Comments on: Stupid Publishing Tricks, Part 1,110,099

By: Reader Views

Reader Views — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:51:43 +0000

I so agree with CT – book buyers are impulse buyers. And, they want the book in hand. An e-book just doesn’t feel/look the same as a hard cover.

By: CT

CT — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:25:06 +0000

The cost of hard cover books vs. e-publishing has nothing to do with this specific example. Most of the people who purchase this book have no intention of reading it. The thing could have cartoon figures inside and come with a box of colors for all they care. They are using book publishing to launder campaign contributions and the publisher should be ashamed of itself for this deceit.

By: Anysia (Booklorn on Twitter)

Anysia (Booklorn on Twitter) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:16:10 +0000

Unfortunately, the holding back of ebooks comes from the same thinking that holds back the publication of paperbacks to maximize the sales of the hardcover. For many reasons, I pretty much refuse to buy hardcovers. I also have a short memory, so I rarely (if ever) remember to go back and buy the paperback when it comes out (by then my library has it anyway).

What I can’t understand is why publishers can’t make the same amount of profit on a paperback as a hardcover. Can’t they figure out the markup so that a sale is a sale and profit is format-agnostic? Or is that asking too much?

By: Friday Link Love 10/2 | Brad’s Reader

Friday Link Love 10/2 | Brad’s Reader — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:49:14 +0000

[...] Stupid publishing tricks, Part 1,110,009 [...]

By: Kat Meyer

Kat Meyer — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:14:57 +0000

Funny, that if publishers were only putting the reader experience first, the decisions would be so easy. On every single question really.

e.g.: Should we put the ebook out at the same time as the initial hardcover release?

reader perspective: yes. that would be great.

publisher – okay. let’s do it then.

happily ever after and….cut!

Given that all the arguments against simultaneous release are easily proved silly, why do publishers continue to be so seemingly irrational?

I had a lovely instant message conversation today with a mutual friend who was, in all earnestness, trying to understand why publishers are doing this. I told him a mishmash of what has been discussed here. Control/cannibalization/pricing wars — all of these possible excuses have one thing in common: FEAR. The publishers are afraid of what might happen if they do something new and different and just meet customer demand. That’s messed up.
I hope they get over it.
soon.
for everyone’s sake.
xo
~ Kat

By: Remembering English

Remembering English — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:37:33 +0000

[...] only not going anywhere but are only going to become more interactive and innovative. This post on Booksquare looks at e-books in the marketplace and makes a good point about publishers not releasing [...]

By: Holding back the ebook – The Shatzkin Files

Holding back the ebook – The Shatzkin Files — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:34:44 +0000

[...] Kassia Kroszer has written a nice little rant about the counterproductiveness of this strategy, with which on purely economic and marketing grounds, I substantially agree. She points out that there is no evidence that ebook sales come at the expense of hardcover sales (of course; there’s also no evidence that they don’t…) She also posits that the ebook reader and print reader are often different people. If that’s true (and it is a general notion I’m inclined to share), then holding back the ebook is bound to just lose sales because the title won’t be available as an ebook during “maximum buzz.” [...]

By: Anthea Lawson

Anthea Lawson — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:24:13 +0000

Don’t you think the fact that e-book sales don’t figure into compiling the NYT Bestseller list could be part of this? After all, I’m sure the publishers don’t want any of those ‘countable’ sales to be diluted in the first weeks/month of publication (no matter how untrue that perception may be). Of course, it didn’t hurt Dan Brown any – and it’s true that Kindle sales are now counted by USA Today toward their bestseller lists. Still, ‘hitting the list’ shouldn’t be underestimated as another motivation for delayed e-book releases.

By: M. Lewis

M. Lewis — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:45:58 +0000

I won’t be buying this piece of garbage in any format.

By: The Path To Becoming A Power Writer | Fiction Matters

The Path To Becoming A Power Writer | Fiction Matters — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:16:27 +0000

[...] in a scant four months caught a lot of people off guard yesterday (though the real story is the delay in the eBook’s release). After all, writing a complete book in four months is an awful lot of work. But, as the internet [...]