A few examples:
Publishers need to embrace the new digital reality and quit discriminating against those of us that would rather read our books on Kindle and other digital platforms. Release it on all platforms and you'll make even more money! DUH! I'm flying in two weeks and would have liked to have read the book, but I'm not going to lug a massive hardcover. You lost a sale.
Just received a Kindle for Christmas and was really looking forward to downloading this title Monday morning only to find out that it won't be available until sometime in late February!? Very disappointed.
Shame on the publishers for deciding to keep this and other books from Kindle owners for several months after the publication date. This is not the 20th century, and publishers, you WILL lose. Have you learned nothing from the demise of the paper newspaper?
Another frustrated Kindle reader who cannot purchase this book because Harper Collins decided to withhold Kindle books for SIX weeks in a misguided calculation that this would maximize their profits. This cynical choice will come back to haunt them. I wanted to buy this book, but not after this. Look out Harper Collins. This is a decision you will come to regret. One star for not making the book available to a large section of the reading public in the hopes of selling more hardbound copies. To you non-Kindle readers, ask yourself how you would feel if the publisher had chosen instead to make this book available only to Kindle readers and you were told you'd have to wait 6 weeks to read it.
While I appreciate fans of eBooks wanting to have a voice - is this a great forum for that voice? People with agendas is what led to Apple requiring you to have downloaded an app before submitting a review for it - whether that app is paid or free. That said, that's a unique marketplace. On Amazon, you might own a product and have acquired it elsewhere - but still want to contribute a review. All in all, a tough situation, for sure.
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Much as I understand and sympathize with the frustrations of the Kindle owners who are doing that, the reality is that publishers aren't going to be motivated to change their tune by angry customers.
ReplyDeleteThey should be, but they won't.
It's going to take ONE publisher who is marginally more innovative or brave than the rest to try this out with a hot new title.
When the rest of the industry sees e-book sales numbers shoot through the roof for it, and when they see that in fact, total profit is higher when you offer all formats simultaneously, then they'll change their behavior.
But that's what it's going to take.
The really sad part is that in the meantime, the people who are really being hurt by this are the authors who have sweated blood to write and polish their books, who have suffered the slings and arrows of the publishing process, and whose books are now getting trashed by people who are mad over things that author had absolutely zero frickin' control over.
This analogy isn't perfect, but it's almost as though people who are mad at the banks for hosing the entire economy while giving themselves huge bonuses, deciding to express that ire by coming and burning my house down because I happen to have a mortgage that's held at one of those banks. That only hurts me, not the bank, and doesn't do a thing to change the bank's behavior.
I don't necessarly disagree that this might not be the best forum for this message. But, in the world of PC games, it seems like an onslaught of negative Amazon reviews caused some companies to change their minds about their DRM practices.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the reviews are a good way to voice an opinion... in lieu of having a better voice. Right now, you can click on that link from any book to tell the publisher that you want an electronic edition. What Amazon should be doing is giving public feedback on the response to that option. I'd like to see them publish a count, along the lines of:
ReplyDelete"842 people have requested a Kindle edition of this book. 802 of those people have not bought a paper edition through Amazon."