Many thanks to Jorgen who dropped off a couple of links, the first to a New York Times article that shows Simon & Schuster up to their old tricks delaying the release of eBook titles to force consumers to buy hard covers. The publisher makes the claim that eBook sales cannibalize hard cover sales. They are already trying this trick with Stephen King’s latest, Under the Dome. We commented on that here.
It’s a ridiculous claim since ‘cannibalism’ assumes that everyone who would want to purchase a hard cover also owns an eBook reader. All this market manipulation does is further erode consumer confidence and invigorate the black market in pirated eBook sales.
The second link takes us to some editorial content on the subject by Rick Aristotle Munarriz at the Motley Fool. An excellent piece that exposes the stupid underbelly of Simon and Schuster’s move, where Munarriz reiterates the perils of ignoring the eBook Revolution.
