Einige große Buchverlage scheinen eine neue Strategie beim Umgang mit den Chancen der digitalen Medien zu haben:
► Two Major Publishers To Hold Back E-Books
Simon & Schuster is delaying by four months the electronic-book editions of about 35 leading titles coming out early next year, taking a dramatic stand against the cut-rate $9.99 pricing of e-book best sellers. A second publisher, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group, said it has similar plans in the works.
Dieses Zitat sollte man Carolyn Reidy, CEO von Simon & Schuster, in 10 Jahren nochmal vorlegen und fragen, ob sie das noch genauso sieht: “The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback”
An den Leser denkt Caroly Reidy auch, aber leider nur im Dienste ihres angestammten Geschäftsmodells: “We believe some people will be disappointed. But with new [electronic] readers coming and sales booming, we need to do this now, before the installed base of e-book reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible.”
David Young, chief executive der Hachette Book Group, sagt es wenigstens frei heraus: “We’re doing this to preserve our industry,” Mr. Young said. “I can’t sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It’s about the future of the business.”
Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang ein Beitrag von Seth Godin:
► The magic of dynamic pricing
Er mahnt an, dass man vielmehr im Bereich der Preispolitik ansetzen sollte und Schnelligkeit des Zugangs zum Content, die durchaus einen Wert hat, über dynamische Preise abbilden sollte. Den digitalen Content dem Leser jedoch vorenthalten zu wollen, sei eine schlechte Idee.
So, for example, you could charge $24 for the Kindle edition for the first two weeks, then $15 for the next two weeks and then $9 for the year after that. Once it’s a backlist classic, it could cost $2…
Or, thinking about how you might create launch excitement, you could reverse it. $2 the first day, $5 the first week, then $9 later. Better hurry!
Or, to get more sophisticated, you could reward the market for getting excited. What if the price for everyone drops if enough people pre-order it?
Bildquelle: Muffet (CC-Lizenz)
