You have quite the debate in comments on this point, but I wanted to ask if you’d looked into the Entourage Edge yet. It’s a bit pricey at $490 but it includes a built in netbook. I love the dual book feature and it promises to be very useful for writers – you can write, research and read all on one device! Anyway, would love your opinion.

http://www.entourageedge.com/

I’ll probably wait to see if the price drops a little and wait for the wifi feature to be announced (they promise it’s coming) before buying, but I think it’s a promising reader – although I am hesitant about them selling primarily from “their” ebook store….

Of course, that didn’t happen. What did happen is that the book market expanded thanks to the warehouse sales, and this attracted new investment, the chain superstores opened with much larger inventories than the warehouse stores, and booksellers and publishers had to drop their prices a bit, at least of hardcovers.

This is of course relevant to the e-book issues. A basic problem in book and other publishing is a belief that a potentially large new audience will somehow ruin the industry and kill all the current businesses off. The media loves this idea and it’s one of the few ways that the publishing industry gets media attention, which is one of the reasons it remains prevalent.

Nonetheless, there are additional, complicated factors with e-books, primarily money and technology ones. Publishers can’t afford to hire tech people, they can’t create technological infrastructure and they feel at a loss, especially dealing with electronics giants like Microsoft and Sony. The market needs to become established first, and book publishers won’t be the ones to establish it. (Magazine publishers, on the other hand…)

While I know that the e-book industry has been around awhile, in terms of public consciousness, it’s only been around since the launch of the Kindle. B&N may not be a flashy new entry, but that they are entering the ring, that Google is entering the ring, Apple, etc., that means the market will become more and more established to the general public. And with that market established, bulk sales will increase, and as they do, publishers will drop prices. They’ll do it with moaning and wringing of hands and the media will wonder if change will equal death, but they’ll do it. King is wrong, but then he’s been trying to help the independents for a long time now, and the independent bookstores will largely be at a loss in the e-book market, at least in the beginning.

But the renewed interest in selling and above all promoting books by the department stores, the idea in the media that books are a lucrative product, and the entering of more and more major electronics and retail players into the e-publishing market are largely good things and will cause changes in pricing, formatting, etc.

1. Formats. I agree with you that format windows are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Of course, especially after a conversation yesterday with an irate reader who was furious that her $22.95 book was so thin on story, I think far too many books are sold as hardcover for the wrong reasons (this leads to reader drop-off).

Authors like the hardcover window because of status and higher royalty rates. Publishers generally see a higher return on hardcover. The mass market (versus trade paperback) margins are lower (generally), and the parties involved aren’t likely to buy into true day-and-date release patterns (world and format). The argument for ebooks being released at the same time as hardcover stems from the fact that adopters represent a mix of former hardcover customers (potential lost sales due to lack of ongoing marketing support to keep these readers in the loop — it’s the publisher responsibility, not the reader responsibility, to maintain this market awareness, and publishers do a really bad job of this…and if you consider the workload, it’s understandable) and converted mass market/trade customers and trade customers — people who wouldn’t buy at hardcover prices but will invest in a book if the price point is just below $10.

In this current publishing economic climate, it’s the new customers (former mass market) who will contribute to recouping various costs faster. The former hardcover customers are shifting formats, and while the costs are certainly lower, they are not growing the existing market. If ebooks can bring in even more new customers or increase sales due to price and convenience, then that will also help recoup those costs. This only works if the market can meet the needs of those reades.

2. There is a school of thought that believes ebooks cost nothing to produce. Those people are wrong. As you note, many costs remain: editorial/acquisition, production, distribution, marketing, various types of overhead. However, once publishers shift to a true digital workflow — most remain in the mindset of producing for print first, then going back and creating a digital version of the book…a more costly approach — savings from editorial down the chain will be realized. Distribution costs will be sliced. Marketing costs, alas, will remain as robust as ever, though we are seeing marketing campaigns that leverage lower cost word-of-mouth channels with good results.

Ebooks are worth less to the customer than print books — and this is a disparity publishers have not acknowledged. Add to that the fact that, right now, pricing is insane, and I mean that sincerely. There are publishers who are setting prices with no basis in reality, and it’s creating a lot of bad will on the part of readers. Readers are happy to invest in books, but they need to know that the publishers understand the rights being relinquished and, frankly, the fact that these readers are investing in their infrastructure, suffering poor quality during this transition. From my perspective, the only way to truly realize cost savings is to rethink the publishing business model. There are successful publishers doing this.

It’s not a given that $5 books cannot sustain the kind of profits needed to sustain publishing. Harlequin does very well at lower price points (though they also have lines that are higher priced). Others do as well. There is a market for higher priced ebooks as well, but publishers need to understand the true idea of value in ebooks, not a perceived or arbitrary value (above the de facto price being set by Amazon and others — this is not a price point publishers will be able to “educate” readers away from, at least as far as narrative fiction is concerned). I’m not alone in seeing a very near future where retailers put increasing pressure on publishers to lower the price of ebooks. Right now, Amazon and others are, when it comes to the $9.99 price point, subsidizing the difference between the wholesale cost and the selling price. That cannot hold. Once there is a solid market share (right now ebooks are a low percentage), publishers will need to re-evaluate their approach. My thinking is to move to what’s called a net pricing structure — similar to every other business, where the retailer purchases a product at a wholesale price and marks it up for sale based on business needs.

1) Why is the argument always that e-books should be released at the same time as hardcover, with no mention of paperback formats? Why should fans of that format be forced to wait? Why can’t all formats be released at one time, thus appeasing all readers, and boosting total sales? Because to argue that an e-reader would never buy a hardcover anyway I would think, based on my own experience and opinion, applies to paperback fans as well. I love trade paperback best; I never buy hardcover.

2) You advocate for smarter business models, and seem to think e-books play a key role in “rescuing the bottom line” for lack of better terminology. But in light of the e-book price wars going on right now, I’m not clear on how you think e-books are going to positively affect the business model. If nothing else, they are in danger of toppling the whole system, because $5 books simply cannot generate the kind of profits needed to sustain book production of any kind. E-books may be cheaper to produce, but not THAT much cheaper. Yet, they are inherently worth far less than an actual book, due to their lack of ownership/transferability/etc. So where is/should/will the difference be made up, do you think?

I understand that you’re new to some of these issues, and I appreciate your perspective. I have strong opinions on this topic, many of which stem from experience, not petulance. If you explore beyond this site, you will discover a lot of anger about these issues — pricing, release patterns, formats, DRM, and more — stemming from consumers. There is no honey anymore. The industry is changing extremely fast, and if traditional publishers don’t figure out a way to get ahead of consumers, they will not win this battle. This is not to say that publishing will lose, but that the dynamics will shift. Right now, the consumer base in the digital marketplace is far more sophisticated than the publishing industry. To my mind, that’s not good.

I do hope you continue to engage and explore. You are not wrong. There are no right answers in a time when everyone is feeling their way. There are maps and trails, and the people who have challenged you here are the smart ones. I certainly look to them for advice.

What I did write is… “that there’s absolutely no excuse for publishers not to have Booker shortlisted books on hand in every territory on the day the winner is announced. Even if that means that a quickie ebook was made available while the books shipped to the stores. You cannot make up for the impulse buy and you can not capitalize on the huge media coverage 4 weeks later. The lack of execution around the Booker winner was ridiculous.”

There’s is a big difference.

It is the publishers job to have titles available for the bookseller. The bookseller then sells the books to the customer because the customer has just read in the paper that the book is worthy of being noticed/short listed/read. Makes no difference whether that book exists in paper or digital.

If the publisher can not capitalize on a book award, especially the Booker – one of the few guaranteed events in a calendar year that sells lots of books – then they’re of next to no use to their authors or customers and of zero use to the bookseller.

Your Vinegar/Honey analogy is duly noted but I would submit that your commentary comes across more as nameless industry apologist than critical observer, Lady T.

I think that someone familiar with Kassia’s work would recognize that it’s not negative emotions that drive her to write what she does.

Perhaps that might be feasible for the chain stores but for many of the smaller independents,getting stuck with several titles with the possibility of one out of five being in demand as the hot ticket item due to being the lucky winner might not be such a great thing.

“But the other books will sell,because they’re nominated!”

Maybe in some quarters,but not in all. I do agree that the industry can be pretty slow on certain things,like timely releases,but unless you have a crystal ball on hand,picking a literary prize winner isn’t as simple as it sounds. I think it’s still a gamble,anyway you slice it.

As for my opinion about Miss Krozser”anger”-that’s just I see it and I prefer to be honest about why her argument for e-book releases rubs me the wrong way. Nothing personal against the lady but to me, sometimes you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

I do hope this response is coherent enough for you,Sean:)