There was a question above about whether we die-hard ebook readers would buy the hardcover, wait, or just buy something else. The answer for me is "it depends." I bought the new Wheel of Time in hardcover, but I've also just decided (many times) to boycott the print-only book in favor of one I could read the way I wanted to.

I will not buy print any longer. Do that and you wind up losing *two* sales — print *and* the e.

Maybe I'm being optimistic — and I definitely wasn't a business major — but I think if e-books are cheaper, more people will buy them and authors will see the fruits of those sales. I know I never buy a hardcover book unless I already know I love it. I just can't afford to. But if I had a digital reader, I'd buy e-books if they were a third of the price of a hardcover. Absolutely!

For another publisher's take on the announcement, check out this post from Harper Studio.

People need to be slowly introduced to things. If it only costs a few dollars more for a digital copy of the book when you buy the hardcover I think most people will go for it. And like Daphne, I too am a collector. If I can get a bundle of both I will, but make me choose and I'll take the hard copy every time. (This is why my DVD collection is on the order of 100 while my digital copy collection only consists of 10).

I also wonder if changing release dates will end up trickling down to the mass market side. Will we see ebooks out first on mm titles? They are viewed as being more like digital paperbacks than hardcovers. There may be some benefits to going digital first for mm titles, but I can also see it causing problems for authors. As the numbers climb for ebook marketshare, and they will keep creeping up as the months go by, will we see digital releases as test marketing for mm release? It's not hard to imagine scenarios where print runs get reduced or shelved entirely based upon poor ebook sales. We aren't to that day and age yet, but that possibility isn't far off in my opinion. Anyway, I digress a bit here.

I do hope that agents keep pressure on to maintain royalties on ebooks. It's very hard to know just how lowered ebook pricing will pan out in the long run. Will it generate enough additional sales to offset the lower royalty? That's the hope of course, but who knows. In the short term, I don't think ebook delays are that big of a deal. It will annoy some ebook readers, but currently they are a small portion of the pie. I don't think it will have much affect on hardcover sales. Pubs are looking long term though as well or trying too. They foresee the ebook market slowly chipping away at the hardcover as that number grows. For best-seller type books, this kind of logic makes some sense. For the smaller print run author or debut author, whose career is predicated to some extent on building readership, this kind of tactic could be to their disadvantage. I could be wrong but it seems Hatchette and S/S are aiming this delayed release at their prime-time books. Will ebook readers who have to wait forego the books entirely? That remains to be seen, but honestly, I doubt it. They'll buy the hardcover or wait or do both.

Of course one wonders why they don't bundle hardcovers with ebooks. Sell the title with access to download the digital version, much like you can buy dvd's now with a digital copy included for a slightly higher fee. Those sell, so not sure why it wouldn't work for books. Or, why can't they release premium ebook versions at the same time as hardcover, in order to justify higher pricing and then release the plain version four months later? I'd probably go for a premium version with an author interview, deleted chapters, and whatever other extras they might come up with. It's like the bonus disc with movies. I have a feeling they'll get there eventually, meanwhile it's kneejerk,panicy reactions to losing profits that drive decisions.

As an author though, when it comes down to it, I don't want to lose money. Let's face it, writing is not a very profitable profession unless you do remarkably well. I can't support anything that's going to eat into my already mediocre earnings, no matter how fabulous it is to have people reading my stories. There's solutions out there that are more author friendly. I just hope they get there sooner rather than later.

I'm a little leery of e-books, but with all the talk surrounding them lately, I'm starting to like the idea of them better and better. But I'm Kate on collecting my favorites. I will always buy a book I love.