iBooks prices still way too high

[ngenerator]

On a similar topic, I enjoyed comics as a kid. I haven't picked up a single issue since like the mid '80s but I still have a soft spot, so I've read the occasional graphic novel or hardcover.

I see this as a huge opportunity for the comic companies to e-publish. Someone like me might be tempted to pick up e-subscriptions, when we won't even remotely consider hitting up the local shop. So far they've really failed. Marvel has a nice app, but they really need to rethink the subscription vs. spoon-fed issue model.

Comic Zeal App + Pirate Bay search for "CBR" = Perfect

 

[stephg]

Find any two books on Amazon, BN or iTunes and you'll find they're comparatively priced -- one to two dollars in difference at most, and often the same price. There are elements of artistry (and function) in iBooks that don't exist in the others. It's the difference between cheese and extra cheese, and I don't mind paying for a little extra cheese, but I don't NEED it.

I have found that most of the time the prices are comparable or less than Amazon or B&N in iBooks. I prefer the iBooks landscape view, so usually I'll buy from iBooks unless the book I want is not available there. I agree that I am willing to pay a little more for the look I prefer, if necessary.

 

[wo0ng]

i ordred in amazon

 

[OGDaniel]

They are twice what they are in the store because you're also paying for the convenience of having that book and many others on a portable device, and with iOS 4, the ability to put that one book on different devices.

And the publishers will never lower the prices. There's no other alternative to buying books on the iPad, and they know people are still going to want to buy them.

 

[alecgold]

They are twice what they are in the store because you're also paying for the convenience of having that book and many others on a portable device, and with iOS 4, the ability to put that one book on different devices.

And the publishers will never lower the prices. There's no other alternative to buying books on the iPad, and they know people are still going to want to buy them.

Well, Im not sure, but it's the same old song again: if you need to buy them at 15 bucks each (or more) then a lot of people prefer to download them via torrents. At this moment it requires Calibre to convert pdf's to epubs, but with iOS4 on the ipad it works even as a pdf. Don't they ever learn it? With songs (mp3's) it started, then came movies and now books. All three started charging ridicules prices for songs/movies/books you can only hear/see/read on one device and people started breaking DRM and flooding them through torrents.
IMHO a lot of the bosses either think the digital evolution is a danger to their business and the need to charge with prices as high as possible, or they think they can get rich fast. But if the price is low and the deal is fair (I can read them on all my devices at least) I for one will never be bothered again with torrents, binaries or whatever. Just like the app-store. I buy things because I think I can use them and because they are so cheap or even for free.

Just another idea.
In the Netherlands there are about 16mln people. Research has shown that 68% sees their live as interesting enough to be made into a book. 1mln people would like to publish a book, 1/3th of them has the manuscript ready, only 1/10th of this last category really send the manuscript to a publisher. If you can send your manuscripts to Apple and they can publish them cheaply via the iBooks-store, what do I care if I as a writer only get $2 per sale and apple get's $1?
And if I'm a reader, what do I have to loose for a $3 book that I have been able to preview with 10 pages or something alike?
It's much like the app store where lot's of lite versions give you the possibility to try and more often than not I decided it was worth the $0,99 so I bought it. And they are apparently easy enough to make that there are already 200.000 apps (IIRC).
The problem is that there are 333.333 manuscripts ready, just in that small European country "the Kingdom of the Netherlands"
Even if just 1/10 of them sends in their manuscripts, how is Apple going to screen 33.333 books? And how for the 309mln people of the USA?
Perhaps books can be screened by search algorithms for profanities, the usual 4 letter words and even the amount of erotic/romantic intrigues can be determined, but even then it wouldn't be fool proof and I guess/hope that Apple is keen on keeping the iOS system p*rn-free.
Perhaps the literary level and sophistication of most books wouldn't get very high, but there would be many new and exciting writers that could grow into full-blown-world-wide-known authors, and a lot of the old, slow book-houses, printers and distributors would be overthrown. Just like the revolution in the paper industry that is so beautifully described in the "illusions perdues" of Honoré de Balzac. Up until now you needed a lot of skills to get it through an editor, cover desing, layout, printing, distributing, promoting etc. etc.
But writing is where the people's power is these days. Every body can read and write. For making music you need to have skills, equipment, a studio, mixing. Good movies are expensive and need dozens of professional people. But writing is just needs one (wo)man that sits at the kitchen table, penning or typing letters that form words, sentences that grow into pages and chapters that in the end make a finished story that equals a book.