I just finished reading Tasha Alexander's fantastic A Poisoned Season.
I read And Only To Decieve last year, loved (luv!) it, set it on the keeper shelf then bought APS when it came out in trade earlier this year.
I enjoyed A Poison Season more than And Only To Decieve, (the characterization was deeper, imho, and ofcourse loved the expansion of the romance sub-thread -- although the hero felt a little too much like he had a walk-on/walk-off part re the story as a whole).
When I read the excerpt to A Fatal Waltz in the back of APS, I wanted to read the rest of that story right away!
But it's only out in hardback and the moment, and I'm cheap when it comes to cost per individual book. Really hate paying hardcover prices! The only reason I've made peace with the trade-size prices is because of the strain on my poor eyes. Have you checked out the font on some of the mass-market paperbacks? There's relatively no white space on some of those pages. I've left many a MMB on the shelf because the font was too freakin tiny/squashed (and I didn't want to read the book so badly that I was willing to shell out another $10 for the trade-size if that was an option).
So I checked the library; they have copies of A Fatal Waltz on order, but nothing in stock! None! Nada! In the entire Metropolitian Toronto Public Library system! Whaaaaa!
Then I get the brilliant idea of ordering the ebook and run over to Fictionwise, figuring the downloadable version will run me between $5-$8.
Anygouge....
Are you freakin kidding me? $16.11?!?! That's the cost of the trade--and with the trade-size I'd get the loverly tactile experience of holding the book, the yummy pulpy scent of the pages, plus cover art that I can look at any time I'd like in bewtween chapters or flipping the pages, or whatever.
Hell, I can order the hardcover from Chapter-Indigo for a few pennies more!(online offer only, shipping included, but not taxes).
[/rant]
I highly recommend these books, by the way.
9 comments:
I totally agree with you about the outrageousness of ebook pricing for books out in hardcover and trade. Also really annoying is that they don't drop the price once the paperback comes out. It usually does happen eventually but much later than the release of the pb.
For health reasons, I'm currently finding ebooks heaps and heaps easier to read than paper books, so I'm finding this really, really annoying. Also the way the ebooks will be out for books 3 to 6 (or whatever) of a series, but not for 1 and 2. I'm one of those people who has to start a series at book one, so it really ticks me off.
Baen are good. They have ebooks of their hardcovers available for $6, but there are not a lot of Baen books I want and usually the ones that I do I'd rather have the actual hardcover.
Okay, that's my rant. Thanks for giving me a place to share it.
Kerry, rant away! lol.
I'm still pretty irked about the price point. Even though I have no intention of buying the ebook for AFW now, it ticks me off that the price won't drop when the mass-market and/or trade-size is issued. Baen has the right of it, imo.
I'm also totally with you on the not having the whole series available in ebook format. What's up with that?
Must confess, the pricing of some e-books has always puzzled me--which is kind of embarrassing as an e-book author. There's just no way they should cost as much to produce as print. Why should they cost the same?
You make these sound interesting, at least. I've been in a reading funk.
16 bucks for the e-book of a hardcover is INSANE! When you can buy it for like 17 in print when it's new (on amazon.com anyway).
BTW I put back three or four MMPB's yesterday....because of the small print.
"...the pricing of some e-books has always puzzled me--which is kind of embarrassing as an e-book author. There's just no way they should cost as much to produce as print."
Ditto, and exactly. But, since it is the acceptable pricing, and my writing income at this point depends on it, I won't quibble. ;-P
I just do not see the justification for epricing to be more than a massmarket book. If they're afraid that offering the hardcover book as an ebook priced as MMB, then honestly, they should just not offer it. Wait till the MMB/Trade comes out, then offer the ebook at a 'sane' price.
::checks blood-pressure::
As for Tasha's books, they are a delight!
Amie, you posted while I was rambling on. heh.
Something tells me they aren't selling a lot of those ebooks. I'm also thinking that folks who normally buy hardback/trade-size are already a hard sell for ebooks, the price point is the killing blow.
As for the font size in some of those MMBs, that's another rant (that I've been meaning to indulge in).
I know the publisher needs to watch costs, but putting a book out there with barely any margins, teeeny-tiny ramped font, and maybe one paragraph break on the page if you're lucky, is a disservice to the book/reader.
Maybe that odd-sized MM book they were experiementing with in the last few years was their answer to this, but they should have just kept the LxW size and added pages.
I can't comment on the North American sizing and pricing but I can take issue with Ms Jaye for pointing me in the direction of a series of books I now desperately want to read!!! ARGHHHH!! I don't have time for it and there you are teasing me with books that have 'READ ME BIDDY!!' stamped all over them. Your blog should come with a wealth/health warning!!
I will be taking this up with the management...
P.S. Try Deanna Raybourn who won a Rita for best first book this year. Her 'Silent in The Grave' and 'Silent in the Sanctuary' are excellent and in the same vein as these.
::mwahahahahahahaa::
I'm cruel to be kind, Biddy. You'll love these books, especially if you like the Deanna Raybourn books (which I've read and loved, btw).
Cruel, cruel woman!
*wanders off to find credit card and hit Amazon*
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