Disqus - Latest Comments for tinbox

Re: Nicholson Baker's Live Kindle Debate - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:29:51 -0000

If Conde Nast is going to build a Museum of Olde Tyme Periodicals, then NB should be the curator. But I don't expect there will a line to get in.

Re: Copyfight: David Rees Vs. Jamba Juice - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:28:39 -0000

But like Salinger, Mr Rees created characters. Mr Rees published several books involving these characters. Everyone recognizes them and JJ is attempting to use these characters without permission in a commercial venture. The JJ ads are not fair use or satire. This doesn't really seem complicated: JJ needs to withdraw the ads immediately.

Where the heck is the publisher? Soft Skull should be protecting their rights and their authors' rights.

Re: Journalists Debate E-Book Pricing - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:26:11 -0000

Is Cohen asserting that e-meals would be as expensive as tangible meals? If 30% of restaurant meals were returned as inedible, wouldn't serving e-meals that are never returned be cost effective? Surely the e-restaurant would have expenses (servers, software upgrades, staff training), but on the whole it seems it would be far cheaper to deliver digital oysters and strawberries and champagne than physical versions.

Re: Slate Critic Calls for Lower E-Book Prices - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:05:35 -0000

If the goal of the trade publishing industry were to dream up ways to avoid taking advantage of an innovation in distribution, could they possibly come up with more obstructions? Make the ebooks expensive! Make the ebooks late!

So the future Sourcebooks offers is one where YA titles retail in superstores for $30. Does anyone else think that is delusional?

Re: Sourcebooks Bucks $9.99 E-Book Price Point - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:42:42 -0000

The publisher doesn't get to set the retail price. This battle was fought almost 100 years ago and Macy's (the evil discounter) won. Ms Raccah is not brave to sacrifice Kaleb Nation's sales on the altar of hardcover pricing; she is using this title to fight a losing battle at KN's expense.

Is today's trade publishing industry so wildly profitable and fast growing that it must never change? Is there strong evidence, or any evidence , that ebook sales will diminish the hardcover sales of this title? Are digital device owners indifferent, marginal book buyers or rather are they among the most enthusiastic book buyers? Is Ms Raccah completely out of her mind?

Re: The Governmental Boiler Room

tinbox — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:19:00 -0000

Sadly, the article was not worth my time. There are many excellent arguments against recent gov't actions, bailouts in particular. But criticisms from the Chicago law-and-economics crowd are a bit rich. Everyone agrees that the gov't makes laws. The Chicago school thinks economics ought to play a big role in the laws that are made. And they got their wish. They just don't like the particular brand of economics being used. Gee, that's tough. Maybe they should have thought that part through a bit more.

Re: Kindle Ownership an Unreliable Marker of Literary Self-Importance - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:28:56 -0000

GalleyCat seems to be arguing more with Sara Nelson than the NYT. The NYT article was in Fashion&Style and focused on how the Kindle could affect flirting and other social interactions. Why would the literary types at GalleyCat care about that?

GalleyCat is being overly defensive--the article doesn't make any claims that Kindle owners are smarter, sexier readers. Just richer and probably more interesting.

Re: John Lithgow Resurrects Mark Twain - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:23:47 -0000

I don't get it. If someone actually wants both hardcover and e-book, why would you give them the e-book for free? It sends the message that HarperStudio either can't sell e-books or thinks they have no value.
Perhaps it makes sense as an irrational, attention-getting gimmick. But Bob Miller has talked about this for some time now as an actual business model.
Do a lot of people buy the music CD and the download? Of course, you can't convert books into ebooks and vice versa, but that only matters to consumers that need both. And if they actually need both, why give one version away?

Re: Book Stock Watch: Noble Rumors - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:42:03 -0000

As B&N competes with Amazon for ebook sales, does anyone think e-book prices are going to go up? Is B&N going to respond to Amazon's $9.99 pricing with a $19.99 alternative?

Where is this headed? Back to the model of $25 hardcovers followed by $8 paperbacks the next year? Doesn't seem likely.

Re: Agent Jarred Weisfeld on Rod Blagojevich's Book Deal - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:43:48 -0000

Well, he uses colorful language without prompting and he didn't order that anyone be tortured, so there's a couple things working for him.

Re: Amazon Customers Boycotting eBooks over $9.99 - GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:45:13 -0000

Ebooks are extremely portable, delivered in 30 seconds, and searchable. Why would anyone prefer non-searchable, bulky and slow? Because it has a snazzy cover?

In what universe are starry-eyed geeks forcing people to buy Kindles and Sony ereaders? People buy these devices to read things that they want to read. The consumer data you are looking for would be found in Amazon's sales of books where multiple formats are offered. I believe they claim Kindles get around 10% of sales when offered--huge when you consider the small number of Kindles around. Also you could look at spending on books by Kindle owners. Does it drop, or do they increase book purchasing. I believe their total book spending rises-indicating that the Kindle has made books more attractive relative to other forms of media/entertainment.

Re: Amazon Customers Boycotting eBooks over $9.99 - GalleyCat

tinbox — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:00:57 -0000

Doogie, you may be right in the long run on ereader prices. The Kindle is cheaper than B&N's ill-fated Rocket-reader from 10 years back. But we are not going to $50 in the same time frame as the boycott of Kindle offerings over $9.99.

Michael57, everyone in publishing should read your comment and marvel at how complacent the industry is in 2009--a full year into an economic collapse of as yet unknown magnitude. Sure, if everyone did exactly as they did 5 years ago, all would be well (for those who had it good then anyway). But is that a realistic proposition? If it's not, then what has to change?

Re: Amazon Customers Boycotting eBooks over $9.99 - GalleyCat

tinbox — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:15:17 -0000

The first 4 commenters are currently employed in print publishing and will repeat any talking points no matter how absurd.

Nobody buying ebooks cares about publishers' margins on print books. That's crazy talk. And the Kindle doesn't seem to be cheap to produce, so it won't likely be $50, ever.

It's as if publishers have been watching the NYTimes melt down and thinking, "yeah, we can do that!"

When an industry sees its customers as "the problem," there are very significant changes ahead.

Re: Captain Chesley Sullenberger to Appear at BookExpo America - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:39:31 -0000

He may well be a great guy, but Captain Sullenberger also stands as an example of a certain publishing model: large advance, celebrity hype, low back-list potential. This is the theme BookExpo America wants to highlight?

Re: OUP Executive Explains "Why Ebooks Must Fail" - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:28:17 -0000

And this is the head of Business Development?

Reading his other blog posts, you see that his plan for ebooks is to give them away with the purchase of a print book. And this is after he goes on about how ebooks can be expensive to support. So after paying for separate development and maintenance costs for ebooks, publishers are just going to give them away? What?

Maybe GM could just give away an electric car with each Hummer! Yeah, that would solve all their problems....

Re: Christopher Hitchens Scraps Philosophy Book - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:46:15 -0000

It would be interesting to see the actual line taken out. Hitchens' Vanity Fair waterboarding article is quite recent (Aug 2008). Back in 2005 he was penning "A War to be Proud Of" for the Weekly Standard and didn't think that torture was as important as, say, the "encouragement of democratic and civil society movements in Egypt, Syria, and most notably Lebanon, which has regained a version of its autonomy."

So it's not like torture was such a big deal you couldn't get past it and be proud. I mean, torture is an ugly thing, but if it has brought us democracy in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon...hey, wait a minute...

Re: Fictionwise Has Sold Nearly Five Million E-Books - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:46:01 -0000

Assuming Fictionwise has steadily lost money (no mention of profits in the PR), what metrics did B&N use to arrive at $15.7 million? Would it have cost $15 million to build their own money-losing, on-line e-book service?

Re: Richard Nash To Leave Soft Skull and Counterpoint - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

tinbox — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:22:52 -0000

Where is Mr Nash going and why? In this business climate, nobody is leaving a successful operation without an offer hand, are they?