Comparing ebook vs pbook prices

[BookCat]

I chose Other because I generally purchase reference books, or other books I'll regularly 'flip' through, as pbooks because pbooks are more flippable. Fiction, however, I always buy in eformat. Less clutter.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I chose Other because I generally purchase reference books, or other books I'll regularly 'flip' through, as pbooks because pbooks are more flippable. Fiction, however, I always buy in eformat. Less clutter.

None of that has anything to do with the topic of the poll.
The poll concerns books you intend to buy as ebooks, as the OP says.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I have no idea what sort of software a manuscript goes through on its way to becoming a paper book. Is it possible that the Word file gets split into two separate flows early on, and that the software for producing a typeset paper book does a lot of the spell and consistency checking? The idea that the publisher would OCR the paper copy to produce the ebook seems pretty bizarre. Although maybe that's just how they do it for backlist items, and use the same flow for new books, too. Is there anyone here in the biz who can comment?

Well, in the olden days, books were handwritten then put into type, but nowadays of course they will use a word processor. There are a number of ways to turn a Word document into filtered html and save it as an ePUB (for instance, Writer2ePub) and the Atlantis Word Processor has been mentioned as a great word processor for making ePUBs. (Disclaimer: All my information comes from haunting the MobileRead forums -- I am NOT in any way involved with publishing.)

Since the manuscript came from a word document, it should be a simple matter to export this to an ePUB, assuming the author knows beforehand that he will be publishing an ebook (I should HOPE he knows) and marks the chapter headings, etc. correctly. And this doesn't help for backlisted books that don't have any digital files and must be OCR'ed when they decide to republish.

All that being so, backlisted books are understandably problematic, but HOW can an author possibly publish an ebook that has a different SPELLING from the pbook???

The formatting I understand though -- authors aren't really ready for the whole "digital stuff" thing and completely neglect to spend five minutes while writing to make sure the formatting is right. (Possibly they are like my classmate who presses enter at the end of each line because he doesn't realize paragraphs flow automatically? I've definitely seen some really bizarre split paragraphs in ebooks.)

[patrickt]

The constant drumming from those who think life should be free is tiresome. I have never paid more for a book than I thought it was worth since I left college. I got screwed on 65% of the textbooks in college but that's a different rant.

I will be buying a book of highway maps of Mexico today and it will be a paper book. It works better. Other than that, I haven't bought a paper book in three years. Unsold paper books cost the publishers and the bookstore money. They are a constant drain. If they hold onto books long enough they can turn a profitable book into a loss. So, they dump them cheap. Get over it. It's how things work.

And, we also have the wonderful agency model brought to us by Apple and the Publishers so the publishers get to set the prices for their ebooks. Since there is no on-going expense for a stock of unsold ebooks they can just sit there.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by BookCat View Post
I chose Other because I generally purchase reference books, or other books I'll regularly 'flip' through, as pbooks because pbooks are more flippable. Fiction, however, I always buy in eformat. Less clutter.

None of that has anything to do with the topic of the poll.
The poll concerns books you intend to buy as ebooks, as the OP says.

(Will someone please pm me about how to quote?)

I probably didn't make my point very clearly. What I meant was that I prefer all books as ebooks, even if the pbook is cheaper. The exception to that is reference books. These, I always buy as pbooks. I need to flip through a reference book, which is difficult on an ereader.

[spindlegirl]

For me, I still like books. (the kind you open and stick real bookmarks in). I love e-books, too. I have read many a post where people say, "I pay for the story not what it's made of...." (to paraphrase), so for me if the paper book is $10-ish (and I am one of the few who really likes trade paperback form) while the e-book is $16, naturally if it is a book I want to own, I will go for the cheaper price.

I don't expect "life to be free" but I paid the premium for the e-reader, and if the story is exactly the same, it should be roughly the same, or cheaper to sell me an e-book. I happily will go out of my way to spend money when I don't feel like I am being taken advantage of just for the sake of some trend.

For the most part, I prefer to buy the paper book because for my own personal usage, I find there is more bang for the buck.

[theducks]

#2
I don't think the publishers claim that they are paying the author higher royalties will get past my 'Hollywood Accounting' sniffer.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I probably didn't make my point very clearly. What I meant was that I prefer all books as ebooks, even if the pbook is cheaper.

Then you should have chosen option 3.

[BookCat]

I thought about that; but my infinite preference for paper reference books muddied that category, hence the choice of "other".

[spellbanisher]

Generally I go with the ebook over the pbook even if it is more expensive. However, if there is a huge differencd between the cost of an ebook and a clean used copy (like say the ebook is $25 and the like new pbook is $4), i'll go with the pbook.

[Ansileran]

Other for me...

I want to buy all books (that I intend to buy) as e-books. If the e-book price is higher, what I do depends on the book and the e-book format + drm annoyance:

- book that I'm only going to read once => p-book
- pocket sized book => p-book
- book in a format/drm that is not practical => p-book
- book that I intend to keep and whose format/drm is practical => e-book

[ApK]

Yes, that sounds like a genuine 'other' which may have been served if I had allowed multiple responses. IIUC, you're saying that if you notice the pbook is cheaper , other factors come into play which may drive you to option 1 or option 3.

[Ansileran]

Exactly... The pricing of e-books and "buying or not buying" is something I'm considering very carefully at the moment because I'm a month away from moving to the other side of the world. I have to sell most of my book collection because it would be too expensive to transport it all. It's already going to be expensive as I have lots of (enormous) reference books which I want to keep... So at the moment "movability" (or ability to sell if I don't care to keep the book) is my main criteria.

[rkw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

They're mainly art books. Devoted though I am to ebooks, it's going to be a long time before they can compete with high-quality photography in large-format paper books.

Good take Harry. But tablets are getting pretty close. Asus announced a new Transformer Infinity that's around 2560x1600 and while it doesn't offer the lpi of high end printing it's not bad.

Still nothing beats print for art for those who truly appreciate art.

Biggest short coming of tabs is color gamut. NONE give good color reproduction and accuracy...yet. Even great B&W pales in comparison because tabs tend to clip darks and highlights leaving poor transitions.

But I am lucky as for my paying photo clients I have access to a buddy's studio and his three wide format printers...for free... B-)

[Tarana]

I buy an ebook because I want that ebook, but not because price is irrelavant. I can usually wait for the ebook to be available at the library or on sale (kobo coupons help a lot). However, if I need it, I need it because it's timely or because it's the next book of a favorite series and I don't wanna wait.