My rant

[4407mark]

I am a new Kindle 2 owner and am enjoying it beyond my wildest dreams right now. I have several trips coming up at the end of the month and am really looking forward to using it then also. What has me furious now is the pricing controversy - specifically the publishers who are attempting to pad their retirement funds on the backs of folks who are trying to be a little more environmentally sensitive and contribute to a smaller carbon footprint by using an e-book reader. I had my eye on a paperback of a favorite author and swore to myself I wouldn't buy it until I had my Kindle in hand. Well, I went to purchase it the other day and it lists at $14.30! You all might want to check the Weather Channel and see what the temperature in Hell is because until it reaches freezing, I won't be buying that book in paperback or Kindle version. In fact, I won't be buying any more books from that author until the publisher pulls their head out of their arse and begins breathing fresh air again. What really burned me was finding that same book in paperback at my local Sam's Club for $5.46!

I read in another post here where the publisher of this particular paperback said that in the future, they believe the best time to release the e-book version of a book is between the release of the hardcover and the paperback. Yes, you money hungry, environmentally abusive ignoramus - that is a wonderful idea! How is the air with your head up your tuckus? I'm sorry but to me that was yet another example of corporate greed - some will call it business savvy or sound business practice but I say it's barnyard excrement. One of the reasons I bought my Kindle was to cut down on my carbon footprint and my storage space, not to mention that fact that I thought I was saving trees and paper for future generations. You huge corporate publishing giants need to start becoming better citizens of the planet - and you can start with re-visiting your pricing of e-versions of your books.

So to the publishers who are determined to make a huge profit on the purchase of e-books - you won't be making it from me. If I want to read it badly enough, I will purchase the hardcover edition when it is released. Otherwise, I refuse to pay more for the e-book version than I would pay for the paperback. To those publishers who are trying to do the right thing and offer e-versions at paperback prices, I applaud you and will continue to purchase your products.

Just sayin'...

[chrianna]

i feel your pain.  seriously, i do.  i just bought my kindle before all this 'agency' model stuff went down and feel cheated.  i'm also blaming steve jobs and i'm not going to buy apple products.  i've decided to buy random house books b/c it didn't give in to jobs' pressure. the other publishers who did i'm avoiding unless they offer cheapies (like most of lemony snicket series or 'you the owner's manual 2.0). 

find myself checking out and buying some indy authors that i may not have if this agency model stuff hadn't happened.  i sincerely hope that there's some kind of upswing in sales for indy writers.

[Scheherazade]

Voice these concerns in emails to the publishers and authors, though I recommend a bit less in them about where they might be able to locate their heads.  The best way to fight it is to stop buying (which you seem to have done) and let them know.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that.  Gotta make sure they know you won't be buying that paperback version either though or they win.  Threaten em with the library or a used bookstore or something

[VictoriaP]

If I want to read it badly enough, I will purchase the hardcover edition when it is released.

Congratulations.  That's EXACTLY what the publishers are hoping you'll do.  They think that ebooks take away from their hardcover sales, and statements like this serve to confirm their sentiments--raise ebook prices and the customers will go back to hardcovers.  Never mind that most of us never bought HCs to begin with.

If you really are upset, and you really want to make a statement, you need to rethink this.  Either borrow from a friend, buy used, or get it from the library.  Or stop reading that particular book/author/series.  Buying the hardcover, or even the paperback, still nets them a profit.  The options mentioned above net them absolutely nothing--instead, they've lost a sale completely.

And the corollary is what Scheherazade posted.  Whatever path you take is meaningless to the publisher until you actually let them know what you chose to do. 

[luv4kitties]

I totally understand your frustration.  I'm not happy with the current pricing and I also have serious objections to the agency model.  Fortunately, I've got hundreds of ebooks already on my K2, so I won't run out of reading material for a several years.  I've only been buying Random House (and indie) books because they haven't gone with the agency model and I haven't spent more than $6.50 on an ebook.  For anything else that I want to read, I just go the library or a used bookstore.  I have no plans to reward agency model publishers or anyone with an ebook over $9.99 or an ebook that is priced higher than the lowest priced new paper version.  Don't get me wrong, I love my K2 and I have no regrets about buying it.  I just have serious objections to the agency model (and to current prices)--enough that I don't mind reading paper books from the library or used bookstore in order to avoid giving agency model publishers any of my money (or paying more than I want to for ebooks).  I'm hopeful that things will change within the next few years.  If not, I can go on indefinitely as I am now (being very selective about where my money goes and how much I spend).  

[kb7uen Gene]

Is this really both the publishers and authors or are the authors being used by the publishers to justify gauging us for nothing more than 1s and 0s or electrons flowing from Anazon to our Kindles?

I want to support the authors, but it seems that the restructuring doesn't give them a penny more than they are already receiving on each book sold.  Did I miss something when looking at this whole thing, or do I understand it correctly?

On a side note, I don't see this price restructuring as being any different than the garbage from the publishers over the text to speech on the Kindle 2.

Gene

[4Katie]

If I want to read it badly enough, I will purchase the hardcover edition when it is released.

That's EXACTLY what the publishers are hoping you'll do.

They're gonna be disappointed.

[rho]

They're gonna be disappointed.

I agree - and they may be even more disappointed if I totally forget I want the book by the time it comes out in ebook form -- if I really really want to read it right away - there is a wonderful library in my village

we have to show the publishers that ebooks are an important part of their profits - if we give in and buy the hard copy or paperback they think they are right and we will buy what THEY want us to buy ...

edited because I am an idiot who hit send before I was done ....

[brian70]

I agree with most of the comments here.

Also, I think these authors must be getting screwed. Agency model publishers must be selling less books at these higher prices. The authors cut, however, remains the same (from what I've heard). So authors get less while readers pay more, or skip the book, or find a free or cheap alternative (library or used bookstore). Brilliant. The publishers are crapping on the authors and the readers all in the hope of making more money. I think this is going to backfire big time.

I can't wait until these publishers report their earnings.

[4407mark]

I appreciate all of the comments - and fully understand that it won't make a lot of difference unless I make my feelings known to the publishers which I fully intend to do (short of inferring where their head may be located  ). I do think this will backfire on the publishers long term and in the mean time, I will continue to purchase e-books from publishers who aren't gouging customers. And for those titles I really want to read, I will either check it out from the library or I will wait until the e-book version is a reasonable price.

[geoffthomas]

I think your best solution is to go ahead and start reading the indie authors.
I did just that in February of 2009 when I got my K2.

And I found incredibly good books.
And from authors who are resident right here on KB.
You can join a thread and post your opinions to them.
Jeff Hepple, Michael Hicks, C.S Marks (archer), Carolyn Kephardt, R.J. Keller, Ed Patterson, Asparrow, K.A. Thompson (thumper), Dennis Batchelder, Margaret Lake (Gertie) and Sierra Rose.

These fab writers have provided me with really good reads - and there are others that I either forgot or whom I have not read yet.  I have only gone back to main-stream authors for 1 DTB from an author I cannot abandone - C.J. Cherryh.

In my opinion when you patronize these indie writers you accomplish three goals: 1. You stop purchasing from the publishers who are trying to control the market. 2. You support these fine indie authors both with good will and financially. 3. You provide yourself with terrific reading material.  What could be better?

Just sayin.....

[PraiseGod13]

I think your best solution is to go ahead and start reading the indie authors.
I did just that in February of 2009 when I got my K2.

And I found incredibly good books.
And from authors who are resident right here on KB.
You can join a thread and post your opinions to them.
Jeff Hepple, Michael Hicks, C.S Marks (archer), Carolyn Kephardt, R.J. Keller, Ed Patterson, Asparrow, K.A. Thompson (thumper), Dennis Batchelder, Margaret Lake (Gertie) and Sierra Rose.

These fab writers have provided me with really good reads - and there are others that I either forgot or whom I have not read yet.  I have only gone back to main-stream authors for 1 DTB from an author I cannot abandone - C.J. Cherryh.

In my opinion when you patronize these indie writers you accomplish three goals: 1. You stop purchasing from the publishers who are trying to control the market. 2. You support these fine indie authors both with good will and financially. 3. You provide yourself with terrific reading material.  What could be better?

Just sayin.....

I couldn't agree more.... I will not buy at the high ebook prices, nor will I buy DTBs... the publishers won't get another dime of my money.  I now read the indie authors (especially our KB authors that Geoff listed) and could not be happier.  I am also really enjoying all of the free classics from manybooks and feedbooks.  And, for the few books that come out from my favorite series/authors..... I'm back to the library.  Would I rather read these books on my Kindle??  Absolutely!!  I REALLY don't like the headaches and eye strain that I get from DTBs.... to say nothing about them being awkward and often losing my place because of pages flipping over.....  but I will not help the publisher's retirement accounts.... I have my own retirement to worry about.

[ElaineOK]

The authors have no direct control over any of this, and a lot of their contracts pay them less for ebook sales than for dtb sales.  That being said you do need to let authors know what you are doing and why, because the authors (as an amorphous group) may not recognize that their publishers owe them certain duties, but the Authors' Guild does.  The individual authors need to get ticked off enough to support action by the Guild to force publishers to live up to their obligations as exclusive agents.

Elaine
Norman, Oklahoma

[angelad]

The authors have no direct control over any of this, and a lot of their contracts pay them less for ebook sales than for dtb sales.  That being said you do need to let authors know what you are doing and why, because the authors (as an amorphous group) may not recognize that their publishers owe them certain duties, but the Authors' Guild does.  The individual authors need to get ticked off enough to support action by the Guild to force publishers to live up to their obligations as exclusive agents.

Elaine
Norman, Oklahoma

Authors do need some proactive reacting in this case to get things moving.

[Scheherazade]

I'm beginning to think that it's time for authors to embrace self publishing online.  I wonder how well a known author would do if they dropped their publisher and just turned to self publishing.  At the very least I think there's a call for smaller publishing houses to get in on this and maybe even have authors trying to make deals where they get to decide what happens with the electronic versions of their books instead of the publishers.  But the old model is not working with the new media.  Something is going to have to give, and I don't think e-books are going anywhere.

[askenase13]

I have written to several authors (most recently Nelson DeMille) whose ebook prices (for older titles) are higher than the mass market paperback.  Now, I know the author doesn't control pricing, but if (s)he protests to his publisher about it, it can get changed.  I make it clear to the author that hiding behind "I just write the books, I have nothing to do with prices" won't wash in this modern era.

[bkworm8it]

I'm with all of you. I have enough books here from indie authors and free books that should have enough to read for the next two years, more if school keeps keeping me so busy .  Now if I want to read my favorite authors and they are too pricey I'll go to the library or borrow from a friend. Luckily most of my favorite series I've already read. But I won't be starting any new ones from those publishers that are jacking up the price.

The publishers probably think we don't have any other choice than to pay for the higher price or buy hardback. I wonder what they thought about library's when they first came out, eating into their profits? At least with ebook we are buying not reading for free. (ok mostly not reading for free lol).

Theresam

[VictoriaP]

I do think something has to give, but it's nowhere near as easy for an author to switch publishers or self publish as many people state they should.  Keep in mind that most authors won't be able to take any existing characters or series with them; their contracts prohibit it.  If you've got a successful series, you'd have to start over from scratch.  Many aren't going to take the risk.

I hate the newer prices too, and I especially hate the Penguin/Amazon standoff that's keeping new releases unavailable in Kindle format.  But the agency model has been in place a whopping two weeks; that's not even enough time for the publishers to analyze their pricing, let alone correct for market trends.  I've got plenty to read at this point, and I'm willing to wait awhile yet and see how the fallout from all this turns out.  I think ultimately, the publishers will figure out that their hardcover sales don't see the correlating bump they were expecting, and they'll reverse course.

[tsemple]

I think pricing issues will work themselves out over the next year or so, once publishers have more data on purchasing patterns and so forth. Irrational pricing (ebooks costing more than printed editions) seems more a lack of coordination than anything else. And I don't see why retailers like Amazon can't offer rebates or credits in order to encourage people to shop at their store instead of another one, regardless of what publishers force them to sell ebooks for.

I do find it ironic that Apple seems to be the force behind the shift to the agency model, when they don't seem to be that serious about selling ebooks in the first place. Their selection is not that good, and instead of working with a content aggregator to reach parity with Amazon/B&N/Sony, they seem to want to do their own deals with publishers, and are only interested in offering best sellers, and still haven't signed on publishers they need in order to cover that well. The iBooks app doesn't even ship on iPad. They have no interest in offering a reading experience on PC's or non-Apple mobile devices (not even Apple notebooks). I'll be surprised if they carve out more than 2% of ebook sales, ever. Maybe when publishers look at their numbers, the famous Apple reality-distortion field will begin to disperse, and they can see things more objectively and realize that Apple is not their savior, and they need to rethink their digital publishing strategy.

I say this as someone who will probably get an iPad at some point, instead of buying the next Kindle model. I don't like all aspects of the user experience iPad offers (can only buy apps from Apple, no Flash, etc.), but I think overall it will take a couple of years for anyone else to achieve parity with it.
 

[cheerio]

Preaching to the choir, we understand

[David Derrico]

It's sometimes a hard call because, as an author, I realize that most non-big-name authors have little or no clout with their publishers. Most aspiring authors would give their right arm for a "big publishing deal" (or at least most would have before the e-book/indie revolution opened our eyes), and unknown authors just don't have the power to say "Change prices or else" or even "Pretty please change prices and your whole strategy to save your outdated business model just for one minor author."

On the other hand, putting aside the issue of who I want to support, it's actually quite simple. I won't buy an overpriced product, period. If an e-book is more than the paperback version, I won't buy it. Period. There's LOTS of other stuff to read, and there are libraries -- I love my local library; since I got the K2 I haven't visited as often, but it's still there.

I think all we can really do is vote with our wallets, buy only reasonably-priced e-books (whatever that means to you) and don't buy DTB versions of unreasonably-priced ones, get those from the library instead. Also, voicing our concerns and position to the publishers probably can't hurt, but I don't think it will matter much either way. At the end of the day, money talks, and someone has to wake up and figure out that charging reasonable prices for e-books will earn them more money and be a win-win for readers, authors, and publishers.

[Roninjinn]

At the end of the day, money talks, and someone has to wake up and figure out that charging reasonable prices for e-books will earn them more money and be a win-win for readers, authors, and publishers.

David,

That is a great write up that you linked to. You hit the nail on the head when you spoke about pricing your own book, and the increase in sales you saw. For anyone familiar with gaming, they may know of the Steam application. This is an online "store" for purchasing PC video games in the same vein of Apples App store, except for PC's. A year or two ago, they played around with the same pricing structure. They were selling games at regular price, maybe $5 cheaper than you would find in the store. But what they found was, by selling the product for say, a 10% discount, sales (in dollars, not numbers) increased 35%. And a 25% discount, increased sales a whopping 245%! I can't remember what the increase was when they sold the games for 50% discount, etc. (I don't have access to the link I'm providing at work, it's blocked.) But I do know that it was a ridiculous increase in sales dollars. They quickly learned that their now famous "Steam Sales" were the best way to increase sales. Drop the price of a popular game to anywhere from .99c to $4.99, and your sales will go through the roof. (And just for the record, I went ahead and purchased both your books, Can't beat 99 cents!)

Link - http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57308

[Toronto_LV]

4407,

I completely agree with the things you've pointed out (as well as the ideas expressed by subsequent posters).

I now own a Kindle, and was interested in ebooks for quite a while beforehand as I work in print media and have been witnessing the slow but sure transition first-hand. I am very disappointed with publishers who have the desire to charge $10+ for an ebook. Ebooks should most definitely cost less than print.

The objective of this newly forming industry should be to find new readers, not just to make profit.

For these reasons, myself and a few good people joined efforts to found a small indie publisher called Moonclipse. Our first title has just been released, an ebook version of Firefly Island. We're selling it for $1.99 for the exact reasons discussed in this thread. We plan to release a second title by the end of the year or early next year, again for around $2.

Our main editor is an experienced journalist, and we offer editing that is as rigorous as the professionals, because we know how important this aspect is.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that other independent publishers are thinking along the same lines and that their prices will be similar. If everyone joins forces in this way, it won't be long before we're posing serious competition to big publishing companies. Also, we will be able to release books that are just as good, if not better, than the overpriced and mainstream books that the pros release.

[David Derrico]

Ronin, that's a great link and some really powerful sales numbers from the Steam experiment. It seems so common-sense, I wonder why we have to try to convince anyone to do it -- you'd think these companies and content providers would be able to see these numbers and figure it out. Or at least experiment with some different price points and find out for themselves.

As I said in my blog post, "They can earn $0 per month from me (with unreasonable prices), or $6 a month (with lower prices) -- so who wins with high prices?"

And thanks for picking up my novels -- I hope you enjoy them!

[Daniel Arenson]

I agree with your rant.

When the Kobo ereader comes out next month, I intend to buy one, mostly because it supports ePub.  That gives me more options for shopping around for books.  I refuse to buy an ebook if it's more expensive than the paperback.  An ebook should be CHEAPER than the print book.  First of all, there's less overhead with ebooks -- no printing, binding, shipping.  Second, you can't lend your ebook to somebody.  Finally, we paid a lot of money for our Kindles (and other ereaders), partly because we wanted to save on the price of books by buying cheap ebooks.  Charging over $10 for ebooks makes no sense to me.

Now, I'm not saying every ebook should cost 99 cents or 2 bucks.  I'm happy with buying the occasional $10 ebook.  But anything above that is going too far, in my opinion.  I can buy a paperback for $10.  Why would I spend more on a download?

Does anyone agree with the agency model?  I'd love to hear the other point of view.

Daniel