tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post7050959357932918831..comments2023-05-29T13:19:10.468+01:00Comments on Weirdmage's Reviews: SUNDAY RANT: AMAZON PROPAGANDA AND BAD JOURNALISMWeirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-39276176847205524942011-01-30T18:43:02.190+00:002011-01-30T18:43:02.190+00:00Yes agreed that Amazon doesn't seem to discour...Yes agreed that Amazon doesn't seem to discourage this perception and does in a way encourage it. Especially after certain Books were automatically removed from people's Kindle in 2009.<br /><br />To me that suggests that in Amazon's eyes you never actually own the title, but instead just given a "licence" to read it. Can you imagine Amazon doing that with a hard copy book, breaking into someone's house and removing their copies of the book. It's incidents like that that "devalue" the electronic format. (And don't get me started on Digital right's management).Anthttp://sfbook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-64561714613108888492011-01-30T17:03:21.284+00:002011-01-30T17:03:21.284+00:00@Ant
Yes, I think most people have the perception...@Ant<br /><br />Yes, I think most people have the perception that something that is electronic has little or no monetary value.<br /><br />I also think that Amazon helps people keep that perception when it comes to e-books. Something I was thinking of mentioning in this post, but decided to skip. I may do a post about e-book prices later though.Weirdmagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-27877680532548861152011-01-30T16:48:21.498+00:002011-01-30T16:48:21.498+00:00Personally I think that there is a general percept...Personally I think that there is a general perception of any electronic media as being less valuable that the hard copy version and this applies equally to films, music and ebooks. <br /><br />This can be seen with the whole illegal downloads scene, many people just don't see the same value in something as intangible as an ebook. Tell those same people you have stolen a book from Waterstones etc and they would be horrified (well most would).<br /><br />The internet has part of this blame, along with the perception that everything should be free on the internet, just look at the trouble the news paper industry is in.<br /><br />We are also quite a tactile bunch generally, one of the reasons why a book has to have a fantastic cover is that we see value in the physical.<br /><br />There was a study done in 2009 that claimed the actual printing cost was only about 10% of the book price and yet if an ebook is sold for 10% less than the paper variety many say it's too expensive.<br /><br />I have a Kindle and do buy ebooks, but I still buy hard copies too, and in greater numbers than the ebooks and I can't ever see that changing. The market is still really in it's infancy but I do believe that we need to change people's attitudes to electronic media in order for that market to be a profitable one.Anthttp://sfbook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-61557649373722776712011-01-30T15:31:55.837+00:002011-01-30T15:31:55.837+00:00Thanks for weighing in, and correcting me, Lee. I ...Thanks for weighing in, and correcting me, Lee. I am always open to the fact that I am wrong about things :-)<br /><br />My belief in e-books being a bi-product stems mostly from pricing. <br />From what I know of physical book costs, i.e. what I have managed to learn from the internet, it seems that e-books are priced too low to share equally in development costs.<br /><br />But I am of course not a publishing insider, and can only go by what information is available publicly, on the internet. And I trust you have available much better information on the subject than I do.Weirdmagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-61764654293203846542011-01-30T15:16:59.149+00:002011-01-30T15:16:59.149+00:00"As it is now, e-books are a bi-product of pa..."As it is now, e-books are a bi-product of paper books, and are getting a piggyback ride on the editorial costs of the hardcover release, as I see it."<br /><br />Not at all. This may well have been the case a few years ago, but not these days. eBooks are an integral part of a publisher's inventory, and share the editorial, legal, artwork, proofreading, marketing etc costs of the dead tree editions. To say they are a bi-product - an afterthought, almost - is to devalue the eBook (which many people these days prefer to the paper version). Also, of cocourse, there are now a decent number of good quality eBook-only publishers, and in these cases the costs listed are wholly attributable to the eBook. It won't be *too* long before eBook sales genuinely outnumber paperback sales (I'm also sceptical of press releases that withhold vital stats).<br /><br />The truth is that we're still in a state of flux where eBook pricing is concerned, but the market will eventually settle to a sensible price (where "sensible" is defined as "a price the readers are happy to pay while making it possible for the authors, editors, artists and publishers to make enough of a profit to continue to produce the work").Lee Harrishttp://angryrobotbooks.comnoreply@blogger.com