There is no right price for an eBook. It’s up to the author.
The CJR presented a nice summary this week of the ongoing (raging?) debate over ebook pricing. There are great insights from Chuck Windig, Mathew Ingram and Mike Masnick throughout - and I encourage you to read this if you haven’t. It’s a valuable discussion - but one that, as you’re accustomed to hearing me say, is missing the main point. There is no right price for an ebook - and there won’t be. The right price for an ebook will be based on an author’s development of and engagement with their audience.
For some authors this is going to be $0.99, or some other lowest common denominator. These price points will result when authors are not directly engaged with their audience and the retailers will have the ability to force the price point.
For authors who deeply engage their audience, the right price could be $29.99 (or more). Music was standardized at $0.99 (and later $1.29) because RETAIL established the price point and piracy was rampant. Right now, authors (and publishers) still have major work to do to build their direct engagement and control their pricing strategies. If they don’t do it quickly, just like music (and apps), it will be too late.
How to solve digital content discovery? Think Social.
The answer to discovery will lie in social - but only social where the presentation of the stream is equal parts content and context.
It won’t be enough to know that a friend or colleague is reading something. Rather, it will be enough only when those same friends and colleagues are simultaneously presenting the content and context that caused them to highlight the particular work or a section of the work.
When content and context are present, the medium (book, magazine article, newspaper story, etc.) won’t matter - as the custom meta data that your social graph puts over the top will be the critical factors in your decision to read or not read this particular piece.
The open graph will then enable yet another, even deeper, layer of meta data over the top of your graph.
Delivering awareness and validation first from your social graph and then with the implicit validation of the crowd (if needed / as desired), will ultimately deliver the net new discovery experience everyone’s craving.
It’s only a matter of time before these capabilities are integrated into the discovery experience - and a race to see which of the major retailers or social networks gets there first.
This week has seen a significant number of pieces written about the future of the book.
- The Evolution of Books by Nick Harkaway via We Love This Book
- Where Is Publishing Headed?: The Future Of Books In 7 Easy Steps by John B. Thompson via HuffPost
- Is The Novel Dead? by Cynthia Crossen via WSJ
- What Will Become of the Paper Book by Michael Agresta via Slate
- Speculations on the Future of the Book Conference @ MIT via Publishers Weekly
All of these well written pieces illustrate the interest and concern of the authors for the well being of a truly loved item - the book. It is great to see such lively discussion and interest in books.
From my vantage point, it is the function of reading that is being equally (or more) disrupted than the form - and it is this disruption that is getting very little attention.
Ed Nawotka and the crew at Publishing Perspectives were kind enough to pick up my piece on this topic today titled, Books Have a Bright Future, Just Not Like You Expect.
I hope you enjoy it and, as always, welcome your feedback.
Amazon & J.K. Rowling shake ebook world with subscription offer
Yesterday, when discussing Amazon’s upcoming announcement regarding the Potter series, I had a strong feeling it would be a major announcement.
I’d place a bet on Potter logo’d device w/ screensavers, wallpapers, books bundled + special feature pieces.
This morning Amazon and J.K. Rowling announced the entire Potter series will be available via the Kindle Lending Library on June 19th.
This is an even bigger announcement that I anticipated.
For the first time we are seeing a major ebook property willingly jump into the ebook subscription waters. An entire industry is going to be watching this extremely closely as authors and publishers continue to weigh the merits of ebook lending - specifically via the Kindle Lending Library.
For Amazon, this is an incredibly smart move. This announcement should have a material impact on Amazon Prime subscriptions. People who were never inclined to be aware of Amazon Prime before will be now - as Potter has truly transcended generations and just about every demographic you can note.
In one fell swoop Amazon has seriously change the game.
Kindle Lending Library? Validated by the biggest and the best.
Kindle? An exclusive and cost effective place to get great content.
Amazon? Genius.
Amazon has very aggressively been redesigning their entire approach to book marketing and discovery. It shows in spaded with the latest email formats.
The Amazon emails are clean, clear, concise and it’s very easy to quickly scan and make a single call to action decision.
It would be beneficial to know how well these perform for Amazon … but that’s unlikely to be disclosed.
Regardless, authors, publishers and retailers would be wise to take note of the design and execution quality of an email marketing piece from the biggest player in the market.
Dynamic Pricing & Promotional Windows - The Buzz Bissinger Lesson
Add dynamic pricing and its impact on promotional windowing to the laundry list of complexities in the rapidly evolving ebook market.
Yesterday, these relatively new (but not unique) requirements were very publicly reinforced via Mr. Buzz Bissinger’s “After Friday Night Lights” experience. The New York Times and paidContent have more detailed insight into the sequence of events - both of which are worth reading.
Unfortunately, the recipient of this example was Mr. Buzz Bissinger - the critically acclaimed author of “Friday Night Lights” and his latest release “After Friday Night Lights” - who, by all accounts, is a really good guy.
Realizing dynamic pricing and windowing have been around since publishers and Amazon began by fighting over the timing of ebook releases, this issue shouldn’t be news. It also shouldn’t be a big deal - yet it is because it is representative of the lack of planning that goes into the management of a digital product (an ebook).
Undoubtedly there were countless hours that went into the research, writing, editing and release of “After Friday Night Lights”. Yet, despite all of this planning, little to no attention was (apparently) paid to the implications of altering price in a market driven by a company, Amazon, that has made its living (and many fortunes) pioneering dynamic pricing.
In the recent past, the idea of a promotion with one retail outlet would not have been an issue with another. However, in today’s dynamic market, real-time price changes and promotions have serious and far reaching instantaneous consequences (no matter how short term or unique the distribution channel). If ebooks don’t have well defined release, pricing and promotional windowing strategies in light of these market dynamics, we will be treated to more of the same.
Thankfully, the recipient of this example was someone as well versed in the PR and media game as Mr. Bissinger. His ability to take this story public will hopefully provide a warning shot for authors and publishers who are seeking to optimize the promotion of their works.
It’s a new day for ebook marketing.
A Flurry of Activity for eBook Channel Discovery
One of the biggest concerns about self publishing (and indie publishing in general) is the author and publisher’s ability to get their works in front of the key decision makers - those who purchase books.
Without direct access to the influencers, it’s incredibly difficult for distributors, retailers and librarians to know they should be purchasing these books.
Yesterday Vook and Publisher’s Weekly announced a partnership focused specifically on addressing this issue.
Publishers Weekly and Vook have reached a deal that will let self-published authors get access to Vook’s new e-book creation tool as well as participate in PW Select’s listing and review service. Under PW Select+, authors will receive all the benefits of PW Select as well as a host of options for using Vook’s e-book creation and publishing platform. Those benefits include conversion of authors’ manuscripts to an e-book format acceptable to B&N.com, Apple iBooks, and Amazon.com; automatic distribution within those three sales channels including full reporting; a distribution-ready EPub file for the author’s use in his or her own channels; an ISBN number (if needed); and seamless registration and integration into both PW Select and Vook. The price is $199.
While I’m researching this in far more detail right now, specifically as it relates to Agile Publishing and the effective removal of physical (and digital) galley’s from the publishing process, it is worth noting that a flurry of activity regarding channel discovery for indie authors and publishers is just about to begin.
