Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

seattlemysteryblog.typepad.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–77 of 77 posts

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#71

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #67
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keenly pirate ebooks because I travel a great deal and I find a Kindle a handy, lightweight way to carry a large collection with me. However, I am still keenly buying paper books, too: eventually I will get tired of moving around so much, and it will be nice to have a home library to browse around in during my later years. Plus, there are certain genres like poetry that simply aren't enjoyable to read in ebook form…

Just out of curiosity, why don’t you keenly buy your ebooks?

I buy them (generally from Amazon) and then strip the DRM so that I do actually own them. Just as illegal as what he's doing but more ethical. I wish there was a better way for me to just pay the authors a fair price without giving Amazon and the publishers such a large cut, but, it is what it is.

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#72

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #67
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keenly pirate ebooks because I travel a great deal and I find a Kindle a handy, lightweight way to carry a large collection with me. However, I am still keenly buying paper books, too: eventually I will get tired of moving around so much, and it will be nice to have a home library to browse around in during my later years. Plus, there are certain genres like poetry that simply aren't enjoyable to read in ebook form…

Just out of curiosity, why don’t you keenly buy your ebooks?

I am from Eastern Europe on an average Eastern European salary and if I actually bought as much media as I want to consume, then I basically wouldn’t have money left for any other necessities in life.

These days it is completely normal for people to preview music from YouTube or torrent communities before deciding to buy the physical artifact. I don’t see why books should be any different.

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#73

Post by zzalpha »

tptacek wrote: post #66
zzalpha wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats more of a perception problem than an actual fact. It turns out that hosting/supporting ebooks does have incremental costs and people dramatically over estimate how much the price of a hardback is the physical copy. The publishing industry can blame themselves for that. Back before ebooks, a typical paperback would run between 8-12 dollars whereas a hardcover would easily be 20 dollars or more. This gave the per…

I think most adults understood that what you were paying for in a hardcover new edition was early access.

I have absolutely no reason to believe your claim. What's your evidence?

In fact, it doesn't make sense: it's not like hard covers get cheaper over time.

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#74

Post by tptacek »

zzalpha wrote: post #73
tptacek wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most adults understood that what you were paying for in a hardcover new edition was early access.

I have absolutely no reason to believe your claim. What's your evidence? In fact, it doesn't make sense: it's not like hard covers get cheaper over time.

The fact that paperbacks didn't come out until months after the hardcover came out? I mean, this is what my parents told me the deal with hardcover books was in the 1980s, but it's not like it's hard to figure it out.

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#75

Post by kasey_junk »

zzalpha wrote: post #73
tptacek wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most adults understood that what you were paying for in a hardcover new edition was early access.

I have absolutely no reason to believe your claim. What's your evidence? In fact, it doesn't make sense: it's not like hard covers get cheaper over time.

Prior to the advent of the 40% discount bookstores (Borders/Barnes & Noble) they always actually get cheaper over time.

Those stores used economies of scale to make the 40% discount (basically selling for cost) on blockbusters to drive business into the store, with the hope that people would also pick up higher margin items (toys, coffee, etc).

But the more traditional bookstore model was to stock the blockbuster hardcovers at full price, then move them onto discount shelves as time from release went down, until they had to return them to the publisher right before the soft cover release date neared and the books became a liability (as the people that were willing to pay the premium for early access had already been exhausted).

There are still places that have heavily discounted hard covers. The entire business is called 'remainders' and the publishers sell giant warehouses full of hard cover books for pennies that they deem unsellable as they are too far from release date. Soft backs don't go through this process as they are even less valuable, the publishers pulp those, sometimes at a loss.

[edit] another more obvious way to think about this is, why do hardcovers and soft backs come out at different times? If it was just about the 'premium' product vs the lower end one, they'd be released at the same time. But they aren't. They are release about a year different.

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#76

Post by zzalpha »

tptacek wrote: post #74
zzalpha wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely no reason to believe your claim. What's your evidence? In fact, it doesn't make sense: it's not like hard covers get cheaper over time.

The fact that paperbacks didn't come out until months after the hardcover came out? I mean, this is what my parents told me the deal with hardcover books was in the 1980s, but it's not like it's hard to figure it out.

Fair enough, obviously early access is part of the price differential during the initial release.

But are you claiming form factor is not part of the price at all? If so, how do you explain it for books that have both versions actively in print?

Re: Why the Seattle Mystery Bookshop Must Close

#77

Post by statictype »

tptacek wrote: post #74
zzalpha wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely no reason to believe your claim. What's your evidence? In fact, it doesn't make sense: it's not like hard covers get cheaper over time.

The fact that paperbacks didn't come out until months after the hardcover came out? I mean, this is what my parents told me the deal with hardcover books was in the 1980s, but it's not like it's hard to figure it out.

If its a book by an author I really like or am looking forward to, I may buy the hardcover edition even if the paper back is available.

Or especially if I'm going to gift it to someone who really wants it.

Post reply on HN