5%, or 100,000 copies, of "The Lost Symbol" were sold as e-books

[sforce]

New Dan Brown novel tops 2 million mark

"Herz did say that around 5 percent, or 100,000 copies, of "The Lost Symbol" were sold as e-books. Doubleday released the digital edition at the same time as the hardcover despite industry worries that e-sales might take away business from the more expensive paper text."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-Da....html?x=0&.v=1

[ahi]

Originally Posted by rcuadro

I was one of those 5%
I, for one, enjoyed the book

Would you have bought the hardcover, if they hadn't released the eBook?

- Ahi (from the past)

[rcuadro]

I was one of those 5%
I, for one, enjoyed the book

[columbus]

Originally Posted by ahi

Would you have bought the hardcover, if they hadn't released the eBook?

- Ahi (from the past)

No! mainly because of the high cost of postage - I would have waited for the reviews - & then not bought because of the reviews!

as it is I wasted $10 on a poor piece of work

[ahi]

Originally Posted by columbus

No! mainly because of the high cost of postage - I would have waited for the reviews - & then not bought because of the reviews!

as it is I wasted $10 on a poor piece of work

Would rcuadro have though?

- Ahi

[DixieGal]

A big sales benchmark like that seems like the thing that is needed to emphasize the powerhouse that ebooks are becoming. However, it's hard to be proud when the benchmark is set by a Dan Brown novel.

[lisreed]

I bought it on the kindle which I regret. Its a waste of money in my opinion. I had forgotten how much I don't like his writing ability. I had it on hold at the library which is what I should have done. I am not the greatest judge of ebooks vs hardcover though. 50% of my reading is paper editions. I like ebooks but not interested in giving up paperbooks.

[lilac_jive]

If they are making $3 per ebook, that's not a whole lot of money. But then again, the book has only been out for a week, so that's not too bad.

[dmaul1114]

I'm enjoying it as well, though I'm only around chapter 20 or so.

I wouldn't have bought the hardback as I pretty much stopped buying real books (leisure books anyway, still buy/request from publisher academic books). Just a waste of space on a book I'll only read once and then have setting around or have to bother with selling or donating.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

If they are making $3 per ebook, that's not a whole lot of money. But then again, the book has only been out for a week, so that's not too bad.

Gross or net?

- Ahi

[Kali Yuga]

Anyone selling the ebook version at $9.99 or so is taking a small loss. Then again, a retailer selling the hardcover for $16 with free shipping is likely taking the same size loss....

That said, I'd say it's a good thing that ebooks are starting to make a noticeable dent in sales figures. And heck, that's a bunch of trees that didn't have to get cut down for those 100,000 copies...

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Anyone selling the ebook version at $9.99 or so is taking a small loss. Then again, a retailer selling the hardcover for $16 with free shipping is likely taking the same size loss....

That said, I'd say it's a good thing that ebooks are starting to make a noticeable dent in sales figures. And heck, that's a bunch of trees that didn't have to get cut down for those 100,000 copies...

Which, of course, doesn't mean that they weren't cut down. It just means that the resulting paper hasn't been put to good use yet... if even that.

- Ahi

[kaan]

Originally Posted by ahi

Which, of course, doesn't mean that they weren't cut down. It just means that the resulting paper hasn't been put to good use yet... if even that.

- Ahi

Actually it does.
If you believe in the supply and demand theory, there is now a lower demand of paper. That means there are less need for trees to be cut down, that there would have been if the 100.000 ebooks had been sold as paper books.

[rcuadro]

Originally Posted by ahi

Would rcuadro have though?

- Ahi

Nope. I dont buy the hardback version of anything unless it is at the thrift store or at an used book place... but that was before I started reading eBooks...

[ahi]

Originally Posted by kaan

Actually it does.
If you believe in the supply and demand theory, there is now a lower demand of paper. That means there are less need for trees to be cut down, that there would have been if the 100.000 ebooks had been sold as paper books.

Unless you think that the fact that Dan Brown's publisher shipped 100,000 fewer hardcover books somehow results in a temporal ripple into the past that informs some country's forest-industry that they only need to fulfill 98% of their current month's order to the paper industry?

Even if future demand is (minimally?) impacted by Dan Brown's publisher's failure to sell and ship the books they already made from 100,000 hardcover books' worth of trees... none of this says anything about trees that had to be (or did not have to be) cut down in the past... only future trees may be saved... but frankly I have difficulty concocting an explanation as to *precisely* how in the short or medium term.

- Ahi