“Apple’s new multimedia tablet device, with a 10-inch touch screen that is expected to deliver video, text, navigation and social-networking applications, could change the way much of traditional media is delivered,” Trachtenberg reports. “For the book industry, the Apple tablet is bringing to a head a brewing battle between Apple and industry heavyweight Amazon.com Inc. over how e-books—seen as the future of the book industry—will be priced and distributed.”
Trachtenberg reports, “Apple’s business model for books, which the company has kept under tight wraps, shifts the focus away from the bargain-basement prices Amazon has made popular, according to publishers that have met directly with the company. Apple is asking publishers to set two e-book price points for hardcover best sellers: $12.99 and $14.99, with fewer titles offered at $9.99. In setting their own e-book prices, publishers would avoid the threat of heavy discounting. Apple would take a 30% cut of the book price, with publishers receiving the remaining 70%. Apple’s vision is at odds with Amazon.com, which has shaken the book industry by slashing prices of e-books on its Kindle reader and making the $9.99 e-book best seller an industry fixture.”
“Amazon typically pays publishers about half of the cover price of a new hardcover book for e-book best sellers,” Trachtenberg reports. “For example, Sarah Palin’s recent memoir, ‘Going Rogue,’ has a hardcover price of $28.99, which means the publisher likely received about $14.50 for the e-book edition. Since Amazon today sells that e-book for $9.99, the bookseller is losing about $4.50 on each sale—a hit it has been willing to take to build a dominant market share in e-books and power sales of its Kindle reading device.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lynn W.” and “Citymark” for the heads up.]
Anyone remember how folks like Charles Dickens made a living? They serialized their books (which is why his chapters are generally short) and published them weekly in a paper–then, when the book was done, they packaged the whole thing up and sold it as a book.
If we do start getting “dynamic books,” I’d guess that this serialization might make a comeback. You subscribe to a book (or pay for one chapter at a time if you prefer), and you get weekly updates with new chapters. Then when it’s done, you have an entire book that you could re-read later if you wanted.
Give away the first couple of weeks (like the current sample chapters), and make it easy to “one click” to subscribe to the serialized book, and authors have a great way to generate revenue as they write, rather than after it’s all over…. _and_ publishers don’t have to lay out huge advances either, on the hopes the book will eventually sell.
Sounds like a win-win-win situation to me!
The first thing I’m going to do is watch the James O’Keefe you tube video of himself and his bros’ bugging Mary Landrieu’s office. Then I’ll watch the you tube video of him making friends with all of his cell block mates, you know, the folks that ACORN helped out. HAHAHAHAHAHA, it just gets better and better.
“tablet could rewrite publishing business”…
Does anybody in the publishing business ‘write’ anymore?!
No books? Where will my silverfish live?
“For example, Sarah Palin’s recent memoir, ‘Going Rogue,'”
Is that like “going commando” maybe?
Local governments – “Stop putting money into bricks and mortar libraries”.
“For example, Sarah Palin’s recent memoir, ‘Going Rogue,'”
SB – “Going Rouge.” Lipstick on a pitbull. Go Sarah in 2012.
@John,
If I remember correctly, a few years ago Stephen King actually tried something like you suggest and it flopped miserably. So badly that, last I heard, he didn’t even finish the story.
FWIW, I think the idea is terrific, but I’m just not sure it would go over well with today’s readers.
But who knows? Maybe all it will take is just the right author to make it popular again.
“I like the smell of my old books…”
That reminds me of an episode of Star Trek, the one with the lawyer and his room full of books.
You have a predilection for the obvious.
@ John & leodavinci
That’s awesome!
And on an iphone apps-style model, people could write their own stuff and Apple would publish direct. 1000’s of downloads of a $0.99 bestseller. Get typing!
Haha, imagine free market, and the gov. sets the prices, taking 30% tax away – great for the customers! No “Steve-Jobs-communist” tea-party comments yet to be found here…
Now- why would I pay $13-15 for a book when Amazon would have same said book for 10.
Why?
I would not pay $13 + for an eBook novel when I can get the classics for free and many pulp fiction books for $5 or less on market stalls.
Anything more than $10 is of little interest to me.
@DataDude
I know what you mean. When my niece was born, all I could think over and over was ‘Oh, God, I hope it’s not glossy…’
What a frickin joke. Greed. No thanks. I’ll continue to get books the same way I always do. I’ll check them out from my local public library.
If you don’t want to pay for quality …. then don’t buy Apple products.
If you want cheap …. and that’s all .. you can prepare to kiss your job good bye .. and live in a Wal Mart world.
won’t you cheapies ever learn .. there are some things worth paying for … like your country, your job and the well being of your neighbour?