Fictionwise more expensive?

[slayda]

Even with older books, I have sometimes found a book I was looking for at BoB that was not at FW. Recently a series of 5 books, 4 were at FW but I had to go to BoB for the other one.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by slayda

Even with older books, I have sometimes found a book I was looking for at BoB that was not at FW. Recently a series of 5 books, 4 were at FW but I had to go to BoB for the other one.

Yep, I've found the same thing. I've also found it goes both ways. Sometimes FW has it, but BoB doesn't. Also sometimes ebooks.com will have a book that neither FW or BoB has.

[JSWolf]

The shops I check are...

Fictionwise
BooksOnBoard
Cyberread
Powells
Diesel
ebooks.com

And then I decide where to purchase.

[FixB]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

When I signed up for the BuyWise club last September, it had a 100% MicroPay rebate, and I've seen reports of people renewing their membership with a similar deal.

Arf, when my membership ended, I didn't get the chance to renew with a 100% micropay (or the mail got lost in my spam folder )
I'll wait and see if this offer comes again !

[kougei]

Although I've bought exclusively from Fictionwise to-date, it is becoming quite frustrating that the books I buy (principally Star Trek novels) seem to come to Fictionwise later than on other sites, and recently only first in secure e-reader format, with MobiPocket following a couple weeks later. As I prefer MobiPocket this means I miss out on the early-buy new release offers.

For example : Released yesterday was Star Trek Titan: Over a Torrent Sea, which currently has a 50% Micropay rebate offer for first day of release. But only in Secure e-reader format. At least it is there largely on release date this time.

Yet it's available at Books on Board for Mobipocket and Adobe as well.

Does anyone know why this would be?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by kougei

Yet it's available at Books on Board for Mobipocket and Adobe as well.

Does anyone know why this would be?

I was going to say different distributors, but the Mobi offering at BoB is directly from Mobi, not from Overdrive so I'm not sure that's it.

It seems like more and more FW is doing a poor job of having titles available on release day in general and when they do often it's got a limited format selection compared to others. Not sure what the deal is.

[ssaxt0]

I just went to SimonandSchuster for a Star Trek book that just came out and the paperback is $7.99 but they plan to sell the eBook for $9.99. I then checked Diesel Book and they were charging over $8.00 and with my discount, it was $7.15 or so. How can this price be so inflated since no machinery such as a printing press, personnel or dead trees to make the paper. DRM costs and Royalties cannot cost this much to justify these charges. I guess that I will have to wait for a few months to see if they lower because there is a price I will not go above for a digital book which I could never print and pass on to someone else to read.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ssaxt0

How can this price be so inflated since no machinery such as a printing press, personnel or dead trees to make the paper.

You should email S&S and ask them this question.

BOb

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It seems like more and more FW is doing a poor job of having titles available on release day in general and when they do often it's got a limited format selection compared to others. Not sure what the deal is.

FW only "release" books on a Monday.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by HarryT

FW only "release" books on a Monday.

Yep. Which is rather silly for an online store, IMHO.

[JSWolf]

The latest Star Trek eBook Star Trek: Titan: Over a Torrent Sea is on sale not at Fictionwise for 50% off plus 54 for it being in eReader format. ereader2html.py will work. I've already purchased it ans converted it using Book Designer. Didn't take long at all to do the conversion.

[ssaxt0]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You should email S&S and ask them this question.

BOb

I did email the company and they have yet to answer this question. I asked the same question to Diesel eBooks and their distributor which is Lightning Source but have yet to recieve a response from them. I did send an email to Sony as well since this pricing will affect their sales of their reader as well as Amazon. When I purchased my reader, I looked at pricing but I believe I looked at older books and prices wer cheap. If I would have looked at newer books and pricing, I may have paused in my purchase because you spend so much money for the reader but you also hope that costs of books would be cheaper.

Sony's response was that they get their pricing from the publisher which low and behold is Simon and Schuster who has not responded. They gave me a pathetic excuse for the pricing of eBooks which I will send in another note.

[ssaxt0]

Sony's Response:

Thank you for contacting Sony Support.

The List Price for our eBook titles is set by the publisher. When publishers determine the suggested retail price for their print books, they also determine a separate price for the eBook version (usually much less expensive than the printed counterpart). Our eBook Store often offers as much as an additional 20% discount; however, certain other eBook retailers may have pre-arranged programs or special promotions with the publisher where their prices start lower than suggested retail.

We do our best to provide the best prices on the largest selection possible and will continue to work with the publishers to urge them to discount their prices to provide you with the best eBook purchase experience possible. If there is a specific title, or group of titles, which you feel are not priced appropriately, our customer service team would be happy to document your concerns and requested a review to determine if a price reduction may be warranted. To submit a pricing review request, please contact us at: (877) 263-2863.


They must not be aware what prices are for paperbacks because they assume less cost than paperback is a joke compared to what I have seen for newer books. I checked other books other than the Star Trek book i was looking for.

[shadowcat1017]

This is the kind of reply I consistently get from Fictionwise when I ask about their prices (which I've done on probably three separate occasions) -- they always say the publisher sets the price and I need to talk to the publisher. I've sent several e-mails to a bunch of publishers and have never received any sort of reply, which I find really irritating.

I also happen to have a good friend who is an author published by Ace, and her books have recently come out as ebooks. (Shameless plug: Moira Moore - start with "Resenting the Hero" ) Anyway, they put out books one and three first and they priced them at almost double the paperback price. I told her about it, she contacted her editor, and within a couple of weeks, the prices had dropped down to normal cost ($7.99 not including any discounts). About 2 weeks ago, they released book 2 at $12.99. I let her know -- she's really annoyed btw -- but so far, the price hasn't changed.

Anyway, I don't really know what all this means except that it seems like you need to know someone in order to get anything fixed, but sometimes even that doesn't work. I would love to get some sort of petition or something together to send to the publishers that are the worst offenders (*coughMacmillancough*) and try to get them to knock it off. It drives me absolutely bonkers.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You should email S&S and ask them this question.

BOb

Chance of seeing a backwards flying porcine is probably comparable to the chance of getting a response, though.