Who?
The publisher sells to Amazon for a fixed price. They make their profit (the same profit) either way.
Amazon is taking the hit.
With Apple's model - they could easily make less. That's the issue.
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Random House Holding Out From iBookstore Amid Fears of Price Wars
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Who?
The publisher sells to Amazon for a fixed price. They make their profit (the same profit) either way.
Amazon is taking the hit.
With Apple's model - they could easily make less. That's the issue.
How many pounds of magazines/books are in 16gb? 32? 64?
What does that have to do with the discussion?
Books are generally not sold on a 'firm sale' basis. They're 'sold' (sent) into a bookstore. In most cases - if they're not sold they're returned for a refund. A lot of the risk is carried by the publisher. One of the biggest challenges book companies face are getting their books in front of a customer. Indeed many of the big stores here in the UK have been known to charge for shelf space through promotion deals etc. (Yes, you pay the shop for them to stock your product!) Also - different customers get different deals depending on the numbers they can shift. Amazon might well get a much, much better deal than a small chain bookstore.
I suspect any hold out from the publisher is all to do with the money. Book companies are not the huge fat corporations as painted in this discussion, indeed they might look big but the money is spread very thinly across a huge number of titles and promotions. Most books are published from imprints - small companies under the umbrella of the group. (Often the staff for an imprint can be counted on one hand - shared services are done by the group - it's cheaper that way.)
The publishers already know they're building content brands hence the PR, marketing etc etc but remember that it's one of the few industries where the product - the author - often has an opinion and the brand (thanks to their agent) can often move to another house if a better deal comes along.
I suspect any hold out from the publisher is all to do with the money. Book companies are not the huge fat corporations as painted in this discussion, indeed they might look big but the money is spread very thinly across a huge number of titles and promotions. Most books are published from imprints - small companies under the umbrella of the group. (Often the staff for an imprint can be counted on one hand - shared services are done by the group - it's cheaper that way.)
The publishers already know they're building content brands hence the PR, marketing etc etc but remember that it's one of the few industries where the product - the author - often has an opinion and the brand (thanks to their agent) can often move to another house if a better deal comes along.
Dude, you tried to say carrying a 1.5lbs ipad did not replace a 12 oz or 1lbs mag/book. I noted that the ipad, with various storage capacities, could hold hundreds of mags/books, or hundreds of lbs worth.
Clear enough?
I see your point. I had no idea that Amazon would take that much of a loss per book. I can see why a publisher would want to wait and see.
It's currently a bizarre artificial market that Amazon has created - obviously to try and get a huge jump on the competition. But Apple's point that it is unsustainable is correct. It will be interesting to see where thing fall out.
e-books are seen to have less value than paper books. at some price point no one will buy them and will just buy the paper book
I'm well aware of how much storage the iPad has. Still has nothing to do with the argument.
I take a commuter train each day, and many of those "professionals" you mention already have a Kindle. I'm not saying the iPad won't be a hit, but I wonder how many owners of Kindle2 & DX are going to shell out $500+ for another e-reader when many of them just want to read a book/newspaper on the train. Of course the ebook market is still expanding, but I think Apple missed an opportunity by not getting the iPad out before Christmas. Kindle2 was the most popular gift purchase on Amazon this past season.
I have to admit being a bit jealous. I'm reading "Too Big To Fail" right now, and it definitely weighs more than an e-reader!
Apple is really smart here. Apple is avoiding competition with other resellers completely and transferring the burden of competition uniquely to publisher. As content is available from different resellers and Apple makes money with hardware, not content, Apple can't lose, only publishes can. That's why some of them are on the fence.
So, a book or magazine is too heavy to carry around but now the masses will all lug around their $500+, 1.5 lb. devices so they can now be free of the shackles of carrying around 12 oz. magazines and 1 lb. books.
So are you just trolling or did you forget you typed the above.
The point is you may be right in the above comment about ONE book or magazine, but when you realize a single iPad can hold HUNDREDS of books or magazines, this point is less persuasive.
Very true. And that will remain until the day that the printed version is much harder to find or is produced in far less quantities
As we move along this digital age - we have already seen many cd stores closing up shop. Blockbusters don't have the same business they used to and have had to re-envision themselves beyond brick and mortar.
While I don't think BOOKS are going anywhere anytime soon. There can and no doubt will be a paradigm shift where it becomes far easier to get books electronically that to get physical books. I know it's "easier" process wise now - but the same books are available in huge bookstores, etc around the globe. When/if the paradigm shifts and publishers decide to only print XX in their run instead of what they are doing now, bookstores can/would sell out which would make obtaining the physical book harder/making the eBook much more prevalent as a means to get it when you want it.
Nothing new here.
But when that happens - people will VALUE eBooks more or at least the same as the physical book.
Also - I see eBooks going the way of DVD and Blu-Ray in offering "extras" that the printed word cannot. Perhaps social networking while you read to discuss chapters. Perhaps it's interviews or chats with the author. Etc.
Interesting point - I was discussing this with someone the other day - one issue is likely to be the cost of producing some extra compelling product to sit alongside the book. Social networking etc might well work but good content such as short films will probably cost more to make than the book!
McGraw-Hill does not produce "trade" books. It produces Textbooks for K-12 and Higher ED.
And it stands to reason that you will never see K-12 books in the iBookstore, and a good potential for Higher Ed ones eventually (but not at a 30% rate for Apple).
Oh, and BTW -- Terry McGraw didn't know anything other than what the rest of us did: rumors. He is just very good at being a corporate CEO and making it look like he knew exactly what was going on. When reality is that he had a couple of soundbites fed to him by his handlers beforehand, and not realizing how they would be taken as gospel in this APPL ecosystem.
big cut indeed
this is almost as bad as carriers charging 20 cents for a 140 character text message
this is almost as bad as carriers charging 20 cents for a 140 character text message
Point well taken...I guess Apple just needs to count on the yuppie must-have-I'll spend on anything model.
Either that or all the other people sitting on the train thinking...boy, if that kindle were just a little more useful I'd get one.
Movies - yes - too $$. But either audio or simple 1 camera video interviews with the author are not that expensive and could not only increase eBook sales but also justify a higher price point
***But you can listen to music while doing something else. Try that with reading a book/magazine.
Tried it; liked it. In the car, in the house, at the beach. Audio books, as one example.
From what I understand, the "new" Ipad content will wind up with articles and clips that can be set to read/run like a slide show. Just give it a little time for folks to figure out how to do that and use the devices to view/hear "content" more and more. It's all about making it easy to get the "content" into your head. Apple is good at that - and your head turns out to have a lot of room!
Before that, even wired the house (20 years ago!) so a movie playing in one room could be watched all over the house, in the garage, and, on the patio at the same time. We went from finding no time to watch TV for 1 1/2 hours to buying more movies (a lot more) because we could clean house, cook, pay bills, brush our teeth, exercise, etc. and not be "butt stuck" to the couch.
There's really no reason a stream like audio books, movies, pictures and so forth won't be ported anywhere you want it to be around you. This is just one device and one way to get what everyone finds out they "need." Although, the guy walking down the sidewalk yesterday reading a book while listening to his iphone play music was a little hard to figure out. I mean, what's the retention rate when you're doing four things at once? Not that it matters, he'd bought all that stuff and the money was out of his bank and into someone else's.
I agree that this debate isn't about Apple vs. Amazon. It's about overhauling the paper-book publishing model from top to bottom. I too predict smaller publishing houses with authors and small editing groups doing Internet based marketing efforts instead of print, TV, and book-signing tours. The world changes; change can be a lot of hassle; but it's always gonna happen eventually. Just ask any dinosaur... Oh, wait...
Tried it; liked it. In the car, in the house, at the beach. Audio books, as one example.
From what I understand, the "new" Ipad content will wind up with articles and clips that can be set to read/run like a slide show. Just give it a little time for folks to figure out how to do that and use the devices to view/hear "content" more and more. It's all about making it easy to get the "content" into your head. Apple is good at that - and your head turns out to have a lot of room!
Before that, even wired the house (20 years ago!) so a movie playing in one room could be watched all over the house, in the garage, and, on the patio at the same time. We went from finding no time to watch TV for 1 1/2 hours to buying more movies (a lot more) because we could clean house, cook, pay bills, brush our teeth, exercise, etc. and not be "butt stuck" to the couch.
There's really no reason a stream like audio books, movies, pictures and so forth won't be ported anywhere you want it to be around you. This is just one device and one way to get what everyone finds out they "need." Although, the guy walking down the sidewalk yesterday reading a book while listening to his iphone play music was a little hard to figure out. I mean, what's the retention rate when you're doing four things at once? Not that it matters, he'd bought all that stuff and the money was out of his bank and into someone else's.
I agree that this debate isn't about Apple vs. Amazon. It's about overhauling the paper-book publishing model from top to bottom. I too predict smaller publishing houses with authors and small editing groups doing Internet based marketing efforts instead of print, TV, and book-signing tours. The world changes; change can be a lot of hassle; but it's always gonna happen eventually. Just ask any dinosaur... Oh, wait...
I hope it works
As an author of tech books I hope that Apple's book store does take off but not for the reason you may think.
Publishers treat tech authors very poorly. Would you ever have imagined that a book could sell a negative number of copies? In other words more books have been returned than have been shipped. Yet one of the publishers that now owns the copyright to my book insists that this is true. That way they don't have to pay me according to the contract entered into.
This kind of behavior drives away authors that know what they are writing about. It is not unusual for expert tech authors to only make around $5,000 for six months worth of work to produce the book and then the publisher keeps everything else.
It is also not unusual for the author to discover on their own that the book has been translated into another language and that they are not being paid for copies of the book being sold in that language by the publisher. A good friend of mine has a book that was translated into Chinese, sold by the publisher in China (not illegally created copies), and he gets paid nothing in violation of the contract. The publisher, a major tech publisher, denies that the book has even been translated and is being sold. This in spite of him having a physical copy of the book produced by the publisher.
For another of his books, which has sold over 20,000 copies in China alone, he was paid $0.25 in royalties. Does this make any sense? I say no.
I'm not saying that all publishers behave this same way, but my experience is that authors get very little monetary reward regardless of the publisher involved.
My hope is that the book store does for books what the app store has done for development. Democratize the book publishing space. That is the competition the publishers are worried about. If authors were able to market direct to purchasers publishers would really be in trouble.
As an author of tech books I hope that Apple's book store does take off but not for the reason you may think.
Publishers treat tech authors very poorly. Would you ever have imagined that a book could sell a negative number of copies? In other words more books have been returned than have been shipped. Yet one of the publishers that now owns the copyright to my book insists that this is true. That way they don't have to pay me according to the contract entered into.
This kind of behavior drives away authors that know what they are writing about. It is not unusual for expert tech authors to only make around $5,000 for six months worth of work to produce the book and then the publisher keeps everything else.
It is also not unusual for the author to discover on their own that the book has been translated into another language and that they are not being paid for copies of the book being sold in that language by the publisher. A good friend of mine has a book that was translated into Chinese, sold by the publisher in China (not illegally created copies), and he gets paid nothing in violation of the contract. The publisher, a major tech publisher, denies that the book has even been translated and is being sold. This in spite of him having a physical copy of the book produced by the publisher.
For another of his books, which has sold over 20,000 copies in China alone, he was paid $0.25 in royalties. Does this make any sense? I say no.
I'm not saying that all publishers behave this same way, but my experience is that authors get very little monetary reward regardless of the publisher involved.
My hope is that the book store does for books what the app store has done for development. Democratize the book publishing space. That is the competition the publishers are worried about. If authors were able to market direct to purchasers publishers would really be in trouble.
Clear? Hardly, unless one only looks at things through their RDF glasses.
So, a book or magazine is too heavy to carry around but now the masses will all lug around their $500+, 1.5 lb. devices so they can now be free of the shackles of carrying around 12 oz. magazines and 1 lb. books.
This is something I deal with quite often. I have been writing too much code, my brain is starting to freeze up and I need a break. I skip out of the lab to a movie theater. I don't want to just sit in the dark waiting for the movie to start, I break out my Kindle and start flash reading Paradise Lost. I run into a phrase that reminds me of a line from the Inferno. I jump over to see if I am right. Unfortunately, My Italian is getting very bad. I open up an Italian/English dictionary and look up a word.
I would not want to lug all those books to the theater. It does not work that well with a Kindle. Kindles are hard to read in poorly lit rooms. This should be much more fun with the iPad.
Yeah, every time I go to the movies, there are scores of people reading novels and checking foreign dictionaries.
You better turn that iPad off when the previews start. Otherwise you join the rest of the obnoxious people I loathe who insist on lighting up their cell phones during the movie, txt messaging, etc.
Not possible. The IQ of this country is going down, and NO ONE WOULD EVER carry more than one book or magazine. You should read the whole thread before posting crazy talk like this.
Since I would say most books are not comparison shopped this is only going to hurt Random House for those cases people are just trying to find something to read and might go the cheaper route.
99% of the books I have bought in my life have been recommendations or authors I liked or some other means of wanting a specific book. Sure I have bought books browsing through a bookstore, but I never compared the price of two different books to decide which one to buy.
People are not going to go, well this book I want to read is 11.99 but this book I don't care that much about is 9.99 so I will buy it.
99% of the books I have bought in my life have been recommendations or authors I liked or some other means of wanting a specific book. Sure I have bought books browsing through a bookstore, but I never compared the price of two different books to decide which one to buy.
People are not going to go, well this book I want to read is 11.99 but this book I don't care that much about is 9.99 so I will buy it.
But that's not necessarily how it works. Someone needs books to read, they have 10 books that appeal/were recommended/were review well/follow other books they liked. 7-8 of those books are cheaper, easier to acquire, and available on their cool iPad the way the other 7-8 tenths of their favorite books are. THAT's where Random House loses out.