New Stephen King Ebook more than HC

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

While you may be offended, a lot of us have found out that this is the ONLY way to get through to the Agency 5 "Cartel" publishers....

I'm not so sure about that.

The ebook edition of the new Ken Follett book is $20, which is on par with the hardcover price. There are a ton of one-star reviews; some protest the price, but many do not. They haven't adjusted the price, and the ebook seems to be selling very well anyway.

For what it's worth, I'd say the most effective protest is to "vote with your pocketbook." I suspect it'll do much more than punking Amazon ratings.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

People are going to pirate it regardless of the price... even free.

Why not? Why should pirating be about money?

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I'm not so sure about that.

The ebook edition of the new Ken Follett book is $20, which is on par with the hardcover price. There are a ton of one-star reviews; some protest the price, but many do not. They haven't adjusted the price, and the ebook seems to be selling very well anyway.

For what it's worth, I'd say the most effective protest is to "vote with your pocketbook." I suspect it'll do much more than punking Amazon ratings.

Actually, this one is 9.99 on Australian Amazon.

So some of the sales are most definitely not at 20.00....


Fall of Giants [Kindle Edition]
Ken Follett (Author)
2.6 out of 5 stars
See all reviews (546 customer reviews) Digital List Price: $16.36 What's this?
Print List Price: $36.00
Kindle Price: $9.99 includes free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $26.01 (72%)

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Why not? Why should pirating be about money?

Oy

OK, here are a few common sense assertions / beliefs about why some people pirate:
• They don't want DRM
• They don't want to pay more than X for the content
• It's not available to them (e.g. geo-restrictions)
• They want the artist to receive more or all of the revenues
• They want an open format

The point of the article I linked was that Radiohead resolved all of the above with the In Rainbows -- and people went ahead and pirated it en masse anyway.

Similarly most (but not all) of the above issues are currently resolved with Apple and Amazon music sales, yet music piracy clearly persists, at the same (if not higher) rates than before.

So, when J. Strnad states "this will piss of consumers and they will pirate it," I just don't see that as a persuasive argument, and no one who offers arguments along those lines has provided any evidence yet. IMO it is probably one of those things that "everyone knows" but is, in fact, wrong.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

People are going to pirate it regardless of the price... even free.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/16/rad...radiohead.html

Hard to really understand the concept of pirating something that is free.
Surely they are just choosing an different way of obtaining it?
I imagine lots of people who would normally object to pirating would have no problems downloading something that was legally available to them for free anyway.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

I really wish people would stop doing this. It really drives me up the wall. I saw a whole bunch of 1 stars for towers of midnight because it was delayed for three months. I mean, the reviews have nothing to do with the book, and it's pretty much just people whining that they can't have their cake and eat it too. I've pretty much given up on browsing or buying books outside of a book store.

So speaking of complaining and having your cake etc., why don't you pay for a source of reviews etc. that you like, then?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

OK, here are a few common sense assertions / beliefs about why some people pirate:
• They don't want DRM
• They don't want to pay more than X for the content
• It's not available to them (e.g. geo-restrictions)
• They want the artist to receive more or all of the revenues
• They want an open format

But these are just from the perspective of the person doing the download. Why would someone who is doing the upload care if the content is free or not?

[Sydney's Mom]

SK's last ebook was windowed, so I went to the darknet and got it, and then bought the ebook when it was offerred at $7. It really didn't make me feel good. But there was a principal involved, so I did it. Might do it again. Except this time, I won't buy the book until it is less than the HC. And if it takes until the PB comes out, it will have to be less than the PB, as well.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Hard to really understand the concept of pirating something that is free.

Not really.

Radiohead didn't release it as public domain or give up the copyrights, they basically posted it on a site and said "pay whatever you think the album is worth." They were also selling CD's and I believe that particular program only ran for a few weeks (but the piracy started instantly).

So from a purely technical perspective, their website should have been the only legit distributor for a week or two, and putting the album on Bittorrent etc qualifies as copyright infringement.

I don't think the band cares at all about illegal distribution, by the way. It's more just pointing out that the rationales that allegedly drive people to infringe copyright most likely apply to a very small and select group.

E.g. plenty of people on MR believe that high prices, restricted availability, windowing and other impediments to legal acquisition drive up piracy rates. Most people though, I suspect, just want Free Stuff and are already acclimated to getting it via infringement.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Oy

OK, here are a few common sense assertions / beliefs about why some people pirate:
• They don't want DRM
• They don't want to pay more than X for the content
• It's not available to them (e.g. geo-restrictions)
• They want the artist to receive more or all of the revenues
• They want an open format

Can you explain how pirating will result in the artist receiving more of the revenues?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you explain how pirating will result in the artist receiving more of the revenues?

I think that Kali is talking about donations. The fan pirates the book, gives money to the author, the publisher gets nothing.

[jhempel24]

I've done that actually LOL. Glad that I'm not the only one.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you explain how pirating will result in the artist receiving more of the revenues?

By that, I meant that people regard "low royalty rates" as an issue and an alleged reason they will "never give a publisher / record label any money."

Radiohead self-released In Rainbows, so they received 100% of the revenues from the downloads. However the album was still heavily pirated.

My basic theory though is that most people have an emotional reaction first and apply rational justifications second. E.g. someone lists price X, you don't want to pay X, and you start piling on reasons why X is too high.

So, I don't think people regard piracy as a direct solution to the "low artist revenue" problem. I generally believe that what's happening with piracy is closer to the following:

• The overwhelming majority of people don't know or care about any of the intricacies of copyright.
• Or, they just don't think there is anything wrong with it, because they aren't taking a physical object.
• Some people are just already accustomed to using torrents and other methods rather than any legit services.
• Many pirates just want free stuff.
• A handful of the "want free stuff" actually bother to (most likely, subconsciously) rationalize their actions using whatever aspersion are at hand.

My feeling is that the people who are highly principled on the issues I listed are more likely to put effort into finding and patronizing alternate legit sources that match their requirements -- e.g. DRM-free, self-published work.

[taming]

I am old, very, very old. When I want a book I can't afford, I wait until I have more money or I wait until the price drops or I use the library. This is true for both pBooks or eBooks. I am not really sure why it should be different.

[greencat]

Well the one bit of good news: There's a new Stephen King book out. Given my current reading list though I can afford to wait until the paperback or ebook gets cheaper.