© Saniphoto | Dreamstime.comRead more about the Kindle, as well as see an on-screen demo of it, HERE.
I'm a proactive reader. When books aren't available in ebook format, I search out the publisher's webpage and email them to ask that they consider putting the book in ebook format. I've been told by a number of publishers that the money just isn't there for them. The real issue is that most publishers are worried about the ebook discount price set by Amazon.com...that is, they sell all new release titles for $9.99, where as the new hardback in the brick and morter store might sell for as much as $35.
I do understand this issue. I'm a published writer, and I've been around the business long enough to know that publishers have costs in paying authors, editors, marketing and publicity, etc. And that ebooks must be produced somewhere, by someone--that while they aren't printed in paper and ink, they do require some degree of work to produce across the variety of ebook formats. (That is, for Kindle, for the Mobipocket readers, for the Sony readers, etc.) However, having watched how the music industry reacted to digital music and music downloads, I firmly believe that any publisher who is not publishing books in ebook format is going to miss out, and may be squeezed out of a fast growing market.
Ebooks offer publishers some very nice advantages. They can make backlist books available and keep them available. They can offer older books for free or at reduced prices in order to hook new readers to an author's work. (Amazon.com currently has "His Majesty's Dragon" by Naomi Novik available for free. It's the start of a multi-volume series, and so I'm sure they hope to hook readers who will buy the sequel books.)
Now I read in the New York Times that some publishers are purposely holding back their ebook release, because they are unsure of how the ebook sales (at 9.99) will affect sales of the hardcover. To this, I have to say "Say What?"
(Read the New York Times story HERE.)
Because here's the thing--while ebook readers are more popular than they ever were, ebooks are still not a major part of the book market. The ebook reader owners, however, are typically avid, voracious readers. (As I am.) Ebook readers owners would be the type of reader to buy your new release title for $9.99, and then immediately buy all the author's other works. And those who own ebook readers typically don't, and won't, buy many hardcover books. (That's why they have an ebook reader, after all...because they didn't want the print books.) To say that one format (ebooks) will interfere with another format (print) seems a bit silly to me. If we were talking releasing the paperback and hardcover at the same time...well, obviously the hardcover sales would suffer. But the electronic book market and the print book market do not overlap in the same way.
Let's hope publishers soon figure this all out, and lose their wariness of ebooks. Some publishers have, and are jumping into the market with both feet. (Baen books, for instance, has offered older books for free electronically through their website for at least a couple of years.) Ebooks will not soon replace print books, but the ebook market is not going to go away. If publishers have something to say about the pricing, the way to address this is not by holding back, but by publishing books in both print and ebook formats and to start comparing sales numbers.
I won't buy a print book unless I'm very desperate. (I did buy a new print version of the Bible, but that's a book that doesn't work well in ebook format in my opinion.) Ebooks are my new format of choice, just as I no longer by music CDs, but prefer buying digital downloads. Ebooks are here to stay, and in my opinion, they should be available as soon as the hardcover is released. The pricing is another issue, but I'll just say (for the record) that I won't pay $35 for a print book, and have discount shopped for years. I think that states my opinion on book pricing without me having to spell it out more fully.
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