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E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

nytimes.com

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Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#121

Post by alayne »

helipad wrote: post #4

I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks. A new book is available for pre-order, and here is the Amazon pricing: Kindle – $26.35 Hardcover – $19.23 Audible – $27.61 Audio CD – $30.00 All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. Prices like this will likely drive me, and others, to piracy. Yes, the value of the book is what I am willing to pay for it, but I feel insulted by the pricing…

What logic? The cost of the physical paper/ink is not what you are paying for. Some Kindle books have more features than the print versions as well. What about the ongoing server costs for Kindle book distribution and syncing?

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#122

Post by Andaith »

Nadya wrote: post #94
sebular wrote: post #89

This article just feels irrelevant and completely out of touch. As many people have pointed out here, e-books are insanely popular, just not necessarily through the traditional distributors. Personally, I also believe that there's only one reason why the paper book isn't far less popular than it is, and it's entirely temporary. Get out of the tech-minded echo chamber and ask a person why they would still buy a paper…

>1. Make an e-reader with a beautiful e-paper screen capable of displaying full color. Color drains battery life. Let this be a 2nd/3rd gen thing. Few books will take advantage of full illustrations. This, however, can be huge for children's books . >2. Make the screen refresh very quickly From my hardly-ever-use of a few e-readers. Is this really a problem? >3. Give it sensible touch gestures that you never accident…

The thing about physical buttons is that they make more sense on an e-reader than a tablet. It's not an input-heavy device, it doesn't need such a versatile input mechanism. It's primarily an output device, and the design should reflect that. Use buttons, which aren't as versatile as a touch screen, and keep the actual screen clean.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#123

Post by mmanfrin »

WalterBright wrote: post #119

I actually prefer to read scanned paperbacks on my ereader rather than the ebook versions. With my Samsung tablet they are the same size as a paperback, and the display looks like a paperback page. I like the typography, layout, and general imperfections of a scanned page. The letters are all slightly different, and are imperfectly placed. Ebooks are a bit too perfect and sterile. I'd like to take it a step further a…

> I buy the paperbacks, scan them (takes 5-10 minutes), then throw the book into the recycle bin.

Poe's law is pinging.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#124

Post by dunham »

A recent WSJ article suggests that the recent price increases in ebooks have caused both the drop in sales of ebooks and a drop in overall revenue for the publishers.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/e-book-sales-weaken-amid-higher-prices-1441307826

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#125

Post by iak8god »

woodbrandon wrote: post #97
iak8god wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if I ever move to Kindle, any epubs I have won't work regardless of DRM. I've frequently used Calibre ( http://calibre-ebook.com ) to convert epub to mobi. There are also plugins available for it that strip DRM, though I can't vouch for them.

Amazon also supplies KindleGen( http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000765211 ) to convert epub to mobi

Neat, but weird that they don't offer it as a service through their site... or do they?

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#126

Post by bsder »

TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

> I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time.

For me, speed and size. I read faster than e-readers update.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#127

Post by TheGRS »

marincounty wrote: post #95
TheGRS wrote: post #15

I hope this isn't the trend going forward. I don't get the traditionalist love of paperback books most of the time. Like the sort of people who go on and on about exploring book stores or the smell of new paper. I love my Kindle and I really hope to be able to use it as my primary reading source, its just so convenient, light, portable and unobtrusive (especially with that newer back-light option). But the price of n…

I think you will miss book stores when they are gone? Personally, I really like going to new/used book stores. "I love a comic book as paperback, but that is because I don't think tablets or even color e-ink has quite gotten there yet." I love comic/rare books too. I like the dust covers. I like the authors signature on the title page, if I'm lucky enough to get the signature. I like finding a first edition. I like s…

I probably shouldn't suggest this is like some black and white view of the world, since I do also love a good book store. I don't really care for a Walden's, but I love a good Mom & Pop book store with the book shelves labeled by sharpies.

But I also don't conflate reading with my trips to the book store. They are separate experiences for me. I find it a little much when people talk about how much better paper books are over ebook simply because they can browse around a Powell's for hours until they smell just the right type of leather bindings. I mean that's fine and all, I enjoy that stuff too, but my Kindle allows me to actually read more things, while being so much more convenient to tote around. I don't really need to visit a book store to get a sense of the next Brandon Sanderson novel. I already know I'm going to buy that, so a Kindle makes much more sense to me there. I enjoy a trip to the book store on a lazy Sunday, where I'd like to find a new trade paperback comic or even a photography collection. Book stores don't make paper better or worse though, they are just a great experience on their own. /rant

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#128

Post by Turing_Machine »

hullo wrote: post #9

Buried paragraph at the end of the article that discounts the entire piece (as a piece about readers rather than as a piece about publishers ): "It is also possible that a growing number of people are still buying and reading e-books, just not from traditional publishers. The declining e-book sales reported by publishers do not account for the millions of readers who have migrated to cheap and plentiful self-publishe…

Yes. Their sales figures basically ignore any indie book without an ISBN (which is, like, 95% of them, and which are now the majority of sales on Amazon).

Ebook sales from major publishers have slipped recently because they've jacked up the price to avoid cannibalizing their print sales.

Unfortunately for them, the major publishers don't control the market any more. They (and the NYT) are whistling past the graveyard.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#129

Post by Turing_Machine »

rhino369 wrote: post #72
helipad wrote: post #4

I've been really disappointed with the pricing of eBooks. A new book is available for pre-order, and here is the Amazon pricing: Kindle – $26.35 Hardcover – $19.23 Audible – $27.61 Audio CD – $30.00 All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. Prices like this will likely drive me, and others, to piracy. Yes, the value of the book is what I am willing to pay for it, but I feel insulted by the pricing…

>All logic suggests the electronic version should be cheaper. You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper. You could even argue that instant download to your kindle is a convenience worth paying for. But it's silly that Amazon is selling them for more. Often times much more.

"You get the same book either way. Why should it be cheaper."

Because it's not being printed in China on slices of dead tree, shipped across the Pacific Ocean, shipped to a wholesaler, shipped to a retailer, sitting on expensive retail shelf space for months, and then (if it doesn't sell) being shipped back the other way for full credit?

Why should it not be cheaper?

If customers don't get their ebooks cheaper from the major publishing houses, they'll get them cheaper from someone else.

Re: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far from Dead

#130

Post by Turing_Machine »

mkozlows wrote: post #26
jstx wrote: post #2

Is this surprising when you are charged similarly for print and digital copies despite the production costs being nowhere near the same? Ebooks were supposed to be the cost effective, cut out the middlemen, pay the author directly format. What wasn't accounted for was that the book indexers have no incentive to pass on their savings to the consumer. edit: Let's not forget the artificial restrictions imposed by DRM, e…

It's not just that they have no incentive to pass on the savings, they actively do not want ebooks to become popular -- they've stated this outright at various points in their battles with Amazon, that their goal with ebook pricing/policies is to preserve their print business as much as possible, as they believe that's totally key to their future success.

Yes, pretty much like Kodak, which invented the digital camera, trying to kill it off/keep it expensive so it didn't cut into film sales.

How did that work out for them?

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