E-books worth 5% of Hachette's business

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TheSFReader

Unfortunately, that may well be "transformed" by some publishers to
"...they have [... ]and work with the author to make it as Sellable as possible before offering it for sale. "

My take is : The most important service they may perform would be stop creating works that should never see the light of day.
Some publishers KNOW that books with sexy witches and vampires will SELL, with the consequence that our bookshops are stuffed up with sexy vampires and witches, to the detriment of less sellable books ...

Publishers sell books, and need to sell a certain number of books to stay in business. Books with sexy witches and vampires sell? Of course they'll try to publish some. They sell.

But guess what? Sales of those sexy witch and vampire books help provide the revenue that allows the publisher to take chances on the creative stuff you (and I) might like. If they published only what I liked, they'd be out of business tomorrow.

I don't care about the sexy witch and vampire books clogging the stores, because I don't have to buy or read them. Other folks do like, buy, and read them, and while I don't share their taste, I'm not arrogant enough to think they shouldn't.

There's still more stuff being published that I'd like to read than I have time to read or money to buy, so I don't exactly feel slighted.
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Dennis

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by queentess

Agreed! Publishers, even when they screw things up, still offer valuable services to authors. For example, much of the self-published stuff now is badly in need of an editor with an army of red pens. A world where everything is self-published sounds like my worst nightmare.

Imagine if every book was self-published, not proofread and unedited?

I'm afraid to.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

As prices fall dramatically, do you really think satisfied reader owners won't see an opportunity to trade up to a new model which is faster and more powerful than the one they have at a much cheaper price?

Uhm, let me rephrase my previous comment: "Even when there is an upgrade of the reader, I don't see those devices ending up in the garbage". They are passed to kids, relatives, someone close, like the (p)books were, once upon a time. Or end up on ebay, which means that another potential ebook customer. Old devices simply don't disappear due to the upgrade (except with Sony offer to trade in, I guess).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It arguably is stupid, but you can't just blame the publisher. Georestrictions exist because publishers don't have the rights to sell certain books in certain territories. They acquired the book for publication where they do business. The rights elsewhere may be held by someone else, who can and will sue if they think their rights are being stepped on.

Georestrictions are stupid. Plain and simple. If I cannot buy an eBook sold by a store in the UK, then why can I buy the same exact book at the same exact store but in paper? What is the difference? NONE AT ALL! Point of sale should either be where I am buying the book or where I am at the time of purchase. But to have both is asinine.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Add to that supply chain constraints. When Amazon and Sony were in the early stages of selling their respective readers, there was one outfit actually making the screens: PVI. There were questions about supply constraints, and whether PVI could produce enough screens to meet everyone's orders. eInk subsequently got licensed to other manufacturers, so scarcity and attendant higher prices were no longer an issue.

It is because PVI got other companies to make Vizplex screens that we ended up with Vizplex that faded in direct sunlight. If PVI farms out Pearl, they need to make sure the farmers actually know how to make proper screens.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It is because PVI got other companies to make Vizplex screens that we ended up with Vizplex that faded in direct sunlight. If PVI farms out Pearl, they need to make sure the farmers actually know how to make proper screens.

Not exactly. eInk licensed the technology to other foundries. eInk was an IP vendor, licensing designs other people actually made.

PVI subsequently bought eInk and renamed itself to eInk Holdings, but that happened in June 2009.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ankh

Uhm, let me rephrase my previous comment: "Even when there is an upgrade of the reader, I don't see those devices ending up in the garbage". They are passed to kids, relatives, someone close, like the (p)books were, once upon a time. Or end up on ebay, which means that another potential ebook customer. Old devices simply don't disappear due to the upgrade (except with Sony offer to trade in, I guess).

That I agree with. But the original comment could be taken to mean that all current reader sales were to new customers who never had a reader before. I suspect a fair bit of trading up, with older products being resold or gifted, though I have no idea what the percentage might be.

Meanwhile, no, I don't think those first gen products simply wound up as landfill.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Georestrictions are stupid. Plain and simple. If I cannot buy an eBook sold by a store in the UK, then why can I buy the same exact book at the same exact store but in paper? What is the difference? NONE AT ALL! Point of sale should either be where I am buying the book or where I am at the time of purchase. But to have both is asinine.

I'm not saying it isn't dumb. My point to the OP was that you couldn't simply blame the publisher. The publishers are all dealing with existing rights ownership issues. Going forward, you can expect publishers acquiring new books to explicitly acquire worldwide electronic right precisely to avoid this problem. Right now, in many cases, they simply don't have the electronic rights in all areas, and can't legally sell the ebook everywhere.

You can claim the exists laws governing the commence are stupid, but you can't say a publisher is stupid for not wanting to break the laws.
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Imagine if every book was self-published, not proofread and unedited?

I'm afraid to.

not proofread and unedited...that describes a number of poorly made eBooks from major publishers.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by DavidI

Eventually enough people will have eReaders that a fair number of authors will be able to make a living selling only ebooks.
--
authors will be able to start publishing ebooks directly and just cutting the publishers out of the loop. Once a few authors make this transition, and can prove they can make a living, it will become a flood of authors leaving publishers.

Done. Posted today.

hardly a month goes by without a well-known writer taking the leap or declaring an intention to do so.

In addition to Konrath, bestselling author Seth Godin, science fiction writer Greg Bear and action novelist David Morrell recently have used Internet tools to put their works online themselves. Earlier this year, suspense master Stephen King, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho and Stephen Covey, the author of bestselling self-help books, self-published some of their works exclusively on Amazon's Kindle bookstore.