Boycott all books over 9.99!!

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I agree. In addition to your point, once enough ereaders are in people's hands their won't be a need for publishers. With a little software you just publish it yourself -- getting people to read it, muchless pay you for it, is another question altogether.

Well, there will always be a need for editors, and some form of marketing ...but the form of the "industry" may well be very different than it is today.

[rmhartman]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

One day some of the most successful authors will take the initiative and sell their books only in ebook form, perhaps on Amazon. This will open the door. Publishers will no longer be needed. People will swarm to ebooks

A publisher is like a brand. Without that imprint, it is difficult to know what is good. What would be something you might like. Eric Flint (a Baen author & editor) has written about this. One of the most difficult things for an author is just to be seen. To stand out from the crowd.

There is even an example of what would happen already in existance. Consider for a moment all those "garage bands" out there putting out their own MP3s w/o benefit of a record label. How many of them do you know?

[Daithi]

Alisa and Bill, I think you are right as well. One of the functions of today's publishers is that of gatekeeper. Once anyone who wants to write a book can get themselves published then I'm sure a lot of crap will get published. I imagine new gatekeepers will materialize -- with Amazon, Google, and probably the publishers that best adapt to the market as the most likely gatekeepers.

[dirtylc]

Eric Flynt is definately sharp. His 1632 and 33 books are awesome. That type of work I got for free and if he were to sell a book or two for 9.99 and under I would not think twice about purchasing them. He would get a 35% cut of that total on each purchase no stupid publishing house to deal with just Amazon. Authors could get a better deal against Amazon by simply refusing to sell on Amazon as a collective group. Anyways here are some emails in case you all would like to contact the publishing houses and tell them how you want them to stop ripping you off.

Algonquin Books
PO Box 2225
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2225
919-967-0108 (phone)
919-933-0272 (fax)

Email: inquiry@algonquin.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Avon/Morrow
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
800-242-7737; Fax: 212-207-6998

Email: avonceromance@harpercollins.com.
---------------------------------------------------------

HarperCollins
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
212-207-7541; Fax: 212-207-6927

Email: orders@harpercollins.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Little, Brown and Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020.
---------------------------------------------------------

Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014-3657
Phone: 212-366-2372
Fax: 212-366-2933

Email: ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
(800) 793-2665 (Consumer Customer Service)

Email: ecustomerservice@randomhouse.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Simon & Schuster
David Rosenthal, Publisher
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020-1513

http://ebooks.simonandschuster.com/
To email: go to bottom of website page, click 'contact us'.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by mjaopr

I would like to "rent" a book. Have it for a week or so, then if I love it, buy it for keeps.

If you had a Kindle, you could download library e-books, put them on your Kindle using Kindlefix, and they would be unreadable after the loan period.

Then if you wanted to buy it, you could

Better than 'renting'.......no charge.

[kilofox]

DRM - Music has been there before.....

Apple & iTunes remained the #1 Online retailer in spite of DRM. In my opinion, the record labels gave, and ironically so, Amazon and others the no-DRM green light in order to weaken Apple's stranglehold on digital music. Did they succeed? Maybe a little bit. Apple was able to go DRM free when they relented on their 99 cent pricing.

As it appears to me... the shoe is on the other foot so to speak, Amazon is the "Apple" of ebooks with their "iPod" only its called the Kindle instead.

As the popularity of ebooks grows and grows (and assuming Amazon becomes the iTunes equvialent of ebooks) I expect the same thing will happen, publishers/authors will want a bigger piece of the digital pie. Amazon will resist on raising the $9.99 NYT price. Guess who the publishers will let drop DRM?... it wont be Amazon, it will be Sony or someone else in order to put pressure on Amazon to let publishers dictate higher prices. Amazon will get "Amazoned" (think Amazon mp3 vs iTunes) by a lower tiered ebook source.

SO..... enjoy your $9.99 books while you can. I think the price will be going up in the next decade. But at least they will be DRM free.

History repeats itself.... Maybe.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Have you published any fiction?

BOb

No, non-fiction, but the same principles apply - you cannot consider the distribution costs of the book in isolation; you have to consider the author and publisher's remuneration in determining the appropriate price for a book.

[dirtylc]

I think that you have entirely too much vested in sticking with the current system. You can make money as an author without sticking the consumer. If your work is good then you won't starve no matter what the pricing paradigm is.

[europas_ice]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Alisa and Bill, I think you are right as well. One of the functions of today's publishers is that of gatekeeper. Once anyone who wants to write a book can get themselves published then I'm sure a lot of crap will get published. I imagine new gatekeepers will materialize -- with Amazon, Google, and probably the publishers that best adapt to the market as the most likely gatekeepers.

It would be great if, instead of some editor being the gatekeeper, basing his decisions on money as much as anything else, we could move to a system where public reviews mattered as much. For example on amazon, the reviews for products are totally useful, because so many people review them and you can get a real sense for what the product is like.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by europas_ice

It would be great if, instead of some editor being the gatekeeper, basing his decisions on money as much as anything else, we could move to a system where public reviews mattered as much. For example on amazon, the reviews for products are totally useful, because so many people review them and you can get a real sense for what the product is like.

I wasn't thinking of an editor as gatekeeper, as much as someone who actually improves the final content. Good authors very much value good editors.

And while I use Amazon reviews and the like, there is a lot of chaff among the wheat -- not to mention that for many books at the "long tail" there simply aren't enough (if any) people reviewing.

[pdurrant]

Eric has cut a deal with Baen and Webscriptions. Nearly all his books are available at webscription.net for $6 or less. I don't know how much Eric sees of that $6, but I'm told it's more than he'd make on a paperback sale, but a little less than he'd make on a hardback sale.

As for Amazon - giving only 35% of an eBook sale to the publisher or author is disgraceful. Look at the music business - Apple gives very nearly 70% of the retail price to the music publishers.

Originally Posted by dirtylc

Eric Flint is definately sharp. His 1632 and 33 books are awesome. That type of work I got for free and if he were to sell a book or two for 9.99 and under I would not think twice about purchasing them. He would get a 35% cut of that total on each purchase no stupid publishing house to deal with just Amazon.

[damaso]

Originally Posted by dirtylc

Eric Flynt is definately sharp. His 1632 and 33 books are awesome. That type of work I got for free and if he were to sell a book or two for 9.99 and under I would not think twice about purchasing them. He would get a 35% cut of that total on each purchase no stupid publishing house to deal with just Amazon. Authors could get a better deal against Amazon by simply refusing to sell on Amazon as a collective group. Anyways here are some emails in case you all would like to contact the publishing houses and tell them how you want them to stop ripping you off.

Algonquin Books
PO Box 2225
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2225
919-967-0108 (phone)
919-933-0272 (fax)

Email: inquiry@algonquin.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Avon/Morrow
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
800-242-7737; Fax: 212-207-6998

Email: avonceromance@harpercollins.com.
---------------------------------------------------------

HarperCollins
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
212-207-7541; Fax: 212-207-6927

Email: orders@harpercollins.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Little, Brown and Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020.
---------------------------------------------------------

Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014-3657
Phone: 212-366-2372
Fax: 212-366-2933

Email: ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
(800) 793-2665 (Consumer Customer Service)

Email: ecustomerservice@randomhouse.com
---------------------------------------------------------

Simon & Schuster
David Rosenthal, Publisher
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020-1513

http://ebooks.simonandschuster.com/
To email: go to bottom of website page, click 'contact us'.

Thanks for the information, I sent Random House an email about a particular title that was priced less than three dollars less than the hardcover and well above $9.99. If enough people do this I think they will take notice...

[dirtylc]

That is exactly what I hope we can accomplish as a consumer block. There are a lot of people that believe that e books can't be cheaper I for one am not one of those folks. There is a healthy point known as market equilibrium and if we band together as consumers we can help keep that price equilibrium at a reasonable level. What would be reasonable? Under 9.99 and also less then a paperback would not be to much to ask.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

If you had a Kindle, you could download library e-books, put them on your Kindle using Kindlefix, and they would be unreadable after the loan period.

Then if you wanted to buy it, you could

Better than 'renting'.......no charge.

Library books aren't free. They're books we've already paid for. That's why places like the NYPL charge non-residents a fee. Residents already paid. I don't say this to be nitpicky. I say this as a way of encouraging people to get out and use them. You already paid for them!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Library books aren't free. They're books we've already paid for. That's why places like the NYPL charge non-residents a fee. Residents already paid. I don't say this to be nitpicky. I say this as a way of encouraging people to get out and use them. You already paid for them!

Not to mention the fact that, in many countries, authors get paid for library loans. In the UK, for example, an author gets paid approximately US 10c every time one of their books is checked out of the library, with a maximum payment of about $10,000 per year for an author.