What could possibly go wrong with this idea?
December 9, 2009 by Paul Mayson · Leave a Comment
Today in the Wall Street Journal, I found the headline: Two Major Publishers To Hold Back E-Books. Now what could possibly go wrong with this idea? I for one find it brilliant to withhold your biggest books from folks that love to read so much that they drop around $300 for a device (sometimes more – sometimes less) just to get things in the format they enjoy reading in most. Plus, these folks are usually the ones that other people turn to for book recommendations. I think marketers call them “sneezers.” The most valuable of all customers.
“The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback,” said Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS Corp. “We believe some people will be disappointed. But with new [electronic] readers coming and sales booming, we need to do this now, before the installed base of e-book reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible.”
I’m not a CEO and probably waaaaay to stupid to grasp this. But, I always thought the best time to sell people a product or service is when they wanted or needed it. Trying to control things that are pretty much out of your control is probably better though.
Yeah. This should work out fine for them.
* * * * UPDATE: 12/10/09 * * * *
Just saw this post by Seth Godin re: this matter. Why does he always say things better than I think them?
Status quo seekers in publishing are now talking about delaying Kindle and other ebook editions of their new books. The idea would be to come out with a hardcover, then a few months later an ebook, then a year later a paperback.
This is lame-brained thinking on many levels, one involving teaching the market a lesson. Leaving that aside, it ignores the magic of dynamic pricing.
