As the debat over pricing of e-books heats up. There are now three major publishing houses delaying the realase of e-books set to realease early next year.
"In an interview, Brian Murray, chief executive of News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, said that beginning in January or February, HarperCollins will delay the e-book publication of five to 10 new hardcover titles each month. The delays are expected to range from four weeks to six months, depending on the book."
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On Tuesday, CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster publishing arm said it would delay the e-book publication of an estimated 35 adult and teen titles that it will publish through April 2010. The e-book editions will be delayed for four months.
Similarly, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, which publishes such writers as Stephenie Meyer and James Patterson, said it intends to delay the e-book publication of many titles in 2010 for three to four months."
"Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that the electronic editions for more than 30 works coming out in the first half of 2010 would not be available until four months after the hardcover. The affected books include novels by Don DeLillo and Mary Higgins Clark and a memoir by Karl Rove.
Publishers and authors have worried that e-books might hurt sales for hardcovers, which cost more; Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other online retailers commonly price top-selling e-releases at $9.99."
Amazon had this to say about people not being able to buy they books or e-books in their preferred format when the market was hot for it.
"In a statement, Amazon.com, which sells e-books on its Kindle reader, said: “Authors get the most publicity at launch and need to strike while the iron is hot. If readers can’t get their preferred format at that moment, they may buy a different book or just not buy a book at all.”
So the debate continues for publishing houses. Do they release the e-books at a low cost and actually capute the market with the possibility of hardcovers books. Will major publishing houses take a hit to their revenue or will the benefit from the release of cheap e-books the electronic alternative in this digitial age. There is a huge market for e-books there is no deniying that. Publishers though have had a hard time coming to the exact figure for pricing of their e-books. That needs to worked out and got right. As it should not dampen to spoil the sale of hard paperbacks.