Feb 18
Readers at Geeksugar.com were asked if eBooks should cost the same as traditional books. 94% of those who responded agreed that eBooks should cost less. (They’re not just being contrary either, they’ve thought it through.) Take the link to read a few of the responses.
So publishers try to gouge loyal readers who obviously love books and are eager to adopt the new technology. It’s sad, but as long as these readers keep talking (with their wallets) the eBook prices will come down, yah?
Feb 17
Jorgen sent us a link to a story at PCWorld that reports iPad will adopt a DRM lock on the ePub format eBooks it will sell at its iBook store. That’s part of the stupid deal they inked with some large and greedy publishers (Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette) that wanted to raise the price of their eBook titles. This despite Apple iTune’s troubled history with over-priced and locked music.
Well, if this is true, they’ve just created the demand for low-priced, pirated and unlocked eBooks. Can anyone say “Napster?”
Feb 16
This from our friend Jorgen. A story at arstechnica.com about the White House releasing the 400 page (yawn) Annual Economic Report of the President in PDF, Amazon Kindle and ePub formats for eBook Readers. That development adds an environmental spin, and certainly puts a bit of tech-gloss on a President who just kicked the hell out of the next Moon Mission. (I’m sorry, I wanted to go back, yah?)
Main point: A great shot in the arm for the eBook Revolution.
Feb 15
Sweet Prize, yah? We posted on this a couple times from press releases on the lead up to the draw, and we’ve received the results. Apparently a big turnout. The author also gives an update on his $1.99 eBook Sale.
First Prize Winner Witold Bruhns received a Sony Reader Touch Edition with BENT STEEPLE by G. Wells Taylor installed. The Oshawa, Canada native’s career as an IT support worker explains his keen interest in eBook reading technology. Bruhns loves the Sony Reader and looks forward to reading Bent Steeple on it. ENJOY!
Second Prize Winner Stacy Marquez of Redford, Michigan received an autographed paperback copy of BENT STEEPLE and her choice of eBook title by G. Wells Taylor.
Curtis Barrow of Great Falls, Montana picked up the Third Prize autographed paperback copy of BENT STEEPLE.
You have until February 28th to take advantage of the $1.99 Reader-direct Price for all titles at GWellsTaylor.com. After that GWellsTaylor.com titles will adjust to the low $3.99 retail eBook download price offered at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, Kobobooks.com, Smashwords.com and the Sony eBook Store. For more information about Bent Steeple, G. Wells Taylor novels or the new pricing email gwellstaylor@gwellstaylor.com.
Feb 14
“So will the eReader replace the paperback?” That question and many others are answered in a Net4Now.com post directed at the eReader generation. (Already, it’s a generation…)
The author Jade offers an in-depth, well-researched replay of the basics and ponders the future as we pause to collect our thoughts in the post-iPad-Release eBook Revolution. A great Sunday read yah?
Enjoy!
Feb 13
Thanks to Jorgen for dropping this link to a post at the Telegraph.co.uk. It’s an enjoyable weekend read that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at audiobooks (the eBook’s noisy cousin). They’re not for everybody, but they’re fast becoming a player in the eBook Revolution. Enjoy!
Feb 12
eBook Rumors has been such a serious little blog lately, I thought I’d take a breath and direct the Valentine’s Day procrastinators in the crowd to something a little lighter at Ubergizmo.com where they’ll find a post about a cool gift that Sony’s offering. Check out the specifics at the link.
Feb 11
So, I talked yesterday about a missing voice in the eBook pricing debate. Well, Jorgen dropped off a link to an article in The New York Times by Motoko Rich and Brad Stone where that voice is heard loud and clear. Read the article “E-Book Price Increase May Stir Readers’ Passions” here. This is a good article that almost makes up for that lopsided story we commented on.
…eBook Readers Insurgency… I paraphrase, but nice work, yah?
p.s. If you haven’t sent Impact author Douglas Preston an angry email yet, this might give you a reason. Preston who alienated a lot of his readers when his publisher held back the eBook version of Impact to force hard cover sales, has attacked his readership by saying he’s astonished by the “sense of entitlement of the American consumer.” He’d never accuse them of having good judgment, or a discerning eye when it comes to making a purchase. I actually cringed when I read his statement: “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.â€Â A suggestion for Mr. Preston: “Your readers are not your enemies…” Readers want to pay Preston a fair price for his eBooks and he calls them Wal-Mart shoppers…Lord! (He also kind of takes a swipe at Wal-Mart shoppers there too, but that’s another battle.)
Feb 10
Here’s a story from the geniuses at The New York Times entitled: “Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight” in which it is proposed that the big publishers are ready to talk tough with Internet Giant Google after recent ‘wins’ in debates over pricing with Apple Tablet and now Amazon.com. Google plans to monopolize eBook sales by launching its own eBook sales center Google Editions. The publishers are determined to set the price.
We’ve been looking at this story for a while now. I continue to be less than impressed by this debate and its debaters because it remains moot until the consumer is allowed to speak. The consumer of course speaks from his/her wallet during the actual act of purchasing eBooks. Do the publishers want to charge more? Well, that’s an old debate. They started out charging more for their eBooks at Amazon.com but Kindle owners quickly snapped Amazon’s leash to bring the price of titles down to $9.99. (Still too much in my opinion, yah?) And they’ll do it again.
Will consumers now pay more because the publishers feel that $9.99 ‘devalues’ books? (I think it’s more a case of ‘re-valuing’ eBooks… uh, guys, if you haven’t noticed, eBooks are not ‘books.’ They’re actually quite different.)
Instituting higher prices simply to prop up publishers’ profits is a poor justification for raising eBook prices, so the consumers will start to share the files they’ve already got… oh, and believe me, the Pirates are listening with their own answer to the debate.
In truth, the Internet eBook retailers know enough about selling digital content to understand that each loss is a hollow victory for the publishers, and these are more temporary concessions made to get greedy merchants to play along in a changing marketplace. If the consumer will only pay $9.99, that’s what the publisher will have to charge.
p.s. My reference to ‘geniuses’ at The New York Times is meant sarcastically or course. First of all, they have everything to gain by talking up and supporting high-priced digital content, since ‘going digital’ without ‘devaluing content’ is the only way that the Times will survive in the digital age and maintain its pre-digital profitability. And secondly, it was the resistance and lack of vision by media leaders like The New York Times that empowered the Internet, the growth of digital media and the devaluation of their ‘actual’ content.
Feb 09
Thanks Jorgen for dropping off this link to a story at Information Week about eBook prices ‘ratcheting’ up after Amazon’s dustup with Macmillan Publishing. Apparently, News Corp.’s HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group have decided to join hands with Macmillan and make their eBooks unpopular with everyone but eBook Pirates.
Those publishers have decided that Amazon’s $9.99 eBook pricing is unsupportable, and have decided to raise their prices. (I can’t believe Amazon’s luck. See our post that shows Amazon’s winning hand. It’s a win/win scenario for the online eBook retailer.)
Those publishers have agreed to ignore the fact that consumers have already decided that any eBook titles at Amazon over $9.99 are worth boycotting. These publishers are actually positioning themselves so that they’ll have to deal with the consumer backlash that Amazon has previously been struggling with. They’ll also lose more when those consumers tell them to drop their prices and the publishers realize they’re giving more money to Amazon in the new deal.
I continue to marvel at the way these corporate giants completely overlook the will and intellect of the consumer.
How did they become corporate giants in the first place?
