Monday, March 1, 2010

EBook sales do not influence your hardcover book sales.

Penguin USA says eBook sales rose by more than 300 percent, and as projected; they had 10,000 titles available electronically by the end of the year. Rather than cannibalizing hardcover sales, Penguin's current inference is that low-priced eBooks are most attractive to readers who previously were primarily paperback buyers. "If we're right about that," Penguin CEO, Makinson said, then "the author is really not disadvantaged by the transition" from print to digital. What do you think of this statement? Are authors who have a hardcover book for sale losing money because of the low eBook prices? To read the full article, go to http://www.publishersmarketplace.com and sign up for the free newsletter. Publisher’s lunch brings you the latest in publishing news. This is where many top agents get their current information.

2 comments:

  1. My first thought was, over my dead body. Then again times change. Too rapidly for my liking, however, it will be a very sad day when digital takes over from the good old fashioned paperback. Very sad, indeed.

    After all, there's nothing quite like curling up with a good book :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Wendy

    I agree with you. My thoughts are to hold off on eBooks until the hardback edition has run its initial course. With both mediums, selling at the same time, the author looses a great deal of money on each eBook sale. If your hardback sells for $17.95 and you sell 1000 copies and your commission is 40% you make $7180. If on the other hand you sell a 1000, eBook downloads, at 9.99 each and you receive a dollar for every copy sold then your profit is $999. Me, I would like to sell 2000 copies of the hardback.
    David

    ReplyDelete