Amazon Pairs Print & Digital

[Richard Krauss]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/amazon-couples-print-digit...

Would you buy both formats? 

[I. J. Parker]

Yes.  I saw that. I'm not sure it would increase sales, but it might make buyers happier.

[John McFetridge]

My publisher, ECW Press, has been doing this for a while.

[I. J. Parker]

Yes.  I just decided to go with the option for my recent print release of DEATH ON AN AUTUMN RIVER.

[Jed Power]

From a reader/consumer POV, this is one of the most absurd ideas I've ever heard of.

This quote from the final paragraph sums it up as far as I am concerned--"...is fiendishly good at selling people things they didn't necessarily know they needed."

[I. J. Parker]

Strangely, readers are already chiming in, claiming they like to own a book in both formats for convenience.

[Jed Power]

I can hear the big publishers now..."If the reading public is this dumb, can we convince them they need an audio book too? We could toss all three versions into a single package and scam the dunces for a couple more bucks."

[I. J. Parker]

Aren't you interested in selling books?

[Jed Power]

You better believe it! Would I do anything to sell more books, like I know lots of people would? No!


Besides, my previous post was written with my reader's lid on, not my writer/publisher homburg.

I have to admit though, these people could sell the proverbial Eskimo a non-functioning refrigerater if they're slick enough to convince consumers they need two or more versions of the same book.

[I. J. Parker]

But strangely, as I said, people do want 2 versions. Apart from their own use, they like to give one as a present and keep the other.

I have to admit I have a Kindle but don't like to read on it. So this would not work for me. Neither would it for a lot of my readers who absolutely refused to go Kindle.

[Dana King]

As a reader, I can see benefit to this. I have issues with the space available for books in my home. This program could allow me to read a book that I might want to hang onto but doesn't exceed the bar to bump another book from my shelf. It also allows me to gift the paper copy and still have one. I don't know that I'd use it much, but I can see value to it.

[Jed Power]

Yes, I. J. & Dana, I agree.

As a publisher, seller, or writer the benefits are obvious.  (Although if readers were spending more of their discretionary income on two versions of the big boys' novels, it might mean less for the rest of us).   As a reader, not so much.

My hackles went up because as usual marketing people are trying to convince people that they need something that the vast majority do not.  They are very good at this, and as I said above, it might mean less for everyone mid-list and down especially with the economy continuing to deteriorate.