http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chap...4/J.K.-Rowling-may-allow-Harry-Potter-e-books It's hard to imagine why the world's wealthiest author took this long to enter the e-book market. I suspect part of reason is because e-ink readers have very little appeal for the youth market and the iPad appeals mostly to the elderly. Yes, there is a demographic of "early adopters," but I doubt that is JK Rowlings demographic. The people who follow Wired.com probably aren't reading about wizards in their down time.
Late to the Party: J.K. Rowling may allow Harry Potter e-books?
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I heard it was about fear of piracy. Five years later, the internet is saturated with pirate Potter ebooks, so I think she may have cut herself out of a good slice of cash by waiting so long.
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I'm hoping you're kidding on the points I've quoted below, but in case you're not, I'm going to respond to them and risk looking like I don't get the joke if you are.
Again, I hope those things were written tongue-in-cheek...
Kids/teens do read on their cell phones, though. You can get Kindle, Nook, and other ebook apps for both the iPhone and Android phones, so even without dedicated ebook readers, kids read ebooks. I'm not even going to touch the iPad comment...
I know it's a stereotype, but techies read sci-fi and fantasy. Stereotypes are generally stereotypes because there's at least some truth to them.
Again, I hope those things were written tongue-in-cheek...
Think of the hard cover books she wouldn't have sold if people could load the books onto their e-readers for significantly less royalties to her.
I think it was a smart decision, honestly. She made a bunch of money off the hard covers and now she can make a bunch more on e-book. Instead of ebook sales eating into her hard cover sales, now they're on top of her hard cover sales.
I think it was a smart decision, honestly. She made a bunch of money off the hard covers and now she can make a bunch more on e-book. Instead of ebook sales eating into her hard cover sales, now they're on top of her hard cover sales.
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Not sure that the unavailability of official potter ebooks made much difference to the number of people reading potter ebooks over the last few years, to be honest, but you may have a point. I think ebook sales are more likely to cannibalise paperback sales though. (I think it makes a lot of sense to throw the ebook in with all hardback sales, actually.)
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I may be wrong, but I suspect that this statement is false. Just because an e-book is released doesn't mean it has to sell for mere pennies; many e-books sell for $14.99 upon release (this is becoming more and more popular). With the difference in production costs and delivery costs of e-books vs. hard covers, the amount of money made per copy would be almost the same. And remember, you can usually get the hard cover at B&N when it comes out for just a little over $20, not the cover price of $27.99 or $32.99.
Many people who use e-readers will not buy a hard cover, and many people who buy hard covers are not going to go buy an e-book. There is some overlap in the markets to be sure, but the idea of an e-book is not that it's cheaper, it's that it saves space on your bookshelf, when you travel, or when you just want to go to the local coffee shop and bring your ENTIRE library with you because you're undecided on what you want to read.
I suspect that Rowling, like many authors, is afraid of the digital age.
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For some reason I have the potter books on my laputa app on my phone. I have had my phone for a long time so it must have been when I first bought it. When I saw this thread, I didn't even realize she hadn't released her books in ebook format! I just wonder how many other people have already have her books on digital format, but people will buy it. I am an adult and it is nice to read them, makes you feel like a kid again.
If you've got them in digital format, they're not legal copies. HP isn't yet available as an ebook.
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Yep. It would have been nice to purchase my digital copies legally, along with my paper copies. But alas, Rowling refuses to make that available, so a pirating I did go.
Rowling's old assertion that "If people don't get it from me, they just won't have it," is one of the most hilariously misguided quotes concerning the digital era.
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One thing to remember about ebooks releasing alongside print is the percentage held against returns. All those print copies being warehoused, all those copies returned to the publisher for pulping... there is often a percentage held from the author's advance to cover those. I've been hearing growing rumbles of those returns increasing as ebook popularity grows.
At this point this shouldn't be an issue for Rowling, of course. The HP series has proven it's viability. warehoused and returned copies can be shipped to a new point of sale with no problems.Small fish such as myself can't say the same. Good, bad of whatever, it's a factor to work into your figures.
I haven't seen that quote, but, if true, she's obviously never googled 'Harry Potter PDF'. First result nets you all seven books.
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