Now all you sucker DJs
Who think you’re fly
There’s got to be a reason
And we know the reason why
You try to put on those airs
And act real cool
But you got to realize
That you’re acting like fools
Cameo ~ Word Up!
From the CNET article Price war over books worries industry.
“If readers come to believe that the value of a new book is $10, publishing as we know it is over,” said David Gernert, Grisham’s literary agent. “If you can buy Stephen King’s new novel or John Grisham’s Ford County for $10, why would you buy a brilliant first novel for $25? I think we underestimate the effect to which extremely discounted best sellers take the consumer’s attention away from emerging writers.”
Suggestion, read about The Long Tail
“We sold more books today that didn’t sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday.”
Last but not least my favorite is this summation of what is “Good to Great Business” (A corporate motivational buzz term by the way) I found in a negative review of a well known book…
Great companies become great by staying focused: focused on their products, their customers and their businesses. They aspire to higher levels of excellence, are never content to become complacent and are passionate about their products. They have leadership that is not ego-driven, and have organizational cultures that embrace constant change.
So when I hear “industry insiders” bad mouthing changing customer expectations or not embracing changes in the business landscape I have to question if they actually have qualified opinions on those current business trends or have they simply bought into keeping things the way they are despite normal technological change happening to their industry.
Oh and keep writing those negative book reviews.
Tags: Common Sense
katiebabs wrote,
Um, but mass market paperback has been selling for under $8. And look at Harlequin, the kings of the category and everything paperback. They have done outstanding this year and made a profit, so that quote about CNET is a bit off.
Link | October 18th, 2009 at 6:49 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Totally agree Katiebabs and I believe Harlequin does not do the big big multi-million dollar payouts either but come closer to the ePublisher model.
Link | October 18th, 2009 at 7:09 am
katiebabs wrote,
and honestly, if a book is under $10 I would go and buy another one. Buy 2 books for $20 but not 2 books for $40.
Didn’t I hear that Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol was priced very low and in HC? And that book has been #1 for over a month.
Link | October 18th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Letters on Pages wrote,
I agree completely. I think the people complaining about this (mostly the publishers) have the same mindset as the newspaper industry. They are afraid of changing the status quo.
I NEVER buy new books…If I buy a book at all it is at half price books. Otherwise I go to the library. But if these books are $10…well…maybe I will buy those.
Selling 1 book at $10 is FAR better than selling 0 books at $25!
Link | October 18th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Death Of A Business Model Part Three | The Naughty Bits wrote,
[...] have we not heard this whole thing before recently? You know the whole “They are discounting our hardcovers stop them Mr. Government Policeman!” even over in other countries. Oh and the other thing they want to do is delay eBooks while they try [...]
Link | January 31st, 2010 at 4:55 am