The thing is though, as much as this is all a good thing at start, losing 30% of revenue on a book you wrote still seems like a fairly big number after a while...
Retailer's (Borders, B&N) typically get 40-45% of the "cut" from book sales.
So if you consider the Apple store as being the "retailer" for your ebook, only taking 30% is a bargain.
Also keep in mind that until recently, Amazon was getting 70% of the take for selling a Kindle ebook.
Retailer's (Borders, B&N) typically get 40-45% of the "cut" from book sales.
So if you consider the Apple store as being the "retailer" for your ebook, only taking 30% is a bargain.
Also keep in mind that until recently, Amazon was getting 70% of the take for selling a Kindle ebook.
Exactly-- in fact, that's what they are *still* getting in likely the vast majority of cases, as they only introduced a new pricing structure within the past week! Which is why I'm so confused as to how AppleInsider has come to the conclusion that they're operating at a LOSS. The deal they gave publishers was a bum one, and according to the article I linked to, the new deal has quite a few wrinkles as well.
What about the right of first sale on the pricey university texts? lets say for the sake of conversation that I am taking English 101 or some other pointless high school review that rapes your wallet the first 2 years of college -- I am obviopusly not going to need or desire to retain the texts from that course, today, I can sell my paper books to a reseller or directly to another student, can I do that with the ebooks? can I "share" them - I.E. let a friend access a book I bought for a few hours or days?
If I make notes in the margins, markup and highlight key text, etc which I assume will be a feature of this, do those elements transfer too?
What would really, really sell this to Higher Education students is if virtual copies of textbooks are sold at a considerably lower price than their printed counterparts (which often individually cost anywhere from $30 to $300). Combined with the sheer portability of a slate-style device and the right software, this could be a godsend for college classes.
What would really, really sell this to Higher Education students is if virtual copies of textbooks are sold at a considerably lower price than their printed counterparts (which often individually cost anywhere from $30 to $300). Combined with the sheer portability of a slate-style device and the right software, this could be a godsend for college classes.
Or how about this, rent me the text like in high school (at least in Indiana) you pay a flat "rental" fee and books are bought by the school and depreciated over the number of semesters that tehy are used, i.e. s $50 text used for 2 years, or 5 semesters, counting summer school, would be $10 depreciation per semester.
Let me rent the$50 book for $10 and then if I wanna keep it, I can come up with the other $40.
Also, I hope the paper option stays around in academia, some of the reference manuals and pocket guides I bought for classes are incredibly useful in that form and would be cumbersome in ebook or pdf form.
What is very nice for scholars about that is electronic copies never wear out...
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
Exactly. College and university text books that never get outdated and never need "reprinting" would be a boon to publishers, as long as the price in the App Store gets you those updates, like any other app there. I'd love to have updated versions of some of my fine art and geography text books (yes, I am that geeky) from the 1980s, please.
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
Uh huh. Now that's publisher fellows whose life becomes far easier. They probably have to think about subsidizing their tablet-compatible materials to schools.
it's really not that high. actual hardcovers are 3 times that retail with discounts for perhaps the first two weeks.
They are? The last few hardcover books I've bought are the last few Harry Potter books and the most recent Wheel of Time novel. The Potter books were $16-18 IIRC. The WoT book was $11.75. These are new as-they-are-released prices for hardcover.
My local Borders is usually selling the newest titles for 30% off publishers suggested retail, putting them fairly close to this area, too,
3x this price? You need to find a new bookstore to go to.
"Oh, can't wait! Oh, nearly faint! Oh, it's so expensive, I won't buy at that price! Oh, should be subsidized! Oh! Oh!"
Don't worry, we are from the government, we are here to help...to nationalize your business... in the name of the people...with a new payroll tax...so everyone must have a iReader... and pay for $100 worth of e-books a week regardless if you can read or care too... and we need to nationalize Apple too... to keep it's cost down...it's a threat to national security...
Don't worry, we are from the government, we are here to help...to nationalize your business... in the name of the people...with a new payroll tax...so everyone must have a iReader...and we need to nationalize Apple too...to keep it's cost down...it's a threat to national and economic security...
Meant no offense at all, but I used to hear that there're not less than 3 ambulance vehicles from different services coming upon every emergency call in States.
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
There is also the added benefit of being able to get publisher corrections. Something they usually can't do until the next edition. I wonder how this might change the entire paradigm of the publishing industry.
At least we got something in return for losing the ability to (legally) re-sell packaged CD music, namely the "ala carte" music buying which saves CONSIDERABLE amount of money vs a $20 cd with only two or three good songs on it.
Question is what sort of incentive are we going to get to switch from the resale value of a paper book to a e-book?
The issue is bigger than the resale value. That is only one factor. The underlying issue is the First Sale Doctrine, which states that after the first sale of an item containing protected content, the buyer is free to do almost anything he wants with it.
That is the only reason why libraries are allowed to lend their books: the First Sale Doctrine. That is the only reason why Blockbuster can rent their DVDs: The First Sale Doctrine.
Publishers of all kinds have tried to legally get rid of the First Sale Doctrine. They have sued and sued and sued over the years, and have been successful in getting legislation passed to make, for example, it illegal to rent out CDs.
Now they are using DRM to circumvent copyright laws. If they are completely successful, libraries will become a thing of the past. Just say no to DRM. It has no advantages for consumers.
Look, I'm as cost-conscious as they come, and moreso than most honestly.. but nothing here seems particularly outrageous to me (so far). The book pricing seems about right, unless what you want is a book for free, in which case, NOTHING will seem about right. (And I'll be honest, it sounds like that's what a lot of you are really getting at- you think you deserve to pay nothing for anything.) 10 bucks for the regular stuff, 12-15 for premium-- why is that so terrible, exactly?...
Obviously we need the option to rent a book, therefore equalizing the loss of the right of first sale when we buy a paper book and to justify the expense of buying hardware from Apple every few years.
Also we need the option to preview the book, at least the first chapter, to gauge it's worth.
The publishers are going to get tremendous volume, because the way the economy is now, a lot of people are hunkering down and staying at home. Kids are not getting jobs right out of college and moving back in with their parents, they need to keep their education level up.
So to keep themselves entertained, people are opting for electronic toys, computers, video games etc. Reading is good too, but requires spending money to browse Walden Books or taking a chance on Amazon titles.
If the iReader/iPad/iTablet will allow people to RENT books combined with a decent price for the hardware, it's going to sell like hotcakes.
Duh. You know: the deleted scenes, the making ofs, author's commentary, plot cards, author's cut, alternative endings. All the value add stuff.
Good point. I recently finished a book of nearly 800 pages in which the author went to great lengths to develop not only the many characters, but whole cultures including definitions, classes and so on in his apendicies. But because he had obviously reached some sort of print publishing limit, he was forced to introduce a deus ex machnina device and kill off all the characters in the last 10 pages without explaination or even a justification. A truely terrible end and very unsatisfying.
WIth this posiblity mentioned above, authors - in a simular situation - could easily fix such problems. IMHO.
Depends, I dare say. Personally, I loved insanely Google's initiative to deliver scans of pages of ancient manuscripts. Electronic versions can indeed be richer in features and sometimes more attractive (and affordable).
Comments
The thing is though, as much as this is all a good thing at start, losing 30% of revenue on a book you wrote still seems like a fairly big number after a while...
Retailer's (Borders, B&N) typically get 40-45% of the "cut" from book sales.
So if you consider the Apple store as being the "retailer" for your ebook, only taking 30% is a bargain.
Also keep in mind that until recently, Amazon was getting 70% of the take for selling a Kindle ebook.
Retailer's (Borders, B&N) typically get 40-45% of the "cut" from book sales.
So if you consider the Apple store as being the "retailer" for your ebook, only taking 30% is a bargain.
Also keep in mind that until recently, Amazon was getting 70% of the take for selling a Kindle ebook.
Exactly-- in fact, that's what they are *still* getting in likely the vast majority of cases, as they only introduced a new pricing structure within the past week! Which is why I'm so confused as to how AppleInsider has come to the conclusion that they're operating at a LOSS. The deal they gave publishers was a bum one, and according to the article I linked to, the new deal has quite a few wrinkles as well.
If I make notes in the margins, markup and highlight key text, etc which I assume will be a feature of this, do those elements transfer too?
What would really, really sell this to Higher Education students is if virtual copies of textbooks are sold at a considerably lower price than their printed counterparts (which often individually cost anywhere from $30 to $300). Combined with the sheer portability of a slate-style device and the right software, this could be a godsend for college classes.
Or how about this, rent me the text like in high school (at least in Indiana) you pay a flat "rental" fee and books are bought by the school and depreciated over the number of semesters that tehy are used, i.e. s $50 text used for 2 years, or 5 semesters, counting summer school, would be $10 depreciation per semester.
Let me rent the$50 book for $10 and then if I wanna keep it, I can come up with the other $40.
Also, I hope the paper option stays around in academia, some of the reference manuals and pocket guides I bought for classes are incredibly useful in that form and would be cumbersome in ebook or pdf form.
What is very nice for scholars about that is electronic copies never wear out...
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
Exactly. College and university text books that never get outdated and never need "reprinting" would be a boon to publishers, as long as the price in the App Store gets you those updates, like any other app there. I'd love to have updated versions of some of my fine art and geography text books (yes, I am that geeky) from the 1980s, please.
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
Uh huh. Now that's publisher fellows whose life becomes far easier. They probably have to think about subsidizing their tablet-compatible materials to schools.
So I guess we really should be calling the new Apple device a iReader Wallet Bleeder
Or the portable iTunes digital newsstand.
it's really not that high. actual hardcovers are 3 times that retail with discounts for perhaps the first two weeks.
They are? The last few hardcover books I've bought are the last few Harry Potter books and the most recent Wheel of Time novel. The Potter books were $16-18 IIRC. The WoT book was $11.75. These are new as-they-are-released prices for hardcover.
My local Borders is usually selling the newest titles for 30% off publishers suggested retail, putting them fairly close to this area, too,
3x this price? You need to find a new bookstore to go to.
"Oh, can't wait! Oh, nearly faint! Oh, it's so expensive, I won't buy at that price! Oh, should be subsidized! Oh! Oh!"
Don't worry, we are from the government, we are here to help...to nationalize your business... in the name of the people...with a new payroll tax...so everyone must have a iReader... and pay for $100 worth of e-books a week regardless if you can read or care too... and we need to nationalize Apple too... to keep it's cost down...it's a threat to national security...
Hugo Chavez was here...
Don't worry, we are from the government, we are here to help...to nationalize your business... in the name of the people...with a new payroll tax...so everyone must have a iReader...and we need to nationalize Apple too...to keep it's cost down...it's a threat to national and economic security...
Meant no offense at all, but I used to hear that there're not less than 3 ambulance vehicles from different services coming upon every emergency call in States.
But now indtead of a new edition every 2 years, they could just shuffle a few pages and do a new edition every semester...after all, your whole distrobution chain has been reduced to one "publish" button
There is also the added benefit of being able to get publisher corrections. Something they usually can't do until the next edition. I wonder how this might change the entire paradigm of the publishing industry.
At least we got something in return for losing the ability to (legally) re-sell packaged CD music, namely the "ala carte" music buying which saves CONSIDERABLE amount of money vs a $20 cd with only two or three good songs on it.
Question is what sort of incentive are we going to get to switch from the resale value of a paper book to a e-book?
The issue is bigger than the resale value. That is only one factor. The underlying issue is the First Sale Doctrine, which states that after the first sale of an item containing protected content, the buyer is free to do almost anything he wants with it.
That is the only reason why libraries are allowed to lend their books: the First Sale Doctrine. That is the only reason why Blockbuster can rent their DVDs: The First Sale Doctrine.
Publishers of all kinds have tried to legally get rid of the First Sale Doctrine. They have sued and sued and sued over the years, and have been successful in getting legislation passed to make, for example, it illegal to rent out CDs.
Now they are using DRM to circumvent copyright laws. If they are completely successful, libraries will become a thing of the past. Just say no to DRM. It has no advantages for consumers.
Look, I'm as cost-conscious as they come, and moreso than most honestly.. but nothing here seems particularly outrageous to me (so far). The book pricing seems about right, unless what you want is a book for free, in which case, NOTHING will seem about right. (And I'll be honest, it sounds like that's what a lot of you are really getting at- you think you deserve to pay nothing for anything.) 10 bucks for the regular stuff, 12-15 for premium-- why is that so terrible, exactly?...
Obviously we need the option to rent a book, therefore equalizing the loss of the right of first sale when we buy a paper book and to justify the expense of buying hardware from Apple every few years.
Also we need the option to preview the book, at least the first chapter, to gauge it's worth.
The publishers are going to get tremendous volume, because the way the economy is now, a lot of people are hunkering down and staying at home. Kids are not getting jobs right out of college and moving back in with their parents, they need to keep their education level up.
So to keep themselves entertained, people are opting for electronic toys, computers, video games etc. Reading is good too, but requires spending money to browse Walden Books or taking a chance on Amazon titles.
If the iReader/iPad/iTablet will allow people to RENT books combined with a decent price for the hardware, it's going to sell like hotcakes.
Duh. You know: the deleted scenes, the making ofs, author's commentary, plot cards, author's cut, alternative endings. All the value add stuff.
Good point. I recently finished a book of nearly 800 pages in which the author went to great lengths to develop not only the many characters, but whole cultures including definitions, classes and so on in his apendicies. But because he had obviously reached some sort of print publishing limit, he was forced to introduce a deus ex machnina device and kill off all the characters in the last 10 pages without explaination or even a justification. A truely terrible end and very unsatisfying.
WIth this posiblity mentioned above, authors - in a simular situation - could easily fix such problems. IMHO.
I'll check them out from my local library.
Depends, I dare say. Personally, I loved insanely Google's initiative to deliver scans of pages of ancient manuscripts. Electronic versions can indeed be richer in features and sometimes more attractive (and affordable).