What is with these Publishers?

[kjk]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

How about this as a work-around:

You want to purchase an e-book for your reader but it is not available yet from a vendor, but you found a great copy on the darknet.

Go purchase the paper copy of the book so you now have a "license".
Download the darknet version of your choice without the DRM and read at your leisure.

Author and publisher received full compensation, and you have a book you can read on any device at any time at your discretion.

Just don't sell the paper copy of the book unless you intend to delete the e-book at the same time.

Don't loan anyone the e-book unless you loan them the paper copy as well.

How about a free DRMless eBook version with every hardcover/paperback you buy new, at current prices?

[CyGuy]

Hey, I'm all for that. If they can find some super-cheap SD cards (like .25 cents for a 2mb for example), throw one in the back of the book! No DRM of course.


Edit: The cheapest SD cards I can find are 16MB for $1.99, but there must be some 2MB cards somewhere for like .25 cents

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

Go purchase the paper copy of the book so you now have a "license".
Download the darknet version of your choice without the DRM and read at your leisure.

Originally Posted by kjk

How about a free DRMless eBook version with every hardcover/paperback you buy new, at current prices?

The problem with that is one of the selling points of eBooks for some people is the fact that it is "green" and you're not using paper, ink, etc. to create a paper book that will not be used.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by dsvick

The problem with that is one of the selling points of eBooks for some people is the fact that it is "green" and you're not using paper, ink, etc. to create a paper book that will not be used.

I was thinking more as a transitional phase, but long term the green aspect appeals to me...I'd probably just donate my hardcopies to the school library.

[Daithi]

The publishers are trying desperately to resist the publics move to digital books. I don't blame them. Obviously, they see the writing on the wall.

Why do people need publishers? Three reasons. First, they're the guys who print the book. Second, they are the gate keepers. There are a lot of people who would like to write a book, but just don't have the talent. Publishers help seperate the wheat from the chaff and introduce new good writers to the public. Third, publishers provide access to distribution through brick and mortar bookstores. There are also ancillary services such as editing, cover design, etc. but those are the three main reasons authors (and the public) have needed publishers.

Digital publishing changes all of that. You don't need somebody to print the book -- you can do it yourself. You don't need a gate keeper. The public becomes the gate keeper by rating books. You don't need brick and mortar stores for distribution. In short, as far as digital books are concerned, you don't need publishers.

[CyGuy]

Maybe I am not the norm here but: I actually like having a paper copy of a book, but I usually wind up reading mostly on my Cybook. I know that sounds contradictory. I have several very nice book shelves at home, and I am very proud of my extensive collection. I like the way they look, the way they smell, the overall feeling of having real books. Yet I usually read on my Cybook. Is this weird behavior on my part?

[kjk]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

Maybe I am not the norm here but: I actual like having a paper copy of a book, but I usually wind up reading mostly on my Cybook. I know that sounds contradictory. I have several very nice book shelves at home, and I am very proud of my extensive collection. I like the way they look, the way they smell, the overall feeling of having real books. Yet I usually read on my Cybook. Is this weird behavior on my part?

I have paper copies of just about all my eBooks.

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by Daithi

In short, as far as digital books are concerned, you don't need publishers.

Actually what is not neccesary for digital books are the physical book distributors, in a completely eBook world they will provide very little, if any, value.

Technically you don't need a publisher now for a pBook either, but I think (I hope) that we can all agree that the publishers add a certain amount of value and that that value is independent of the medium by which that the book is distributed. Over time what has to happen is that an agreement has to reached between all parties over what constitutes a fair price for the product. Some people are assuming that just because a book is in an electronic format it should be available for an incredibly low price. The fair way to do this would be to calculate the cost of physically printing, distributing, storing, returning, destroying (the over prints and mistakes) the physical books and subtract that from the ebook price. I'm sure the publishers can do that, in fact I'm sure they have it figured to within several decimal points. I'm betting the figure is a lot lower than most people think it is, thus the price of the eBooks will be higher than a lot of people are hoping.

A reasonable comparison would the music industry, relatively inexpensive software and electronic distribution has let thousands of garage bands create and distribute music that as little 10 years ago would never have seen the light of day. Some of it deservedly so Yes, there have been some that have been good, quality music, but there are still more songs/albums sold by the professionally produced, bigger named, artists. The same will hold true for books I'm sure.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Daithi

The publishers are trying desperately to resist the publics move to digital books. I don't blame them. Obviously, they see the writing on the wall.

The eReader reality distortion fields is beginning to rival in strength the Apple reality distortion field. So much pointless conjecture presented with such misguided certainty... and it really is getting worse and worse over time.

- Ahi

[ahi]

Originally Posted by dsvick

I think (I hope) that we can all agree that the publishers add a certain amount of value and that that value is independent of the medium by which that the book is distributed.

Actually, surprisingly many people on MobileRead disagree with you on that... not so surprisingly, these are generally the people with the least understanding of the publishing world (by which I signify everything from writing, preparing, distributing, and selling books and everyone from authors, publishers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers) and how (and why) it works.

- Ahi

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by queentess

The hardback came out and I went to Tor's website to ask about the release date for the ebook. I was told the ebook would not be published for a YEAR. Now, why would I wait a year for an ebook when it's available now on the darknet? Publisher just screwed themselves (and their author) out of a sale. And now I buy all Tor books second hand or pirated.

And there it is in a nutshell.

No matter where you look in the digital environment, sellers think that they can maximize their profits by controling the sales environment. They do this by linking the content to the hardware, and making it hard for customers to unlink them. Think Apple. Think Wii.

But in certain environments, piracy makes it impossible to do this on a long time basis. So the reaction is to try and control the sales environment for a specific time frame - e.g., Netflix not making movies available till they've been out on DVD for 30 days.

That is what is going on with the "hardback first" approach. The content is being linked to the hardware (in the form of the hardback,) and the publishers are trying to keep their product out of the electronic sales stream for several weeks.

The common denominator seems to be a belief that the market for the DVD/hardback is inelastic. What I think they are going to find out is that both hardback sales & esales are going to drop. It's as if all the car companies said that they were only going to sell the top of the line model for a year, then introduce the midlevel and low level models. The natural reaction is for the customer who doesn't want the top model to look around for a second hand car. A year later, he's not going to be in the market for a new car of any kind.

[random50]

Originally Posted by dsvick

The problem with that is one of the selling points of eBooks for some people is the fact that it is "green" and you're not using paper, ink, etc. to create a paper book that will not be used.

That's hardly a problem. Anybody who doesn't want the pbook for environmental reasons can specifically buy the ebook.

It would definitely increase the number of purchases I'd make. In my current situation, ideally I want both. Since I can't really afford that (I'm talking about expensive academic texts here), I tend to buy neither. I admit this isn't entirely logical.

Doesn't have to be free, actually, just a very sharp discount (80%+). I asked Amazon about this way back when the Kindle came out. From the response, it hadn't even occurred to them this is something people might want!

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by ahi

Actually, surprisingly many people on MobileRead disagree with you on that... not so surprisingly, these are generally the people with the least understanding of the publishing world (by which I signify everything from writing, preparing, distributing, and selling books and everyone from authors, publishers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers) and how (and why) it works.

- Ahi

I'm sure that that's meant to be very profound - however, you may want to rewrite it so that it actually makes sense in order for us to fully understand your genius.

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by random50

That's hardly a problem. Anybody who doesn't want the pbook for environmental reasons can specifically buy the ebook.

True, but I was referring to the idea that had been posted that the only way to get the eBook would be to buy the pBook as well. Or to buying the pBook in order to make getting the eBook in a not exactly legal manner a bit less guilt inducing.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by ahi

Actually, surprisingly many people on MobileRead disagree with you on that... not so surprisingly, these are generally the people with the least understanding of the publishing world (by which I signify everything from writing, preparing, distributing, and selling books and everyone from authors, publishers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers) and how (and why) it works.

And then there are those who would agree that publishers do add value to pbooks, but don't seem interested in adding value to ebooks.