The most terrifying thing about horror master Stephen
King's upcoming new book
Under the Dome? The e-book version will supposedly
cost $35.
Not the hardcover version. Not a physical version at all.
An e-book! That's just nuts. Even worse, the e-book version
will come out a month later than the print edition, so
timeliness isn't even a factor.
I'd think a $35 price tag for an e-book would include
something special. Maybe a scratch n' stiff card of ghoulish
odors? A 30-day supply of sleeping pills, so the book doesn't
cause night terrors? A random postcard from Mr. King himself?
From what I can tell, all it seems to include is 1,000
digital pages. Granted, they're lighter than 1,000 hardcover
book pages, but that's one hefty price tag all the same --
especially for a version that's one month delayed.
Plenty of people out there are willing to wait for a book
to come out on paperback, rather than buy the hardcover
version right away, just to save a few bucks. So what exactly
is King's publisher, Scribner (owned by
CBS 's (NYSE: CBS) Simon & Schuster),
thinking?
Lots of companies are trying to get into the e-book craze.
Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle sparked
the excitement,
Sony (NYSE: SNE) provides its own e-reader,
and
Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) is now rolling
out the Nook.
It's not hard to see why this nascent market is important.
According to the Association of American Publishers, e-book
sales in August posted an 189.1% increase for the month, with
year-to-date sales up 177.3%. (Book sales overall increased a
mere 0.9% in August.)
You've got to wonder whether publishers are following the
music industry's misguided lead, kvetching about the "unfair"
prices charged by legitimate services like Amazon (where the
e-book price point is generally $9.99) and ignoring the
demands and desires of their customers. As we all know, the
music industry's heavy-handed efforts to quash piracy only
ended up stoking consumers' resentment. There's one possible
difference here, at least: Amazon and others have been losing
money offering such steep discounts. If Amazon offered King's
book for $9.99, the e-tailer said it would surely take a
loss. Whether or not we can trust that information is a whole
other question.
Meanwhile, Amazon,
Target (NYSE: TGT), and
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) have been embarking on
an online price war on books. In an even more ironic turn,
Under the Domewill be available -- in hardcover --
for $9 or less for those who preorder.
The publishing industry seems poised to be just as
short-sighted as the music industry was when digital
distribution started taking hold. But its stubborn stinginess
could leave the industry ripe for disaster and
disruption.
What do you think? Would you pay $35 for an e-book that's
already been on shelves for a month? Leave your comments in
the boxes below.
This article was originally published as
The Scariest Thing About Stephen King's New Bookon
Fool.com
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