E-book pricing

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 12:11 am

michy, our library now lends audiobooks complete with the mp3 playing device (the files cannot be copied from it) which has saved them tons over the cost of the earlier CDs or the even earlier audiocassesttes. I can see a library-specific ereader shich could be checked out by the patron and dowloaded with non-reproduce-able ebooks for library patrons. This would allow for a much wider selection of books, if they did not have to have physical space for the titles.

The New York Library has an Espresso Book Machine which will print out and bind any title in the Ingram catalog--about 6 million titles, including everything that is shipped POD by e-retailers.

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 3:50 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]Lol, you lot do get knocked around on occasion. Sorry

[/quote]

I know it's not me personally being knocked around. Or at least I think it's not.

The self-pub community is indisputably full of lousy work. It's only those of us who are mediocre or better who suffer from the reputation; the rest of them deserve it.

It's just frustrating that a lot of people write off everyone in the category. Makes it harder for the 5-10% who aren't writing crap. On the other hand, it will make us more appreciative of any success we manage to acheive.

Lucky NYL. If I had $75,000 to spend, I'd get an EBM too.

I don't think libraries will go out entirely. There will always be people who prefer real books. And there will always be people who can't afford eReaders. How many of us grew up going to the library because buying books wasn't an option? That's not going to change, particularly if you have to be able to plunk down $100+ before you an even get the books.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 4:35 pm

I know it's not me personally being knocked around. Or at least I think it's not.

The self-pub community is indisputably full of lousy work. It's only those of us who are mediocre or better who suffer from the reputation; the rest of them deserve it.

It's just frustrating that a lot of people write off everyone in the category. Makes it harder for the 5-10% who aren't writing crap. On the other hand, it will make us more appreciative of any success we manage to acheive.

Certainly not

It is a tough beast to get yourself noticed and read with the reputation SB has. Libraries won't buy you, Harriet won't review you, what is an author to do? To the best of my knowledge I've only read two SB, one dreadful badly in need of an editor and then BB's The Traitor's Wife (which was then self published). Frankly the word was so good on that book I never even realized it was self published when I bought it.

annis · Post by **annis** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 5:56 pm

Posted by LoveHistory

I don't think libraries will go out entirely. There will always be people who prefer real books. And there will always be people who can't afford eReaders. How many of us grew up going to the library because buying books wasn't an option? That's not going to change, particularly if you have to be able to plunk down $100+ before you an even get the books.

In our library the experience has been that the addition of internet access for borrowers and the economic recession have made us much busier, with our numbers way up. E-books for loan are definitely on our agenda, but we have to look at ways to buy and make them available for loan - it's not as straightforward for a lending institution as it is for the average reader. We already loan audiobooks, music CDs and DVDs, though it's noticeable that the CD is rapidly becoming an outdated artifact- most people are going the digital download way. I don't see books v. e-books as an issue- theres' a place for both, and if we could reduce the amount of space required for actual books it would be a great help - our library is way too small and funding isn't available for an extension.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 6:06 pm

In our library the experience has been that the addition of internet access for borrowers and the economic recession have made us much busier, with our numbers way up.

No matter what day of the week, anytime I stop at the library just at opening time there's always 20-30 people waiting to go in. Only once right in the Christmas shopping season did I spot less than ten. It's always full.

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Fri January 7th, 2011, 6:27 pm

[quote=""annis""]Posted by LoveHistory

E-books for loan are definitely on our agenda, but we have to look at ways to buy and make them available for loan - it's not as straightforward for a lending institution as it is for the average reader. [/quote] That's what I was wondering about and why I brought it up. It seems to me it would be a very complicated thing to make work. Even though I know printed books will never totally go away -- not anytime soon, anyway -- if ebooks really take off I would hate to see libraries not be able to offer them and thus get lost in the dust and lose relevancy. Libraries are way too important for us to lose them; not just for those who genuinely can't afford books (as was the case for many of us growing up), but for those of us who are frugal and don't always want to spend the money to try out a particular book or author.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Sat January 8th, 2011, 1:52 am

Interesting note on our discussion re: e-book pricing:

While speaking with my agent, I learned that while the agency model for e-books is a decent first attempt to mass discounting, in truth it does not benefit authors in the long run as far as royalties go. I'll need to get more details on this; she explained it but I got confused.

Also, Random House is apparently not doing the agency model, so amazon is indeed setting the price on all RH Kindle e-books, including mine. Evidently, once the paperback of CONFESSIONS is released on May 24, that e-book price will drop. TUDOR SECRET, on the other hand, is agency modeled, so that price, as amazon states: "is set by the publisher."

This is such a complex issue.

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Sat January 8th, 2011, 11:37 am

[quote=""cw gortner""]
While speaking with my agent, I learned that while the agency model for e-books is a decent first attempt to mass discounting,[/quote]

Or in Penguin's case: price inflation.

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Sat January 8th, 2011, 12:52 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]No matter what day of the week, anytime I stop at the library just at opening time there's always 20-30 people waiting to go in. Only once right in the Christmas shopping season did I spot less than ten. It's always full.[/quote]

I remember when I first started buying books at Amazon someone telling me that they wouldn't do it because they enjoyed browsing in bookshops. Well, so do I and that hasn't changed. Amazon merely added an extra outlet for me to buy books in. I still spend a lot of time in bookshops and in libraries and I buy books in shops, borrow from libraries and buy from Amazon. The point about Amazon and ABEBooks and their like is that if I want a very particular book that is not current, I can find it almost immediately without having to search many shops in different areas which can take a very long time. It also allows me to find very particular books secon-hand book that is no longer in print or is not particularly current or to search for books on particular subjects that I might not have known about previously although I still use libraries for this as well.

I have just bought a Kindle but it is unlikely to replace real books for a very long time. What the Kindle does allow me to do is obtain and read classics for free. I can also do this on my PC or laptop but these are not convenient to use on the bus or the tube (underground). So I had the option of buying a Kindle to use whilst travelling (which I spend many hours a day doing) or reading a different book whilst travelling from the one I am reading at home. When I am at home I must admit I find it easier to continue reading the Kindle content on a larger screen and this is easy to do because Kindle for PC automatically synchronises the book the me so that I open it the place I am at on the Kindle.

In the UK, libraries nowadays do not carry a huge selection of classics (and ordering it can take some time) so if I want a particular one and it is free online, then the Kindle works for me. I currently belong to libraries in two local authority areas, one of which offers an exceptional reference only facility, one university library and the British library but some of the texts available to me at Archive.org, I can only access from the British Library and that is not always convenient for me to attend so I consider Archive. org as an absolutely amazing resource and with the Kindle I can read the content whilst I am travelling to work and unable to anything else that is useful at all.

Kindle has and is unlikely to replace bookshops and libraries for me, they just add an extra level of choice. I will admit that for immediacy I think it quite likely that I will buy some of the books I usually read and give straight away to charity shops particularly if it means I don't have to pay postage but the selection at Amazon.co.uk is not great as yet. And I do see that the implications for charity shops are rather greater than for other outlets -- which I must bear in mind before buying e-books.

Consequently, I now find that rather than always carrying around two or three books, I now carry around two or three books and a Kindle.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Sun January 9th, 2011, 3:23 am

[quote=""SGM""]Consequently, I now find that rather than always carrying around two or three books, I now carry around two or three books and a Kindle.[/quote]

That sounds like how I'll end up