to subsidize their royalty payments. I understand, for the most part, the Amazon price parity issue. However, it is the author's choice to base their price on the royalty rather than the product. (And in some cases the price difference is ridiculous and verges on gouging.) It is also my choice not to buy these books.

Therefore, IMO, we are not forced by our choice of ereader to pay more, we are forced by the author to pay more. If there is some other reason for the price differences I would be interested in hearing and learning more, but as far as I can tell it is completely due to manipulating the Amazon royalty and maybe also manipulating the SW royalties as well since it changes if a book is purchased through an affiliate rather than directly from SW.

I understand that Amazon is the self-pubbers bread and butter but just raising the price on SW with a "let them eat cake" attitude is not the best solution. And easy solution, yes... but a good solution, no.

I noticed that you charge more for your SW book but also offer a coupon code to equalize the price with Amazon, and I think that is great and at least some effort to work around the Amazon price parity issue. Unfortunately, most authors don't do this. Also, your coupon code is on your website. You don't list it on SW so unless someone goes to your site, they won't know about it. (Btw, the smashwords link on your site needs to be fixed, it just takes the user to a page on your own website). Why not just put it directly in the book description or at the very least on the your bio page? Sending someone off smashwords to get the code is not a good idea.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by carld

4. Read the book on Kindle4PC or one of the other Kindle apps.

There's nothing unusual or evil about exclusives, they occur everywhere digital media is sold.

Pc is to big to carry in the metro , cellphone have a way to small screen. There is no device i own that run kindle app and is confortable to read.

And, and last, but not least, azw is way too limited compared to ePub.
I'll be going for #3 personally.

[EricDP]

I'll go with #2 until (unless) it becomes illegal here, then I'll also go with #3.