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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 11:10AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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Dear WoTC,
I want to first applaud the fact that you are finally venturing into the world of eBooks. I think it is a positive move that will help others around the world enjoy DnD products. But your decision to publish the up coming novel Shadowbane as an eBook only product will hurt customers of the Realms rather than help. With this decision you are preventing those who either cannot afford an eReader or have chosen not to purchase one, from having access to the novel.
I will not attempt to guess the reasons for this decision in this letter, but at first glance it does not appear to be one with the customer first in mind. I urge you to stick with publishing both print and eMedia until such time that the pricing of eMedia reaches reasonable and fair levels. I have been a loyal customer of DnD and the Realms for well over 20 years. It is a shame that I will not be able to enjoy Shadowbane due to its unavailabilty in printed form.
For my fellow customers and fans, please respond to this post with your thoughts on this topic. I feel it is an important one to all of us.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 12:50PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Oct 25, 2006
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Product Description
Show
The city of Luskan has always been a den of pirates, thieves, and murderers. But lately, things have gotten much worse. A ship crashes offshore with nothing but corpses. Every day, people go crazy and brutalize those around them. And the only signs that even the most hardened criminals still walk the streets at night are bones.
Luskan's sister city, Waterdeep, has sent a detachment to quarantine the unclean city—to let the filth within die, rather than infect the rest of the Realms. But Myrin has slipped inside, declaring that she will save Luskan. Shadowbane follows, determined to save Myrin and therefore her pet city—even if he has to kill every rat in Luskan to do it.
Shadowbane features the triumphant return of popular, dark vigilante from Downshadow and carries forth the threads of the worlds-spanning Abyssal Plague series.
This expanded e-book also includes a brand-new short story, entitled “A New Purpose”, as well as links to an existing prequel and an original e-novella, featuring characters from Shadowbane. Also included are links to background information on the Abyssal Plague series and sample chapters from other books in the series. The previous book Downshadow was available as both, as were those in the Abyssal Plague series, while the author states [post 13] these are not required reading for this book at would make since to do so. I won’t read novels this way; I have used the Kindle, did not enjoy it, and got rid of it. If WotC was to publish all the existing 4E and Essentials rules and accessories this way, I might reconsider this option. I enjoyed reading Downshadow and the Abyssal Plague series, but this isn’t enough for me to buy an E-book. Sorry Erik 
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 1:11PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Oct 16, 2007
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I agree with you on the notion of pricing: eBooks have much lower overhead and virtually zero marginal cost per copy, so there's no reason they should cost as much as a paperback. With regard to this, though: With this decision you are preventing those who either cannot afford an eReader or have chosen not to purchase one, from having access to the novel.
you're writing this on either an Internet-enabled smartphone or, more likely, a computer. Your reading experience using Amazon's Kindle or BN.com's Nook applications on your computer may not be exactly what you want, but it's disingenuous to claim that WoTC's publishing decision is preventing people from reading the book.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 1:31PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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I agree with you on the notion of pricing: eBooks have much lower overhead and virtually zero marginal cost per copy, so there's no reason they should cost as much as a paperback.
With regard to this, though:
With this decision you are preventing those who either cannot afford an eReader or have chosen not to purchase one, from having access to the novel.
you're writing this on either an Internet-enabled smartphone or, more likely, a computer. Your reading experience using Amazon's Kindle or BN.com's Nook applications on your computer may not be exactly what you want, but it's disingenuous to claim that WoTC's publishing decision is preventing people from reading the book.
I do realize this. On my part you are correct that I can indeed read an eBook on my computer. I however am abstaining the eBook format until prices come down to more fair and reasonable prices. I am exercising my role as a comsumer in order to keep retailers honest. But there are still many people who do not own computers, believe it or not, who will be totally blocked from reading this novel. Granted, you can't accomodate a shrinking demographic forever and at some point in time the industry will need to move forward. But I think that time is still far into the future.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 1:51PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jun 17, 2010
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Are you objecting to the price of the books, or the price of the readers? Because all of the things I've purchased were less for the electronic version than the printed one. And I use the free smartphone app, so I didn't have to shell out cash for a dedicated reader (I did buy a smartphone, but I would have gotten it anway - and did get it, first, before the apps existed).
D&D Next = D&D: Quantum Edition
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 2:27PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Oct 25, 2006
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I agree with you on the notion of pricing: eBooks have much lower overhead and virtually zero marginal cost per copy, so there's no reason they should cost as much as a paperback.
With regard to this, though:
With this decision you are preventing those who either cannot afford an eReader or have chosen not to purchase one, from having access to the novel.
you're writing this on either an Internet-enabled smartphone or, more likely, a computer. Your reading experience using Amazon's Kindle or Barnes and Noble's Nook applications on your computer may not be exactly what you want, but it's disingenuous to claim that WoTC's publishing decision is preventing people from reading the book.
As far as the money goes, I view it as replacing the cost of paper with the cost of the tech. Hell if Erik was to place it on his own web page I'd gladly pay him the associated fees for reading it, cutting the middlemen out of completely, but sadly this isn't the way business works. While I’m reading/writing this from my PC, I’m also reading a paperback copy of Naamah's Curse (677 paper pages – mmm love the smell) purchased at my local bookstore for $7.99, not one of the large chains. If I could have waited awhile the near-by Used book store would have offered it for $3.99. The e-book however is available for $12.99 so in this case it actually cost more. This series (8 books so far) has been loaned to 4 other people who see me reading it and want to burrow it, they in turn got hooked on it and have bought there own and others by the author. When I had my Kindle no one every inquired as to what I was reading and it was never loaned out, which I would have done for 2 of 4 friends (the other two live to far away). Even the author notes the limiting factors of a trilogy in his post: Assuming all goes well (i.e., sales figures pan out, story demonstrates its popularity, etc) this is to be the start of a series, indeed. More on the exact plan as details emerge.
Thank you for your guys' support over the years. It's proved very, very important to the whole process! (Also, keep it up, pls!)
Cheers
But how many people are going to loan their E-reader’s out? Where is the terrific art that will cach the eye and raise someone’s curiosity of a new costomer? And where is the delectable smell?
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 2:30PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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Are you objecting to the price of the books, or the price of the readers? Because all of the things I've purchased were less for the electronic version than the printed one. And I use the free smartphone app, so I didn't have to shell out cash for a dedicated reader (I did buy a smartphone, but I would have gotten it anway - and did get it, first, before the apps existed).
Mainly the price of the eBooks. I think the readers are priced at a high but reasonable point. I can see them coming down. The eBooks however are at least $2-3 overpriced. Publishers need to change their whole view of how eBooks are created and priced. Setting the price to the length of a book would be a good idea with your average FR paperback being around $5. But right now, they are taking the savings they get from printing, storage, and shipping and funneling it right into their profits rather than passing that savings onto the consumer. If people continue to accept list prices that are exactly the same as the paperback then they will never have any reason to lower those prices to more reasonable levels.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 2:33PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Jun 17, 2010
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See, that's what I don't get. Everything that I've bought so far has been less expensive, sometimes half the list price for the printed version. I mean, I look up a book, and it'll say $12.99 print, and $7.99 for the Kindle version. I've never once seen the electronic one higher.
Maybe it's because I haven't really been going for the newest releases.
D&D Next = D&D: Quantum Edition
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 2:42PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Oct 25, 2006
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See, that's what I don't get. Everything that I've bought so far has been less expensive, sometimes half the list price for the printed version. I mean, I look up a book, and it'll say $12.99 print, and $7.99 for the Kindle version. I've never once seen the electronic one higher.
Maybe it's because I haven't really been going for the newest releases.
or best sellers.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 17, 2011 - 2:51PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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See, that's what I don't get. Everything that I've bought so far has been less expensive, sometimes half the list price for the printed version. I mean, I look up a book, and it'll say $12.99 print, and $7.99 for the Kindle version. I've never once seen the electronic one higher.
Maybe it's because I haven't really been going for the newest releases.
www.amazon.com/Sword-Gods-Forgotten-Real...
This book is a few months old. I mentioned the list price because that is what the publisher suggests the price the retailer should sell the product at. So in WoTC's eyes, $7.99 is what this novel should sell at. Amazon of course is trying to move people into their eBook reader so they discount that product by $1.60 to make it more attractive than a paperback.
Now if WoTC listed the price at say $4.99 Amazon will probably leave the price as suggested but it would still be a far more attractive price than $6.39 or even $7.99 for a paperback. I would feel like WoTC is acting in a fair way and I would be more motivated into moving into an eReader. But right now they are trying to maximize their profits at the expense of the consumer. Basically, if you buy an eBook, you are getting less for your money than if you had bought the same book in paperback.
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