Irate kindlers 1star carpet bomb Michael Connelly's new book

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I am so cynical now. I wonder how many of these 5-star ratings are in response to the 1-star bombing the book received.

I'm guessing 50/50. From what I've heard it is a good book and he has a dedicated following.

Even though it gets me everytime...when my favorite author has a new book out I can't help but to buy. The last time I spent $13+ for an ebook. I told myself I'd never do that again. If I have to have it that badly I'll just buy the DTB.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by gmw

Just curious, under what qualification is this made? Isn't there just the faintest possibility that people actually running these businesses have some idea about what they are doing? I know it's a mad idea, way out there and all, but just wondered if you'd considered that?

By default I assume that people running businesses know what they're doing. When I'm presented with sufficient evidence to the contrary I form a different opinion.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Ebook sales continue to grow. The war's over. It's time for the Brigade to lay down their stars, come home, and start a baby-boom.

Hachette, Little and Brown's parent company (publisher of Fifth Witness), apparently saw a 138% increase in ebook revenue in 2010. However, they still had a decline in overall revenue from 2009. Maybe ebooks are the one of the few things they're doing right.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The readers seem to be posting their reviews now. He's been given many 5-star reviews as a result. If you remove the price complaints, his book would be one of the highest rated novels sold on Amazon.

It could even be as I suggested earlier: all these 1-star reviews have drawn attention to the book, so it sells more and those that actually do like it feel obliged to offer their review. I wondered if Amazon may be leaving things as they because it was a benefit to them. That's one of the difficulties of protests made from a position of ignorance, you never quite know when your protests are having the opposite effect to the one you wanted.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

At what point does the one-star brigade go from "fighting the good fight" to "graciously accepting defeat?"

What is the mechanism for doing that?

[DiapDealer]

What is the mechanism for doing that?

You need a mechanism to give something up?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Hachette, Little and Brown's parent company (publisher of Fifth Witness), apparently saw a 138% increase in ebook revenue in 2010. However, they still had a decline in overall revenue from 2009. Maybe ebooks are the one of the few things they're doing right.

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. It is just a natural switch from pbook to ebook due to the deluge of new reading devices. What was the number, 25 million new e-ink readers and tablets in 2010? The publishers could be selling a lot more ebooks if they wanted. 138% increase is incredible low.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Hachette, Little and Brown's parent company (publisher of Fifth Witness), apparently saw a 138% increase in ebook revenue in 2010. However, they still had a decline in overall revenue from 2009. Maybe ebooks are the one of the few things they're doing right.

Or maybe it's because the number of people who have an ereader has what, tripled? Quadrupled? over the last year or two.

Then, add to that the reports that people buy 3-4 times as many books after they get an ereader than they bought before.

So ebook sales should be expected to grow by leaps and bounds.

We can't draw any conclusions about the wisdom of whatever prices, without knowing the prices of the books they have made howevermuch money on, to howevermany people, when.

IOW, correlation =/= causation.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. It is just a natural switch from pbook to ebook due to the deluge of new reading devices. What was the number, 25 million new e-ink readers and tablets in 2010? The publishers could be selling a lot more ebooks if they wanted. 138% increase is incredible low.

I type way too slowly.

But yes. That plus the extra buying people do once they get an ereader.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Piper_

Then, add to that the reports that people buy 3-4 times as many books after they get an ereader than they bought before.

Interesting. For me, it's the opposite. Without an ereader, I used to buy books. With an ereader, I now get them all for free.

Publisher's must hate my subset.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. It is just a natural switch from pbook to ebook due to the deluge of new reading devices. What was the number, 25 million new e-ink readers and tablets in 2010? The publishers could be selling a lot more ebooks if they wanted. 138% increase is incredible low.

I agree that much of the increase in sales could be riding the trend, and 138% is actually lower than some other publishers are seeing (Random House's increase in 2010 was allegedly 280%).

Originally Posted by Piper_

We can't draw any conclusions about the wisdom of whatever prices, without knowing the prices of the books they have made howevermuch money on, to howevermany people, when.

IOW, correlation =/= causation.

Yes, an increase in sales could be in spite of poor decisions; the correlation isn't conclusive. However, the suggestion that they're "doing things wrong" is flawed not just because correlation =/= causation, but because half the equation is missing. There's not even a correlation to claim, aside from sore feelings. At least so far as I know, which usually isn't far, granted.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Interesting. For me, it's the opposite. Without an ereader, I used to buy books. With an ereader, I now get them all for free.

Publisher's must hate my subset.

Don't worry, Amazon still loves you. They did just fine from the hardware sale (and possibly from the cover sale, if you bought that).

[CallOfCth'reader]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

That's a subjective value judgment. Not owning a book doesn't make it inherently less valuable. It makes it less valuable to those who care about owning the book.

The 'value' of everything in existence is subjective. Not a thing comes with value of any sort, unless someone wants or needs it. An ebook has zero value, unless someone is prepared to pay (or barter) for it. The same goes for a pbook, except that it has more options open to it for being valued (such as the paper pulp value, etc).

Originally Posted by bhartman36

The bottom line is, it's not as simple as "paper book > e-book", even when you take into account the limitations of the license.

But it is that simple. A person's belief that "pbook > ebook" is just as valid as another person's belief that "ebook >pbook", because of everything being essentially valueless until someone wants/needs it.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by CallOfCth'reader

But it is that simple. A person's belief that "pbook > ebook" is just as valid as another person's belief that "ebook >pbook", because of everything being essentially valueless until someone wants/needs it.

I don't think we actually disagree on this. All I was pointing out is that a paper book isn't inherently more valuable than an e-book. Different people can find different media more valuable.

[CallOfCth'reader]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

I don't think we actually disagree on this. All I was pointing out is that a paper book isn't inherently more valuable than an e-book. Different people can find different media more valuable.

We agree then. I misunderstood your point.