Those who have written "Kindle" or "Nook" on their Christmas wish list may want to take note of a recent decision by several leading publishers that may delay their access to latest releases by their favorite mystery series writers. On December 9, 2009 Jeffery Trachtenberg reported in the Wall Street Journal that both Simon & Schuster and the Hachette Book Group plan to delay the release of the eBook versions of many of their publications. Trachtenberg followed with the December 10, 2009 news that HarperCollins would institute similar delays and the Penguin Group was "watching the current situation with interest."
One day after its September 15, 2009 release of The Lost
Symbol, the Kindle eBook version was outselling the print
version on Amazon.com.
The eBook publishing "situation" does appear to merit such interest. According to Paid Content, when Doubleday simultaneously released the print and eBooks versions of Dan Brown's third Robert Langdon series book, The Lost Symbol, on September 15, 2009, Amazon's Kindle version outsold its print counterpart on the first day of the book's release.
Since Amazon is still adhering to it policy of pricing the Kindle versions of New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases at only $9.99, publishers fear for the future of their more expensive print releases. Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins have chosen to resolve this problem by delaying the release of their eBook versions. Trachtenberg quotes Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy, as to her company's plans for a four-month delay in the release of its eBook versions:
"The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback," said Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS Corp. "We believe some people will be disappointed. But with new [electronic] readers coming and sales booming, we need to do this now, before the installed base of e-book reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible."
David Young, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group , echoes this concern, adding that early next year Hachette will begin a three to four month delay on the e-Book release of the majority of its titles. "We're doing this to preserve our industry," Young is cited as saying. "I can't sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It's about the future of the business."
"Correction: This move is about the past of your business, " responds James McQuivey, VP of Forrester Research, in a December 9, 2009 Paid Content article. McQuivey contends that publishers who choose to delay eBook releases do so because of their continued adherence to "analog economics" in an age of "digital economics." He reminds such publishers that it is unrealistic to expect digital publications, which lack most of the associated production costs of print formats, to sell for the same prices. Rather than delay eBook releases, he suggests instead that publishers either bundle a digital download with their hardback release or offer both premium and basic versions of digital content.
The role of eBooks in the future of publishing remains a highly controversial topic from the readers' perspective as well as that of the publishers. Despite the personal attachments many readers have for print formats, sales figures for eBook releases reveal the growing popularity of this medium as well. McQuivey's suggested bundling of print and digital versions of new titles seems a winning response for everyone involved.
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Comments
I wouldn't worry too much, not everyone on this planet has gone digital. I know several people who dont use a computer that often either and like most digital devices eg phones, ipods, mp3 just dont seem to last long anyway. Some of us still prefer the hardcover or paperback book too. Maybe a survey could be done.
There are a lot of things that just don't make sense here. Sure, ebooks are in some cases cheaper for the customer than buying the same new hardcover edition at retail price, but this ignores a lot of factors. The profit margin for an ebook is undoubtedly many times that of a paper book. I can't imagine it costs more than a few cents to deliver an ebook to a customer, whereas a paper book requires paper and ink, must be shipped to its destination, and must be sold wholesale to a bookseller, who sells it for a higher price. Publishers make a killing on selling ebooks--in most cases, they're selling direct, or with very few intermediaries. Let's not forget that with paper books, you can loan them to your friends, check them out from libraries for free, sell them to a used bookstore, and buy them cheaply from a used bookstore. Evil software built into the kindle makes this sort of thing impossible with ebooks.
I haven't yet purchased either a Kindle or a Nook, but I will watch out for the "evil software" you mentioned - and I liked that phrase. More off-putting for me is the price of these gadgets. Other than computers, I don't consider buying electronic devices until they go below the $100 range, a fact that excludes all the eBook readers I've looked at so far.
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