How would you buy the reprints?

[anijen21]

I'm really only doing this since it's an RAF party and I like my karma points. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm stealing someone else's job, but the topic was brought up and a thread hadn't been made yet, and besides the karma points I think it's an interesting topic! And free market research (of however limited and self-selecting a sample) for Scholastic, so everyone wins!

If this thread is on another board that I am just too dumb to find, please feel free to delete this thread and shun me appropriately.

Now, we have a question which you can repost in some better location:  Digital publishing makes the monthly series possible again.  (Bookstores hate them, but in digital we don't have bookstores.)  Would you -- or your younger incarnations -- buy and read digital books released on a monthly basis?  And when you think about it, what price seems fair?

This is a new area and we're trying to get a handle on it.

So: What are your thoughts?

[goom]

i much prefer actual books to e-books.
you can't curl up with an ebook in bed. (well, maybe with a laptop )

[Chad32]

I don't really know what digital books are. The ebooks? How do you buy an ebook?

I guess if it's easier for the readers and writers, then I don't see a problem. It would use less paper, though it would use more electricity. whether or not they cancel each other out I don't know.

[morfowt]

read, yes. buy, no. I don't have the money to. if I had the money, I'd buy just for collections sake. Reading on my music player would be nice too...

i much prefer actual books to e-books.
you can't curl up with an ebook in bed. (well, maybe with a laptop )

exactly. right now I'm curled up in bed reading an ebook on my laptop that's on a bedside table....

I don't really know what digital books are. The ebooks? How do you buy an ebook?

something like paypal? I don't know. I've never bought anything online, but it's supposed to be possible.

[anijen21]

Here's the Kindle site if you guys are interested.

I don't think they have the pricing down for e-books yet. Look at any book they sell on there and you can get it cheaper used, or on half.com. I'm sort of confused how the whole price structure works for publishing anyway--how much of it is marketing, how much of it is for creative/copyright stuff, and how much actually goes into the physical manufacturing process of making a book? I heard somewhere that hardcover books are actually just as cheap to print as softcover, and the only reason they do that is for price discrimination, which I feel is kind of a tenet of the publishing industry.

I don't know. I have a lot of thoughts about this. I agree with the whole "curling up with a book" thing--reading is even a more sensual experience than digital music or TV. I mean, you'll have some purists go on about how 45s have a richer sound than CDs, but I feel like an mp3 has the same basic quality as any other recording of a song. But a book? You lose something in the process from print media to digital media. It has no weight, no substance, which I feel like is a very big part of the allure of reading. And besides, if everything is pdfs and digital files, how do you show off to your friends how well-read you are without a huge bookcase stuffed with books?

[Chad32]

You have a pointabout the bookcase. That's kind of a symbol of who you are. Someone can come to your house and look at what books interest you. I used to have a special shelf for al my Animorph books.

[Richard]

i much prefer actual books to e-books.
you can't curl up with an ebook in bed. (well, maybe with a laptop )

I agree with you; about prefering actual books to ebooks. On the other hand I have been reading ebooks on my phone in bed (with accompanying Audiobook) and it's a great experience.

[anijen21]

lol me too. But now they're hidden in a box under my desk

What do you guys think as far as pricing goes? To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be willing to pay more for a serial book the size of an Animorphs book than I would be to pay for an episode of an hour-long TV drama, and those are $2.99 on iTunes right now. They might be cheaper on the Amazon digital store, I'm not sure. I really wish I understood how this pricing scheme worked, the economics of it...all this intrigue makes me want to go to business or accounting school, how boring.

[goom]

And besides, if everything is pdfs and digital files, how do you show off to your friends how well-read you are without a huge bookcase stuffed with books?

plus, pirating.
its a lot easier for people to secretly steal books in virtual format.

[itw2009]

i much prefer actual books to e-books.
you can't curl up with an ebook in bed. (well, maybe with a laptop )

seconded- although i see more people now on our subway system, reading from kindles, etc.

but i go with ax on this- books > computers. there's something to be said for the efficiency of flipping a page over tediously scrolling- esp. with laptops. pain the butt, imho.

anyway. if i were to buy the series electronically, i could be sold for as much as $8/pop, but that's lifelong obsession speaking, not supply and demand. $3.99 -as suggested- might be about right.... but could go as low as $2.99, depending on the series' reception. any lower, and i'd have serious issues with potentially pirated ebooks.

[Essam 293]

Animorphs is the one series that I want to physically own, so I'd much rather have real books when they are re-released. The only ebook reader I own at the moment is through my iPod Touch. I have downloaded several books on it, and have read none of them. It's just something that I can't get comfortable enough to use on a regular basis. Reading something on screen always feels lifeless to me, and looking at a screen for such long periods of time also hurts my eyes. So when I'm given a choice between a real book and an ebook, I will always, always pick a real book. Something I can touch, feel, and smell in my hands. There is just no comparison.

Also, until the Kindle or iPad go down to a more affordable price, I'll be sticking with real books. However, once I do finally buy an ebook reader, yes, I would most definitely like to have the Animorphs series on there (legally ). But I still don't see myself reading full length novels on there anytime soon. I can only see the practicality behind owning one, so that I can carry any book along with me, but nothing that I'd want to have for the actual enjoyment of reading. I just can't read massive amounts of text for such a long time on a screen as opposed to a real book (I suppose I'm just too old and set in my ways.)

[anijen21]

tbth I think the iPad is going to bomb.

And itw, why do you think things that are more expensive are less likely to get pirated? The more work goes into something, like software, the more anti-piracy security is put in place, but if anything, a higher price will give more incentive to people to steal it.

[itw2009]

tbth I think the iPad is going to bomb.

And itw, why do you think things that are more expensive are less likely to get pirated? The more work goes into something, like software, the more anti-piracy security is put in place, but if anything, a higher price will give more incentive to people to steal it.

confusingly worded, that's not necessarily what i implied. sort of, but not entirely.

there are a few factors involved- price, popularity, security... security will be a big issue. stealing the books is, for now, TOO possible. i believe that means that those who want to spend money on the books will spend money on the books (a few dollars more or less will not make a difference to these people); those who don't, won't. those who are borderline i automatically include with the pirates because ebooks are so, so easy to come by- it may even be less hassle to pirate than buy. iow, i don't see price as being an issue from the buyer's perspective.... but rather from scholastic's perspective.

money spent on the books will be coming from fans showing gratitude or people who follow rules, so it's in scholastic's best interests, imho, to keep prices a tad higher. ...say, the $2.99- $3.99 range v. $.99- $2.99 range. the dollar difference won't lose many customers (if any at all). but if the prices are very low... i don't believe many more customers will be interested and people who i believe deserve monetary recognition won't be getting it... and from a bigger picture standpoint, the dollar difference over 1000 or 10000 or 1mill readers is a lot of money lost. so, if the prices are low, pirated ebooks MUST be gotten rid of- force the people not paying to pay to make up for the money lost on lower prices.

egad, that was too much thinking for too little sleep.

[anijen21]

it all seems to depend on the elasticity of demand, which I think is going to be pretty high. I agree that the hardcore fans, like us, are going to buy the books no matter what they cost, but I think the real market for the reprints is going to be kids that were our age when we started reading them. That actually brings up another issue, I mean, when I bought my Animorphs books I took my $5, went to the bookstore, and boom had my new book. How are little kids going to buy ebooks? With their credit cards and pay pal accounts? idk maybe things have changed from when I was a kid and buying things online even if you're 10 years old isn't even an issue anymore.

[goom]

tbth I think the iPad is going to bomb.

slightly off topic, but..
i just watched the ipad video. (i'd never heard of it before).
it looks terrible and awkward. i'd never use something like that.