Maria, there are free versions of both the Kindle and the Nook available for PCs, and Kindle at least has it for the iPhone/iTouch. Dunno about Nook, because I tried both on PC and Kindle was far and away superior.

I pre-ordered JD Robb’s Fantasy in Death for Kindle on January 27th for $6.39.

Today the price is $13.10.

Damn! Strike while the iron’s hot!

Amazon and other retailers take up to 65% of cover price from epubs. In addition, from what I’ve read, some retailers’ contracts with some epubs don’t pay publishers on list price, but on consumer sale price, which means their profits take a hit with every book sold for a discounted price. And since most epubs pay royalties from retailer sales on net, that means if FW discounts a $5 ebook to $250, the author’s royalties for that sale are cut in half.

Also, unless I’m misinformed, some retailers’ contracts with epubs stipulate that the publisher can’t offer the title direct to consumers for less than the retailer. Which means the retailer undersells the publisher, driving sales of the book to the least profitable venue for the publisher and the author.

It’s a tough row to hoe for a lot of the little guys, which makes it that much more irksome when you see the big boys getting permanent discounts that allow them to compete with the little guys, while earning more per copy than the book is actually selling for…

Well, I’m a tad biased in Samhain’s favor myself, heh. When I was initially shopping my first book, there were a few things I considered over and above expected earnings–editing, cover art and list price-point among the biggies. They won hands down, and I’m very fortunate to have landed a contract with them.

I’ll admit, LI, LSB and EC can be a bit pricier than I’d like, but they’re still at least comparable to mass market paperback prices, and in most cases the editing is decent. And at least they give you a cover image, chapter links in the TOC, bonus content like excerpts, and best of all, the added value of NO DRM. Stuff a lot of NY pubs don’t want to give you for $15, or even $25.

{*}I say “generally” because while most of my ebook purchases have been mass market price or less, I have bought one fiction ebook for $23, of a book that I already own two editions of in paper. In that particular case, having an ebook version, even with DRM, was worth the money due to searchability and portability. But that book’s an exception, and the FW micropay rebate made the price a lot more palatable. For most fiction and popular nonfiction, if I’m spending $15, I want a paper copy that will still be usable in 2040. Or at least a DRM-free file.

But only the “bad” publishers got help competing while earning sky-high profits, and they got it 24/7/52-the “good” ones got the shaft from two directions at once, 24/7/52.

You know, not everything thinks the epubs are “all that.” I got tired of over-paying for too short books that were routinely (but not always) badly edited. I stopped buying from anyone but Samhain years ago.

Those of you that have them are indignant. You seem to be angry that somehow you've been mislead, and you have, but not by MacMillan, or any of the publishers, but by Amazon and the others who've sold e-readers under the belief that the books would be cheaper.

No, no, and no.

Cheaper ebooks never entered the equation in my buying an e-reader. Ebooks were my preferred format, and that was the main reason for my buying an e-reader. I don’t care about hardback vs. $9.99 pricing. I don’t even care if I have to wait for the paperback to become available before getting the ebook.

Some of us are upset because we see a publisher like Macmillan routinely listing ebooks at $14 while the print version is selling at half that price. We’re upset because we see Macmillan listing ebooks of more popular authors at $14, years and years and years after the mass market paperback was released. (Sue Grafton is an example.)

We’re upset because that same publisher is now saying they’ll no longer allow their ebooks to be discounted. We’re upset because retailers like Walmart and Costco, and, yes, even Amazon, are still free to discount print versions.

Lack of discounts, especially lack of occasional deep discounts, will mean I’ll be spending more to buy the ebooks of my favorite authors. Which means there will be less to spend on non-favorite and new-to-me authors. I’ll borrow those ebooks from the library, if I can; other people might buy them used (Ok for readers, not so much for the authors.)

Some of us are upset because we perceive publishers like Macmillan as wanting ebooks to ultimately sell in the $10-$15 range to make up for a slumping hardback market. (Even for ebooks that were never released as hardbacks or trade paperbacks: http://us.macmillan.com/lovesmelovesmeknot.

Many of us perceive ebooks as having less value than mass market paperbacks (and not because of anything Amazon has done, I don’t purchase ebooks from Amazon). But because the publishers have cheapened our perception of ebooks. Through their use of DRM that doesn’t stop pirates but could lock us out of ebooks we’ve legally purchased. And by selling ebooks that are essentially stripped down versions of the print version (e.g., not including the cover image or the cover blurb).

I don’t mind paying mass market paperback prices for the convenience of reading in my preferred format – as long as ebooks are available at the same time, for the same price, and with the same option for retailers to offer discounts (at least occasionally), as are available for mass market paperbacks.

And I’m not about to take Macmillan at their word and believe they’ll suddenly change their ways when it comes to ebooks. I’m judging them by what they’ve done in the past and what they continue to do.

I’m still unconvinced with the iPad right now though…. at about 1GB per movie, and the cheapest version at only 16GB, I really won’t have a device that I can store movies and shows on like I have on my Kindle. I don’t know how much I’d truly use it for mobile computing, I already have a laptop for home use. Sorry off topic!

I’m totally buying an iPad but it’s primary purpose won’t be for reading ebooks. It will be for the video watching (oh, if only Hulu were available on it!), browsing the web, and doing mobile computing tasks.

If I start running out of books to buy on my Kindle, I’ll just start reading my “paper” – I get a WSJ subscription too – all the way through, and probably subscribe to more periodical content. I’m not going to run out of things to read, I’ll just be reading different things…

I just think it’s a shame because for the publisher and authors, because I’ll be a completely lost new sale. But this is probably a good thing for my pocketbook. Haha, maybe if the publishers raise all ebook prices, with all the money I save buying books, I may buy an iPad and start buying more movies/tv series content.

I wonder how much of the market digital books is capturing from readers who would have sought out the used market.

I think @Sandia indicated that she was buying more. It is a question I wish I would have phrased for the survey.

I’d agree, price control isn’t healthy. But an agency model doesn’t just generate higher prices. House sales work on agency models, and house prices go up and down all the time, based on both product quality and consumer demand. Insurance is sold on an agency model, and insurance companies’ rates and coverages are still varied.

Does anyone here believe that if Samhain or LI suddenly got the same deal with Amazon that they’d raise their prices?

Amazon was totally abusing its ability to discount books, and as long as it was doing that it was interfering with fair competition, hindering the success of “good” publishers and providing a double-edged benefit to Macmillan and other “bad” publishers–books attractive enough to compete and sell, and 3-6x the profit per book as the competition.

It would be different if Amazon was varying their discounts–offering limited time specials, or rotating discounts on every publisher’s books, or even giving rebates that would let consumers decide whether they wanted one free $25 ebook or four free $6 ones.

But only the “bad” publishers got help competing while earning sky-high profits, and they got it 24/7/52–the “good” ones got the shaft from two directions at once, 24/7/52.

But Amazon got to sell more Kindles, so it’s all good, right?

I love ebooks and , but at this point, they’ve made me mad.

When Amazon, Apple, Fictionwise, Books on Board, Barnes & Nobles etc are all required to set their price at whatever the publishing houses deem appropriate, that’s a price control that isn’t healthy for the market or the consumer.

My personal experiences with some of the smaller publishing houses isn’t fantastic, so I think my library use would increase. Which is great for my library, but not for publishing. So while it may seem I am one of the defenders of the old system, what I actually am is a proponent of e-tailers controlling their own pricing structures.