Ebooks and Hardcovers
Today Hachette Books and Simon&Schuster annonced that they would be delaying release of ebooks on a number of their hardcovers by four months. This will undoubtedly annoy the vast number of folks who read ebooks and are getting used to the notion of downloading new releases on release day. In the article, it was stated that this is being done to protect the hardcover model. While the numbers aren't huge on ebooks yet, it is a rapidly growing market, and the publishers feel they need to do something while they still can. Is it a kneejerk reaction? Will it really make any difference? Time will tell of course. Many believe publishers are going to lose out taking action like this. They will lose sales. Others believe the ebook market is cannibalizing hardcover sales. The reality of this really depends on the demographics of the ebook reader market. Are they really buying the ebook instead of the hardcover? Or are most of them folks who wouldn't be buying the hardcover anyway? To this point, I've yet to see any info in this regard. There is also public perception to deal with. With the growing ebook market, publishers are concerned people are going to eventually believe that books are actually only worth 9.99. I believe this is a reasonably valid point.
For those of us who wait for paperback versions anyway and rarely, if ever by hardcover, I don't see this change as being a big deal. We already wait. For the 95% of the market that don't utilize ereaders, this issue is moot. These publishers want to try and establish a model that puts digital content between hardcovers and paperbacks. Nothing wrong with this per se, I don't think. Folks with ereaders who do buy hardcovers have had a decided advantage in price. Is this percentage of readers very big? Given the current 5% marketshare of ebooks, I'd say no. If, down the road, this marketshare became significant, like 50%, then publishers would be losing money. I understand their move here. It makes some sense. It doesn't affect me as a reader however, and publishers are likely counting on the fact that this move won't affect much of their readership. As an author, this might be another matter.
My sales, brand, recognition, etc. depend on readership. My success as a debut author is rather predicated on building a base of readers. While I'm not debuting in hardcover, I can see where the problem might arise. Delaying ebooks may hurt my chances of building these precious readers. Often, chances are made or lost on that initial sales run. Especially in today's market. Publishers are more likely to drop you if you don't initally do well. I can see where it's certainly possible to lose readers by not having ebooks available right away. For publishers, they likely aren't seeing much issue here. Likely, I think publishers are more worried about their big seller titles. Losing a percentage off of 5k sales isn't a huge deal. Losing it off of a million probably is. The question remains, how many ebook readers are going to buy a hardcover because it is cheaper in digital format? How many will do this regardless of release timing? Publishers are likely assuming the gains are going to outweigh the loss, and the long term benefits will suit the bottom line better.
I'm leaning very much toward publishers being correct here. The percentage of gain in people who will indeed buy the hardcover instead of waiting for the ebook is going to be more than those who don't buy it at all if they have to wait for the ebook four months later.
For those of us who wait for paperback versions anyway and rarely, if ever by hardcover, I don't see this change as being a big deal. We already wait. For the 95% of the market that don't utilize ereaders, this issue is moot. These publishers want to try and establish a model that puts digital content between hardcovers and paperbacks. Nothing wrong with this per se, I don't think. Folks with ereaders who do buy hardcovers have had a decided advantage in price. Is this percentage of readers very big? Given the current 5% marketshare of ebooks, I'd say no. If, down the road, this marketshare became significant, like 50%, then publishers would be losing money. I understand their move here. It makes some sense. It doesn't affect me as a reader however, and publishers are likely counting on the fact that this move won't affect much of their readership. As an author, this might be another matter.
My sales, brand, recognition, etc. depend on readership. My success as a debut author is rather predicated on building a base of readers. While I'm not debuting in hardcover, I can see where the problem might arise. Delaying ebooks may hurt my chances of building these precious readers. Often, chances are made or lost on that initial sales run. Especially in today's market. Publishers are more likely to drop you if you don't initally do well. I can see where it's certainly possible to lose readers by not having ebooks available right away. For publishers, they likely aren't seeing much issue here. Likely, I think publishers are more worried about their big seller titles. Losing a percentage off of 5k sales isn't a huge deal. Losing it off of a million probably is. The question remains, how many ebook readers are going to buy a hardcover because it is cheaper in digital format? How many will do this regardless of release timing? Publishers are likely assuming the gains are going to outweigh the loss, and the long term benefits will suit the bottom line better.
I'm leaning very much toward publishers being correct here. The percentage of gain in people who will indeed buy the hardcover instead of waiting for the ebook is going to be more than those who don't buy it at all if they have to wait for the ebook four months later.