Are Publishers encouraging eBook Piracy ?

[flik]

Just as an example. The much awaited 'Dances with Dragons' the next instalment in George R R Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series will cost £14.99 from Amazon in Kindle format. However if I nip down to Waterstones on release day next week I can purchase the Hardback for £12.50 which after reading I could probably sell on for about half of that price. How can the Publishers justify the price of an ebook being so high ? It's madness and will only encourage people to get their eBooks from 'other' sources. I for one would rather pay for my mainstream reading but at current ebook pricing it looks like the Publishers have learned nothing from what has happened with the Music industry. Your thoughts !

[casio]

couldnt agree more, the most ive spent on an ebook has been £1.50, with me not being able to sell it on I refuse to pay £14 or whatever they want for a book that is essentially none existant when its not on a kindle/ipad or whatever.

I dont see why publishers cant put a code inside or via a qr code under a scratch off panel on the back or give you a code on your receipt that you can enter on their site that lets you download the ebook for free when you own the physical version.

as for them pushing the prices so high people turn to piracy, I think theyre doing that to stop companies like Amazon from dominating the market even more than they aready do. I also think they look at it as a way to protect their physical book sales because if you can buy a paper book for £12 you can sit down and read it as normal, and with it being cheaper they think you'll go that route because if you want to read it on a kindle you have to spend a minimum of £111 for the kindle and then another £14 for the book so by pushing up their prices its not really just the £2 difference between the paper and ebook versions its £12 vs. £125 to read the same book.

Personally as I mentioned at the top I think you should get an ebook version if you buy the physical version so if I buy or already own a book and I see the ebook version kicking around somewhere online im going to download it, theyre not losing money because Ive already paid for the book, yes its piracy and theres no real defense for it.

as an aspiring writer, -writing my 2nd book at the moment, I'm not going to change my tune and slate the people who pirate my books because I've lost count of the books I've downloaded illegally and enjoyed so much I've gone straight to amazon or play and bought the physical book along with others by the same writer. I hope that should I get into print that the ebook versions will be free with my book as well as being on sale for a couple of quid via itunes, amazon and the rest of the ebook sales because I honestly think £2 is about the right price for an ebook, plus it makes it like the mints and sweets on the counter in the petrol station. if the books were cheap and easy to get it makes them more of an impulse buy and if you dont like the book its only £2.

[flik]

What type of books are you writing mate ?

[casio]

they're both crime thrillers, as will be the last one in the trilogy, I just started writing one day when I felt like I had a bit of a story in me, and a month and a half later I had a book on my desk. halfway through writing it I realized that if I wrote the story as one book it would have been close on to 700,000 words and a normal novel has somewhere between 90,000 and 150,000 words so I decided to split it into three and its working out well, the members of my family that have read it think its pretty good but they're family so they have to lol

[{{909}}]

sounds interesting Casio, be careful taking praise from family members and friends though, I used to have to go fix a chaps printer every 10 minutes cos he ws trying to print off a novel he wrote, he printed me off a few chapters, my fucking god it was utter shite but the praise he got from family members spurred him on to print about 20 copies and post them all over the globe looking for publishers (all of which seemed to share my opinion!)

[casio]

I'm really careful about the opinion of family members as much as I trust their judgement impartiality isn't their strong suit lol

I've sent 3 copies of the first chapter to 3 different literature agents and I got some really positive feedback from 2 the third asked for cash to read it,

I had a meeting with one but I didn't like or get on with him, plus the deal i felt was largely skewed in his favour (24% commission I thought was a bit much) I decided to wait until I've got at least 2 books done before i send it to anyone else because it gives me a stronger bargaining position

[rIKmAN]

Any chance of us DFers getting a proof read mate, sounds interesting...
If there is one thing you can count on about DF is that you'll get some honest opinions back about it!

[Sanj[UK]]

I dont see why publishers cant put a code inside or via a qr code under a scratch off panel on the back or give you a code on your receipt that you can enter on their site that lets you download the ebook for free when you own the physical version.

I assumed this was normal practice? Alot of the computer related books i bought during uni came with the ebook on a cd.

[casio]

@rIKmAN Once I've got the nod from an agent or publisher it'll be accidentally leaked, I was told to keep it under wraps until the contract is signed and sealed. Anything including self publishing is a major no-no if you're serious about getting in to print, if your story shows up anywhere online agents dont think theirs any money in it and publishers arent interested full stop. its a nightmare as it is so I really dont want to make things any harder than they already are.

@Sanj[UK] with computer programming books and other technical books I think you still do download the pdf/ebook but outside of the technical/programming world, fiction and non-fiction its a completely different set of rules and from what I understand from my dealings so far its because anything other than a hardback or first edition is classed as a disposable copy and most of the money a book will make is made when its in paperback mainly in supermarkets and online. I could be wrong but thats the way I understood it. Personally I think its a shame because it wouldnt cost them hardly anything at all if they gave you a downloadable ebook verison through the kindle's wifi/3g connection or even from their own site.

[flypitcher]

Good luck casio

[casio]

Cheers m8, and sorry to everyone else for kinda hijacking the thread

[Sanj[UK]]

@rIKmAN Once I've got the nod from an agent or publisher it'll be accidentally leaked.

If you want to do that then you'll have to do it quickly..i had planned to do a leak of a certain film i was very close to being made but some fucker beat me to it by an hour.

[casio]

if this is one of det pulling his toe nail off again I cant watch, my arse hole clenches at the thought -that video will scar me for life lol

[supraman54]

if this is one of det pulling his toe nail off again I cant watch, my arse hole clenches at the thought -that video will scar me for life lol

same here.. he is such an animal..LOL any way good luck with the books mate.. It's something I keep meaning to try too (not pulling my toenail).. just need to get off my a**e and do it..

[casio]

cheers m8, I would say though the best thing you can do is stay on your arse and do it lol, just make sure you have a comfy chair because you are in it for days and days and days. Personally I'd say don't try for a book first time out, try a few short stories and if you're happy with them then start work on a book. just make sure you know where your story is going before you start that way you don't write your way into a corner (although i do that more than I want to admit lol)

To think, I'd just managed to get the image of det's toenail out of my mind and now only gone and you've refreshed it lol