Publishers Agonize(?) Over Ebook Release Dates

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Darqref

Hardback sales increase when an ebook is released simultaneously!... So why do other publishers not get it?

Keep in mind that you're talking about a small niche publisher which has a tiny marketing and promotional budget. What works for them may not necessarily apply to other publishers or audiences -- e.g. the behaviors of the sci fi crowd will not necessarily be the same as the romance readers or history fans.

It's quite possible this e-book sales will increase hardcover sales across the board, although I have to say this seems very unlikely to me. Although book retailing is not really a zero-sum game, there is only so much that people can or will spend on books, and ultimately it's a form of discretionary spending that has a lot of competition (e.g. games, DVD's and music). So maybe people will just buy the same number of books (e or paper), and save their money or spend it somewhere else. It's really hard to say.

At any rate, right now Amazon is really the only company that has enough raw data to analyze in the first place. A publisher like Penguin can't access multiple years of the habits of book buyers, unless Amazon shares that data with them. Otherwise, publishers only have their own sales figures to go on, and it sounds like they don't have a clear picture yet.