The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on how Publishers are trying to stop the rise of eReaders and eBooks -
Simon & Schuster is delaying by four months the electronic-book editions of about 35 leading titles coming out early next year …
… taking a dramatic stand against the cut-rate $9.99 pricing of e-book best sellers.
It’s not the only Publisher confused enough to fight the rise of ebooks -
David Young, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group, said that Hachette, beginning in January or February, will delay the e-book publication of the vast majority of its titles for three to four months.
As you would expect it’s the potential bestsellers that are being held back, including -
- DeLillo’s novel “Point Omega”.
- Karl Rove’s memoir “Courage and Consequence”.
- Jodi Picoult’s novel “House Rules.”
Why are Publishers fighting $9.99 tooth and nail?
They’re scared to death about how eReaders are growing -
with new electronic book 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.”
Publishers think the $9.99 price is unsustainable and they’re worried that as eReaders take over the $9.99 price will become the norm and force them to do terrible things -
- To cut costs.
- To learn to do things more efficiently.
- To use the Kindle Store and other advanced methods to find new stars instead of taking random chances.
They don’t say it outright – However, they’re also very scared about losing control of Publishing.
So Publishers take the easy way out – they delay ebook releases.
Will a 4 month delay strategy work?
No it won’t.
Rather surprisingly, Paul Biba at TeleRead thinks it’s great news for the ebook community – mostly due to there finally being some sort of stance on ebooks.
Leonard Riggio of B&N thinks it’s a reasonable move too -
In an interview, Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, said that the decision to delay the e-book titles is in keeping with the long-held practice of issuing paperback editions after the initial hardcover
I disagree – this is madness. You can’t expect people who bought eReaders to wait 4 months.
What sort of ‘we decide what customers should do’ world do Publishers think they live in?
Here’s what’s actually going to happen -
- Small and Big Publishers who don’t delay their titles will sell more.
- Authors won’t be getting a new round of marketing when the eBook release comes out and sales won’t be as high.
- Independent Authors will become more popular.
- It opens up the door for new publishing startups.
- There’s a very high chance Simon & Schuster gets boycotted by eReader owners.
The 4 month delay strategy is not going to work and in 6-12 months Publishers will give it up.
The actual danger is that we will lose some of the great momentum we’ve had with eReaders and eBooks.
Will Publishers try to kill the future of books just to save their next 4 quarters?
It certainly seems that way.
One of the founders of Peanut Press wrote about how 10-15 years ago Publishers did every single thing they could to fight the move to ebooks.
It should be obvious why – Publishers are set-up to exploit the current situation.
All the advances that are happening i.e.
- Reduction of inefficiencies.
- Democratization of Publishing.
- Use of technology.
- Empowerment of readers.
- Larger share for authors.
Are things that either hurt Publishers’ hold or their profits.
Publishers have to choose between evolving or fighting evolution and they’re choosing the latter. In typical fashion they’re doing this 2 years too late 
.
What should readers do?
Let’s not mistake this for anything other than what this really is – Publishers want to kill the rise of eReaders and eBooks.
They tried in the past by raising prices above $9.99 and they lost.
Us readers just need to do what we’ve been doing all along – boycott Publishers trying to sell books over $9.99 and boycott Publishers that delay their ebooks 4 months.
The eReader revolution can’t be stopped.
- The Kindle, the Nook and the Sony Reader have all created very strong offerings.
- Awareness and interest is at an all time high.
- Lots of companies have jumped into eReaders and eBooks with a lot of innovations.
- $9.99 has been established as a benchmark.
We are on the verge of victory – not just for eReaders but also for reading and books. All we have to do is stick to our guns.
Publishers would rather blow up everything than lose their hold over Publishing and Books. Unfortunately for them it’s us readers who get to decide the future of books.
Filed under: books Tagged: | $9.99 boycott, future of publishing
Aren’t these the kind of tactics that encourage piracy and illegal downloading?
yes. Teleread have a post on this.
My response to publishers delaying the ebook release by 4 months will be to go online to the local library and request the paper version of the book. I will definitely get it before 4 months passes, and it will be free. Would they rather sell me the book for $9.99 or have me read it free at the library?
I am not so sure this is all that bad. It is really not that different from releasing hardback and paperback versions at different times. Many people don’t buy hardback because many books are not time sensitive.
I do think that it will justify piracy for some. But most people that would justify piracy because of a delay of 4 months probably would find another reason to justify piracy (price!) anyway.
This is obviously taken from the movie industry as a model. Ironically it is being taken at a time when the movie industry is experimenting with single date releases in multiple formats.
This will certainly drive a level of piracy for these books, but this might not be a bad transition strategy. The challenge the publishers have is the transition from the paper business model with all it’s associated costs of printing, distribution, returns etc to an electronic model that eliminates all of the costs, but does bring some of its own.
It would be interesting to understand what percent of the bestsellers go to avid readers versus casual readers or what percent of the publishing revenue comes from those avid readers. This is the very segment that is likely to adopt the ereader which makes this strategy somewhat lopsided by alienating your biggest customer base.
That’s a really good point – Publishers might alienate their best customers with these ebook release date delays.
P.S. One thing I’ve learned from my time in business is when it’s time for a change the winners are the ones who move through that change the quickest. The resistors typically don’t survive. The next few years should prove interesting for this industry.
Nice to hear that “the resistors typically don’t survive.” I tried the indie publishing route last year, and it’s soooo speedy and efficient.
In responce to the delay of Ebooks for 4 months isn’t this the same as the movie industry delaying tv and dvd’s till after the theatrical run?
yeah – that’s right. There’s a very interesting set of court cases going on between the $1 dvd rental company redbox and the major studios.
Movie studios want -
1) theatrical release.
2) after a window, dvds released.
3) after another window – rentals start.
They’re just being silly. Why are they afraid of a $10 price point on an eBook? An eBook costs nothing to produce, stock, or ship. Unlike a hardback book which is heavy, requires them take risk by deciding how many to print, and must be shipped around the country and inventory managed.
The lower cost reflects this.
And last I checked, Walmart and Amazon were selling hardbacks for $9 if you pre-ordered!
Good thing most books can be downloaded within a few weeks of release through unofficial channels.
[...] we had Simon & Schuster talk about delaying some eBook releases by 3-4 months. Then Hachette jumped [...]
this is what happens… dinosaurs do what they do, and they die out, and theyre replaced. you cant really be shocked when a dinosaur acts like a dinosaur.
it doesnt make any difference to me at all. the bottom line for me is, i dont buy paper books anymore. i havent bought one in over 2 years. so when i finish a book and start shopping for a new one, if a book i want is delayed, no skin off my nose, i just buy a different book. if theyre lucky, i remember the book again one day when im shopping, and its available, and i buy it then. if not, they never get my money, they lost my sale forever. which is clearly what they wanted.
they dont want my money, so i wont give it to them. no shortage of authors/publishers that DO want it.
[...] iReaderReview… Publishers have to choose between evolving or fighting evolution and they’re choosing the latter. [...]
[...] written about this in the recent past. Publishers are very wary of eBooks because – All the advances that are happening [...]