This ebook thing is expensive!!!

[Aldo]

EPB & David you are bang on your money, if publishers jumped on this now they could easily compete with amazon, apple or anyone else.

I also had a look at your site and changing characters for a son, daughter or loved one is amazing.

Your book "second coming" is about 74 pence on amazon you simply cannot argue that is simply a bargain even if you only read a chapter or two.

I also think the government adding VAT is wrong as they don't on normal books

 

[davidhburton]

EPB & David you are bang on your money, if publishers jumped on this now they could easily compete with amazon, apple or anyone else.

I also had a look at your site and changing characters for a son, daughter or loved one is amazing.

Your book "second coming" is about 74 pence on amazon you simply cannot argue that is simply a bargain even if you only read a chapter or two.

I also think the government adding VAT is wrong as they don't on normal books

Thanks!! I started out with it for just the children's novel (Scourge) because I thought kids would get a kick out of seeing their name in the book, but started offering it for The Second Coming as well. Being an indie author gives me the freedom to do that from my site. If I had traditionally published the books, I wouldn't have that freedom. Not to mention DRM would be attached to the books, and that's a whole different conversation.

 

[Technician99]

I use Kobo, I out of spite because of the fact Apple took 4 months to sell anything in Canada will never buy an ebook from Apple. Anyhow Kobo is owned by Chapters the biggest book retailer in Canada and I have yet to find one book in the store which I could not download with Kobo. There are thousands of books for me to choose from. I really do believe in 5 or 10 years eBooks will take off but most people will not be buying them from Apple. Could it be the failure of iBooks is the limited hardware? You can get the Kobo reader on anything but iBooks is limited to Apple products. Why would I sell books using iBooks when problems like Kobo reach everybody?

 

[iPadCharlie]

Could it be the failure of iBooks is the limited hardware?

No, its because their selection sucks. No one can come close to Amazon's selection (in the US anyway).

You can get the Kobo reader on anything but iBooks is limited to Apple products.

I do agree that this is one major shortcoming of the iBooks system. With almost every other app, I can read books on my iPad and my computer.

Why would I sell books using iBooks when problems like Kobo reach everybody?

Copyright rules vary from one country to another. Just like the other vendors, I am sure there is content that I can buy on my version of Kobo in the US that you can't buy in Canada.

 

[iPadUser]

This is why Apple does so well with the ipad/ipod touch. The app store! they make so much money off if this.

It's not really Apple, though - I buy all my books from Amazon using the Kindle app. Your post prompted me to check iBooks prices and they're the same, which surprised me considering iTunes gets a 30% cut.

I was not talking about just the ibooks where I said "They make so much money off of this" I was talking about the app store in general. And yes, it also surprised me a lot of the books are similiarily priced even though we are talking about Apple here. (Who usually put a fine/premium price on just about evertything they make and publish.)

 

[davidhburton]

I use Kobo, I out of spite because of the fact Apple took 4 months to sell anything in Canada will never buy an ebook from Apple. Anyhow Kobo is owned by Chapters the biggest book retailer in Canada and I have yet to find one book in the store which I could not download with Kobo. There are thousands of books for me to choose from. I really do believe in 5 or 10 years eBooks will take off but most people will not be buying them from Apple. Could it be the failure of iBooks is the limited hardware? You can get the Kobo reader on anything but iBooks is limited to Apple products. Why would I sell books using iBooks when problems like Kobo reach everybody?

Kobo's good, but I tend to stick with Amazon and sometimes Smashwords for my purchases. I like the fact that Kindle is available for a lot of platforms.

 

[Aldo]

yeah i like amazon so i can read it on my android phone if im out on the train etc.

I bought no angel from amazon at a £1 ($1.5) where as itunes was £6 ($9.2)

The free 12 days app is a little disappointing at the moment with one book that was free anyway

 

[marchold]

The key is to buy just a few really good books.

 

[Iagosbud]

Being brand new to all of this. Just got the IPad on Dec. 29.
Some questions and observations.....
1. Why can't I buy directly from publishers? Or can I?
2. Why when I buy the hard copy of a book do I not get an electronic version as well?
(When I buy a DVD I can receive up to 4 versions of the same movie (BluRay, 3D, reg, and an electronic download) all for ~$20-$30...
3. Why when I buy more than 1 e-book from Kobo... Do I have to pay for them all separately?
4. Like others have said... These things are expensive and in my opinion if the publishers and book sellers don't find easier and cheaper ways to make the content available they just might drive people away from electronic books.....

And one more thing I discovered.... Don't switch off night reading while you are reading your iPad in the dark...

 

[Aldo]

I see Amazon in the US is trialling/doing a 14 day lend a book to friends and family, I think this is a cracking idea but sadly not for authors and businesses

 

[iPadCharlie]

Being brand new to all of this. Just got the IPad on Dec. 29.
Some questions and observations.....
1. Why can't I buy directly from publishers? Or can I?

There are several other ereaders besides iBooks that do allow you to purchase directly from some smaller publishers or companies that work primarily with self-published authors.

Stanza has direct access to SmashWords which is one of the major self-publishing houses as well as Random House and Harlequin to name just a few.

Another free app called WattPad is another place for self-published works claiming to have over 100,000 titles for free!

2. Why when I buy the hard copy of a book do I not get an electronic version as well?
(When I buy a DVD I can receive up to 4 versions of the same movie (BluRay, 3D, reg, and an electronic download) all for ~$20-$30...

I have never heard of this being done by any of the book sellers or publishers that I use on a regular basis.

3. Why when I buy more than 1 e-book from Kobo... Do I have to pay for them all separately?

I believe with Kobo you can keep adding items to your shopping cart and pay for them all at once.

4. Like others have said... These things are expensive and in my opinion if the publishers and book sellers don't find easier and cheaper ways to make the content available they just might drive people away from electronic books.....

Actually, little Borders is preparing to buy giant Barnes & Noble. Both of these sellers are experiencing a significant decline in their "ink on paper" sales.

 

[peled]

I think that in the Long run, the Book publication (paper) will die.
Same as the record market for songs.
The MP3 killed the Record companies.
The ePUB will eventually kill the Printed book industry.

I personally used to go into a used book store every other month to look and buy books.
( I have a nice eXcel list).

Well . I don't go there any more. I the last 2 month I added 63 ePUB books ( All Top Best sallers) .
It was not from the iStore nether from Amazon...

 

[epb]

The key is to buy just a few really good books.

I disagree - this philosophy is better applied to books bought in print. My print, permanent collection are my favorite books and some classics (I semi-collect Heritage editions). For pop fiction, I buy the electronic version.

 

[carrigo]

i do it pretty much the same way, but it still gets expensive at times

 

[Gen from Oz]

I have not bought any books from the apple store -too few and too expensive! Amazon much better priced and choice. If apple block them i'll move to kindle for ebooks for sure. I don't understand why such an amazing product (iPad) can fail to deliver on books...