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E-Books! The Future! So bright it blinds me!
Clearly they’re a rapidly growing (and mutating) sector of the market, and publishers and authors are still fumbling their way to a model that makes sense for everyone, as well as trying to find various ways to make new uses of this new technology.
One thing we’d like to experiment with is the possibility of offering, alongside your common-or-garden e-books of The First Law (containing the same text you get when you buy a paper book), enhanced e-books, at a slightly higher price point, containing some manner of additional material. Exactly what this additional material would be is still a subject of some discussion, which is where you, the book-buying public (and, since you’re here, presumably the book-buying public with a more than passing interest in my work) come in.
Questions, therefore - Would you have any interest in such a product, and what styles of additional content would persuade you to part with a little more of your hard-earned and give you the sense you got value for money? Have you ever thought, “man, I wish this e-book included X“.
Incidentally, what you probably won’t get is extra fiction – new chapters and that kind of business. It’s work time for me that I, my publisher, and almost certainly you as well, would rather I devoted to new books and stories. But early drafts, deleted bits and pieces, notes and plans, interviews with me and others involved with the project, that type of stuff might well be possible…
Speak to me, O Market.
Also they’re not as tactile as books are they? I’m a pretty tactile person myself as my various restraining orders can attest.
I’m a book person through and through, I have no interest in buying E books as reading something from the screen I find difficult I prefer to have the printed product in my hand.
A lot of people have mentioned all the extras that can be included, this again is of no interest to me. I buy DVDs that are the basic 1 disc with the feature on it I’ve no interest in hours and hours of “making of” skits, deleted scenes and bloopers (thats what Youtube is for).
It may appeal to a lot of people but for me I’ll stick to the paper product.
Printed books, never. I shall only ever read pages written by hand. A passing fad.
Sorry but scrap the entire idea of extras because at the end of the day it could slow down your writing. It will take more and more of your time and then the wait between books would be even longer. So please write Damn you!
p.s. remember Stephen King`s Mercy ( I do have a sledgehammer you know )
I’ve been tempted many times to buy an e-book but I think the technology is still unfinished and a bit too expensive at this stage.
I love the feel of a good book, but if I went on a trip and wanted to take along a few volumes of R.E. Howard (or that Abercrombie guy) it’s easier to do so on an e-book.
I think I’ll wait a while before taking the plunge.
You sell me an e-book that can switch over to an audio book, and then back to an e-book when I want it to, and that would be worth spending some extra money on….
Seriously, that would be awesome. I could go to the gym and listen to the book while I work out, and then read it later that night! I think that would definitely be worth looking into.
I’d love to see some Delted-Scenes-Type content and maybe some cool artwork.
I have an ebook reader- I share a small house with two daughters and a wife, my share of space is getting squeezed and books don’t last long in the loft – even bagged.
Ebooks with extra content – unnecessary.
I want to pay less for ebooks as there is no printing cost/raw material cost/ transport cost.
Sell me a paperback with a disc containing the electronic version for free by all means.
Allow me to ‘cash in’ my physical real world books in exchange for an electronic copy – that would be nice.
Let me read my ebook by any method without restrictions please – by phone, by ebook reader, laptop, pocket pc.
I don’t want to come back to a book 10 years later to find that I no longer have the ‘registered’ hardware and then have to resort to nefarious methods to be able to access it again.
I’ve never thought of ‘extras’ in eBooks, but you bring up a good point. I like your own idea of including the equivalent of deleted scenes (deleted words?), an early draft, a couple of interviews, etc. None of those are necessary, of course, but that’s why they’re called extras. And to the detractors who claim they don’t care about such things, the success of DVDs with extras shows that there IS a market for such things. I had thought of art work, but you already addressed that…
Brandon Sanderson actually did something like the deleted words. On his website, he had made available a sequence set in the world of “Elantris”. He couldn’t fit it in the actual novel as it was only peripherally related to the main plot*, but he liked it and gave it for free on his website as a PDF. So you could do something similar.
Another idea (though I don’t know how practical): how about a short story? It could be related to the novel’s story, or it could just be a stand-alone piece. Of course, I don’t expect you to spend too much time forcefully crafting a piece, but a lot of SFF authors seem to write short stories on the side, to be included in magazines or collections, or just for the hell of it. You could include such a piece in the eBook, if you’re into that sort of thing.
* It was basically a scene about this a couple of characters and what they went through ‘on the sidelines’ while the main story was going on.
P.S. Sorry about the long post…
I think the kicker for ebooks is the price, when you get things like this: http://www.iamcurrentlyreading.co.uk/2010/03/02/ebooks-the-price-shame/ it’s hard to have any faith in the system. I have a Sony ereader but its mostly got classics on it as more often than not I can get a release day hardback cheaper
Alex’s example there is, if not universal, at least telling. I’ve found myself in the same sort of pattern, more or less immediately dismissing (for purchase, anyway) any ebook with a price tag of more than $7-8 (the price of your average paperback). I’ve found a couple in that lofty price range that I wouldn’t mind reading but I don’t, instead putting them on a virtual wishlist until whoever is responsible for the ridiculous pricing comes to their senses. This isn’t a hard and fast rule that I follow, but much more a matter of perceived value, so when the next Abercrombie, Lynch, or – sometime before I die, please – Martin offering comes out, I’m likely to stray from that guideline based on what I have already read from that author. And that leads me to a final point for authors to chew on: Free Fridays. I don’t know if other ereaders/distributors have something like this going on, but the Barnes and Noble nook (which I have) has a weekly promotion wherein a book is offered free for a very limited time. As a result of the 4 or 5 books that I have downloaded from that program, both my wife and I have found new authors that we like. The real hook of a promotion like this is that the book being offered seems almost always to be the first book in a cycle or series. Brilliant! I like what I read of Robin Hobb’s series, therefore I am much more likely to “bend the rules” when it comes to purchasing her books in the future (or in her case, from an already substantial catalog). Likewise for the author my wife stumbled on to. The author being a known (and good) quantity, in other words, is what is most likely to draw out a little more of the hard-earned you mentioned, Joe.
I would defiantly pay extra for JOE to read a chapter or to to me and to pronounce all the names. any extra info on characters or things in his world is worth some extra money
O.k. her is an off the wall idea what if you put a pole in the book that would let us vote on what you wright about next
say for instance you have 4 or 5 stories your thinking about writing, well let us choose you could make it a big selling point WHAT IS JOE ABERCROMBIE GOING TO WRIGHT NEXT YOU DECIDE. I would pay extra to get a vote on what the next book is about. hell I would pay per vote
At this point I am buying about 80% ebooks. I only buy hard copy when an ebook is not available.
I would really like to see some of the background material. By that I mean, artwork, maps, character profiles. Access to material that may have inspired stories or charcters.
Well, just got an iPad and am hoping to God some decent fantasy books will soon appear in the iBooks store. Even you, Joe, at a pinch! Anyway, some of the embedded content in the media apps must be something that can be replicated in ebooks. Embedded video interviews are the obvious ones. Fairly cheap to do, and not very time-consuming, unless the author is a bit too in love with his/her own voice. And how about linking in or embedding some objective criticism? Carefully selected objective criticism, of course. Also, some decent ads for other works in the author’s oeuvre – by which I mean something a bit better than the trite guff you get on amazon (vids again? Pics?)
Some great ideas have already been posted here, but I’m marginally interested in the possibility of an e-book, and would probably ONLY shell out money for it if it included something extra and cool. As a writer, I think it would be fascinating to see earlier draft-type-stuff (the actual text from the first draft, even earlier outlines, your earliest notes on what the book would be about, etc.). That’s definitely something I’d be willing to pay for.
got an iPad 3 weeks ago.I’ll not buy another book again. No need for extra content, IMO. Just make sure your publisher gets their books on kindle, b&n, or iBooks. Kindle, by far has the best selection, but still many books not sold electronically…FYI just bought/read your 1st book on my iPad.
I prefer a hard copy book for sure but eBooks are the perfect skive! I can be reading an ebook on my laptop at work and nobody around can tell
It just looks like text. I really don’t want to shell out for a fancy ereader though that would totally give the game away and I’m happy to browse the web for extra content rather than pay for it (sorry Joe)
When you find little bits of info on the web you have the treasure hunter’s thrill; extra content that you pay for is just retail therapy and a poor second best.
Hi Joe, thanks for asking this question. I wrote a fairly long response in a blog post.
What does get on my nerves are the ‘techno snobs’ who say things like “i’ll never read an ebook” As if in doing so they would be committing a mortal sin. To those people I say, don’t knock what you’ve never tried. I’ve just given my entire book collection to charity & from now on I will only buy ebooks. They’re better for the environment, they don’t take up loads of precious space, they never get old and tatty and last but not least, they’re cheaper.
What I would like to see are things like maps included. The kindle edition of The blade itself, has just a blank front cover? All other kindle books i’ve bought sit nicely on my electronic bookshelf.
I am loath to stop buying paper books, but I am going to have to start. I just don’t have space, and I don’t want to give away the books I have. So, I’m buying a Kindle and going “e” at least unless I particularly fancy having the printed product for whatever reason. To be honest, paying more for the extra stuff doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. Now, when I buy CDs, I get all sorts of DVD content, interviews and stuff. I never watch or read any of it. In fact, if there was a cheaper version of the CD without any “extras” I would buy it.
Hi Jo
As a confirmed ebook reader owner who loves ebooks, I think the idea of enhanced ebooks is potentially a great idea – it parallels the extra packages you get on dvds these days and in principle has a lot of potential.
I agree we wouldnt want you and the team spending a huge amount of time and effort building up the package extras, as we would really like to see you writing the next book.
Having said all that however, I am not convinced what should be contained in the extras – perhaps visuals like maps etc where relevant because if like me you have to use medium or large format print because my wretched eyes don’t always cope well with the smallest print format. When you change the print size you almost inevitably lose any maps, or images. So perhaps a package could include enlarged images as well.
Keep the good stuff flowing.
I am loath to stop buying paper books, but I am going to have to start. I just don’t have space, and I don’t want to give away the books I have. So, I’m buying a Kindle and going “e” at least unless I particularly fancy having the printed product for whatever reason. To be honest, paying more for the extra stuff doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. Now, when I buy CDs, I get all sorts of DVD content, interviews and stuff. I never watch or read any of it. In fact, if there was a cheaper version of the CD
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