Reaction to June 10th post (kindlekorner)
Jun. 11th, 2010 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pagerd>Really interesting listing. What exactly should be a fair price?
From previous discussions, the criteria fall in different places for different people.
Since this was MY list, I'll give you my reasoning.
I am a re-reader. I have been reading since I was four years old and there are some series that I re-read every other year or so. I have been known to buy a book in hardcover and then rebuy it when it is issued in paperback because the paperback is lighter. I read while I walk. I read fast. I used to carry a backpack in which I kept the book I was currently reading, the next book I was planning to read, and perhaps two others in case I finished that one as well. Since I physically received my kindle in January of 2008, I have read fewer than twenty DTBs (dead tree books, printed on paper) and stopped carrying the backpack. The kindle is just that much more convenient. The only DTBs I have purchased are comic strip compilations, graphic novels, or those I purchased for an author's signing. I have also bought the kindle version of the books I bought to be signed. I read the kindle version.
I will NOT pay full mass market paperback price for an ebook that is currently being sold as a mass market paperback. There are no printing, storage, shipping or returns costs for an ebook, so the publisher has no reason to recoup those costs. If they are making a profit on the mm pb, the ebook profits are gravy, after recouping the one-time conversion charges. I've converted large documents into mobibook format using Joshua Tallent's book. It's not that hard, especially if you're starting with a fairly clean electronic version of the manuscript.
If the book has been published in hardcover and is a recent release, the anchor price for me is the DISCOUNTED hardcover price, not full cover price.
I bought "The Clinton Tapes" the week it came out, paying $19.25. It did eventually fall to $9.99, but I had finished reading it by then. The list price was $35, but at the time I bought my copy, the HC was selling for $21 or so. I treated the extra cost as a premium for my impatience.
I feel the publisher is being greedy, if the publisher is putting up an author's backlist at full current paperback price. These are books that a lot of people would be getting at a used bookstore, garage sale or at a library's paperback swap rack, none of which would garner any royalties for the publisher or author. The W.E.B. Griffin Brotherhood of War series and Corps series were twenty percent below the mmpb price. I purchased and reread the nineteen books in these series during June 2008. I had these books as hardcovers on a bookcase in my bedroom, readily at hand. Jove and Amazon got $121.41 from me for books I already owned. That's the right way to handle backlist.
Macmillan's handling backlist by reprinting fifty year old books as trade paperbacks for books that are in their perhaps 115th printing and expecting readers to be willing to pay that price for an electronic version. That's the wrong way to handle backlist.
Of the decisions I made yesterday, I would have bought the $7.99 titles at $1.00 off, the $5.99 titles at $5.29, I would have paid $6.39 for the books originally published in the forties and fifties, $9.99 for the Zelvin since the sequel is already out (I might have paid the $10.99 if it hadn't been), and the Ariely at $8.35 with the hardcover currently available for $9.35.
Robin
librarything catalog
I have over 2500 books still to add, most of which are ebooks.
From previous discussions, the criteria fall in different places for different people.
Since this was MY list, I'll give you my reasoning.
I am a re-reader. I have been reading since I was four years old and there are some series that I re-read every other year or so. I have been known to buy a book in hardcover and then rebuy it when it is issued in paperback because the paperback is lighter. I read while I walk. I read fast. I used to carry a backpack in which I kept the book I was currently reading, the next book I was planning to read, and perhaps two others in case I finished that one as well. Since I physically received my kindle in January of 2008, I have read fewer than twenty DTBs (dead tree books, printed on paper) and stopped carrying the backpack. The kindle is just that much more convenient. The only DTBs I have purchased are comic strip compilations, graphic novels, or those I purchased for an author's signing. I have also bought the kindle version of the books I bought to be signed. I read the kindle version.
I will NOT pay full mass market paperback price for an ebook that is currently being sold as a mass market paperback. There are no printing, storage, shipping or returns costs for an ebook, so the publisher has no reason to recoup those costs. If they are making a profit on the mm pb, the ebook profits are gravy, after recouping the one-time conversion charges. I've converted large documents into mobibook format using Joshua Tallent's book. It's not that hard, especially if you're starting with a fairly clean electronic version of the manuscript.
If the book has been published in hardcover and is a recent release, the anchor price for me is the DISCOUNTED hardcover price, not full cover price.
I bought "The Clinton Tapes" the week it came out, paying $19.25. It did eventually fall to $9.99, but I had finished reading it by then. The list price was $35, but at the time I bought my copy, the HC was selling for $21 or so. I treated the extra cost as a premium for my impatience.
I feel the publisher is being greedy, if the publisher is putting up an author's backlist at full current paperback price. These are books that a lot of people would be getting at a used bookstore, garage sale or at a library's paperback swap rack, none of which would garner any royalties for the publisher or author. The W.E.B. Griffin Brotherhood of War series and Corps series were twenty percent below the mmpb price. I purchased and reread the nineteen books in these series during June 2008. I had these books as hardcovers on a bookcase in my bedroom, readily at hand. Jove and Amazon got $121.41 from me for books I already owned. That's the right way to handle backlist.
Macmillan's handling backlist by reprinting fifty year old books as trade paperbacks for books that are in their perhaps 115th printing and expecting readers to be willing to pay that price for an electronic version. That's the wrong way to handle backlist.
Of the decisions I made yesterday, I would have bought the $7.99 titles at $1.00 off, the $5.99 titles at $5.29, I would have paid $6.39 for the books originally published in the forties and fifties, $9.99 for the Zelvin since the sequel is already out (I might have paid the $10.99 if it hadn't been), and the Ariely at $8.35 with the hardcover currently available for $9.35.
Robin
librarything catalog
I have over 2500 books still to add, most of which are ebooks.
