Terri Bischoff
Good morning all. Sorry I keep forgetting to post on my day. UGH. So I will make this short and sweet. I have a few questions -
- Is anyone on mailing/email lists of publishers? If so, how often do you receieve information and do you buy directly from the publisher or order/purchase elsewhere?
- Ebook pricing - what are you willing to pay? What do you think is an appropriate price range?
- Critical reviews and blurbs - do they mean anything to you as a consumer? Do you actively go to review places? Or do you happen to notice them on books? Does a blurb from a favorite author or from a reveiwer like Publishers Weekly make you pick up a book?
- Awards - same as above. Do you specificially buy an award winning book based on the award?
- And finally, what do you wish publishers knew? Take this opportunity for praise, suggestions, rants, etc. Granted this is very informal, but I do want to know what is going on out there in consumerland.
Thanks!
A flurry of publishers' catalogs hits my mailbox in mid-fall. I read them carefully, looking for perfect Christmas gifts. The rest of the year, such catalogs go directly to the recycling bin.
I still prefer shopping hands-on at bookshops. I'll pick up a book and open to a random page; if I like what I read, I'll turn to chapter 1. If that pulls me in, I'm almost ready to buy. Last of all I skim the dust jacket only as insurance that there will be no unpleasant surprises. For mysteries that means no gore, no ghosts.
Author blurbs matter to me only for nonfiction. A hearty endorsement by a well respected historian or doctor convinces me (perhaps naively) that I'm not looking at sloppy research or dangerous medical advice.
Awards? Ha!
Posted by: Connie Scofield | April 21, 2016 at 01:24 PM
Thank you!
Posted by: Terri Bischoff | April 21, 2016 at 01:48 PM
Catching up on the blog over the weekend... I wanted to weigh in on ebook pricing. It drives me bananas when an ebook is the same price or just a dollar or two less than the paper book. One problem is that Amazon is allowed to discount paper but not e-, so you wind up with frequent situations where the mass market book and ebook are both $7.99, or the trade paperback is discounted to $10 and the ebook is $9.99. I still prefer paper myself, but on the occasions when I do buy an ebook (for instance, if it's for my book club and I want it fast), generally if something is $7.99 or less I don't think about it too much. (We generally read older titles, so these aren't current hot sellers.) I knew of one small-press owner who refused to do ebooks at all because they'd cut into his paper sales; he's since gone out of business.
Posted by: Sue Trowbridge | April 23, 2016 at 09:16 PM