Publisher Note....
Publisher Note: The Experiment was previously released elsewhere as a free story. It has been revised and expanded.....This is a note I have seen on more than a few ebooks lately. expand for full post... The Bounty, a recent read, was just release by Samhain after being edited and added too. Beth Williamson's books that follow The Bounty in her Mallory series will follow as well at Samhain. Gypsy Heart by Sasha White, although I don't think GH was expanded just edited, has been made available again. Is this good? In the case of The Bounty, I think it rocks because I needed it. But I am not sure why it went out of print... was it because of the want to edit, and LSB wouldn't do it or because Samhain made a better offer? Or did LSB make it go out of print. Do Epub's let books go out of print? Should previously free story be sold later after the author has something of a following? Angela Knight is dusting off some older stories, she use to have a yahoo group she fed with free stories while she was trying to publish (and I believe during her early days of publishing) which was later moved and archived to another yahoo group. Now they will all be gone (sort of), I am not sure if they will all be published or not but it looks like many will. Out of Print books are the devil, nothing is worse for readers. Really, what is worse than hearing of a GREAT read and then finding out you can't get it. Or you will have to cut open a vein to get a copy off Ebay. So I am very very pro out of print books going epubished. And hope Moxie Press has good luck with bring us some gems (may I suggest Glitter Baby? Oh come now SEP it would be fun! Or those old Lisa Kleypas novels!). Sasha White is very up front in her newsletter saying if you have a copy of GH, you don't need to buy a new one. Which I think is awesome, nothing would piss me off more then to pay for a new copy expecting edits and 'expanded' story and getting a few more (or less commas). I have to admit I have the original ecopy of The Switch by Diane Whiteside. The EC copy that was printed with a Marly Chance story. As well as Berkley copy, which was 'expanded'. Honestly I am not sure I would do that again for a book, it was my OCD at work. That one book could have ended up costing me over $35. With the cost of books as high as it is, do you buy 'updated' or reedited books? Or just stick with the copy you have? Or do you only buy them when you don't have a copy already or have never read them before. Or are you like me, telling yourself you WON'T buy it, and then the curiosity kills you until you pick it up? Money is tight and there are soooooo many books out there to want, can we add reissues, reprints and re-edited books? What do you think of 're-edited' works that are still pretty new? Samhain has a book that was published not too long ago and they plan to reissue it with edits. Eloisa James is talking about a new chapter to The Taming the Duke. And said she was try to get them included in the future printing of the book. If not the chapters will go up on her site. You have to cheer the authors for seeing something lacking in the book and wanting to add, fix or expand to make it better. At the same time I want to bop the editors on the head for not seeing the things that need fixing BEFORE the release. The only case mentioned above I really see as a brainstorm in 'how do we make more money from author x' would be the case of 'free stories' going pro. Virgin Seeks Bad-Ass Boy By Ruth D. Kerce, there isn't even a note that it was a free story, nor is there a disclaimer it has been edited or expanded. Honestly, I don't think it was. So really, why the fuck sell it? With Angela Knight, I think it has to do with the fact she is hot, hot, hot right now, and publishers would like to print more books from her. But an author can only write so fast. If they are dusted off, edited and expanded - in some cases with new stories added to anthologies, does that make them worth the cost of buying what is most likely going to be a trade size book? That leads us to another issue... three books, two I have, Mercenaries by Angela Knight, Really Unusual Bad Boys and Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson (I don't have the second one. So really MDJ, feel free to mail me a copy when you mail KarenS her book, along with Mysteria and whatever else you want to send to me. yes yes yes, I am just a nice girl like that.) Are all anthologies that include previous ebooks and one new story. And I think they are all trade size novels, is $14 a good price for one new novella and a cover? Or is this just a nice nice for the fans? And if you have read the books, do you feel there is a difference? Angela Knight seems to have a 'cleaner' writing style now vs when she was an unknown eauthor. Same can be said for MJD. Her Ebooks are much 'hotter' than the current work. Although I say that having three TBR. So what do you guys who have read them all think? Can you mesh 'ebooks' with a 'print' book style? Are you willing, able or wanting to fork cash over for these? And authors, what is your motivation for changing epub housing, re-editing and reissuing books? What steps do you take to make sure your readers know they are out there and that they are 'new' again books vs new new. Publishers, why do you want them? And do you want a certain amount of time to pass before taking on a book that has been published before elsewhere? And why do you want old 'free' books to sell? |
posted by sybil
at
9:54:00 AM
I don't really blame the authors for this so much as the publishers. I completely get an author's desire for greater revenue from her books. However, when I buy a book, I would like it clearly marked as a reissue otherwise when I get home and i read a few pages of it and then find out it is a reissue, it goes back to the store.
With ebooks, as there is no return policy, the idea of repackaged/rebranded books scares me alot - makes me even more hesitant to buy ebooks.
By
Anonymous, at 5/06/2006 01:18:00 PM
Great topic!!
I agree about it all, whichis wierd. LOl Okay. I think there does Need to be a clear warning, on eBooks republished, as well as print books that used to be ebooks (By a different publisher..like many of the ebooks now being sold to NY and such)
Alot of the time, a shift from ePublisher to a different ePublisher is about finding the right home. That could mean leaving one place because the sales numbers just aren't there, or it could mean a difference of opinion with an editor or just a need to change and grow. Myself. LSB wasn't interested in putting GH into print for me unless I went to RT to sign. It's a huge huge expense to go to a conference like that for me (I live in Northern Canada so there's exchange rates, flight hotel so much..) Samhain will put it in print if the sales are decent. I could've sold GH to one of my NY publishers, and expanded and it, but honestly, I Love the story the way it is, and I wanted it to stay that way. I also want it in print though. LOL
Yeah, I want it all. LOL
Ebooks being sold to NY publishers. I think this is a case of a couple of things. Money for sure. I mean, we all want to be full time writers, and we have bills to pay too. But Also, I think becuase there is a hope of enlarging an authors readership. There are still so many readers who will not read a eBook, but I for one, want EVERYONE to read my stories. *grin*
That said, I'v only sold 1 of my ebooks to a NY publisher. and that's a novella, (The Devil Inside) and it will be packaged in in one book with it's unwritten sequel as an anthology. I hoep that peoepl who have read the ebook will want to read the sequel, so they'll purchase it, but I also want those that have not read the ebook, to have a chance to read it because I love the story.
Money is tight for everyone, and books are a luxery (ebook or print) so I do strangly agree thast there should be warnings when a book is republished in any form. And that includes when Harlequin (Or any one else) replublishes one of their own authors books with a new cover! (I've been sucked ina few times..lol)
WOW, that was a long post. *blush*
By
Anonymous, at 5/06/2006 01:38:00 PM
cool sasha, since you are here and mentioned it *eg*
Do you think that The Devil Inside and the sequel are written in a different way for lack of a better phrase.
There seems to be more of a 'freedom' that comes with writing an Ebook vs print. I noticed some authors somewhat tone down when they start to do print books.
There is a difference in AK first three stories in Mercenaries vs the last one which I *think* (I have emailed her and asked if she had time to pop in, so hopefully she will correct me if I am wrong) was written for the book.
I am not saying tone down is bad just that the difference was easy to see.
So Sasha, if a reader picks up your book, could they pick out that TDI was first an ebook?
By
sybil, at 5/06/2006 01:55:00 PM
I don't think they'd be able to tell. I HOPE they can't. I try to write all stories as best I can...It's the story that's important, an what the story is doesn;t change depedngin on who publishes it.
Also, I have way more freedom to get kinky and let loose with my NY publishers that I ever did with LSB.
My LSB stories were/are erotic Romances. My NY stories lean more towards erotica. LIke my short stoires do. The NY stories are erotica, with romantc elements, but not neccisarily romances themselves. Does this make sense?
The sequel to THE DEVIL INSIDE will be a bit more plot heavy, but that has to do with the characer it focuses on more than who it's written for. If you've read TDI, (Or when you read them both) you'll see that the sequel was set up well in the first one.
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Anonymous, at 5/06/2006 03:07:00 PM
I have MJD's Dead and Loving It. I'd already read the three original stories when they were part of e-book anthologies. I lost the electronic copies of the books, though, due to hard drive crash, so I didn't mind so much paying for the TBP, especially since I was looking forward to George the Fiend's story. I had a 25% off coupon, too, which helped. George's story was noticably different in terms of sexuality/sensuality, but not the weakest story of the bunch, imho.
By
Anonymous, at 5/06/2006 07:29:00 PM
Can't speak for e-books since I don't really read them (yet) but I did experience what you are talking about sort of with an old Mary Jo Putney book, The Rake and the Reformer. I really enjoyed it. Some years later it was rereleased with padding and renamed The Rake. I don't think it was a secret they were the same book. I also bought The Rake and enjoyed it even better - so - if I liked the original and it came out (somewhat) new and improved, then yeah - I'd buy it again.
By
Kristie (J), at 5/06/2006 09:59:00 PM
Yes, the third story in Mercenaries was written for the Berkley version, and it was DEFINITELY toned down, but that wasn't because Berkley wanted it that way. That was because the second novella was full of caning and butt-sex, and the first novella had other kink in it. I wanted to make sure the more vanilla AK readers wouldn't feel ripped off or pissed at me for springing so much kink on them. So I deliberately had a vanilla story so they'd have at least one story they could enjoy. IF, that is, you call bondage vanilla. :)
Berkley is also reprinting another EC anthology of mine, CAPTIVE DREAMS, which I wrote with Diane Whiteside. That book is pretty much as is. I'm adding one scene, and that's it. But because EC's distribution is not as wide as Berkley's, most of my AK readers won't have read it. I will put an online note telling my fans it's a reprint, and I think we should add an author's note to that effect in the front.
I never really made any money off CD, because of the contract I had, so I'm looking forward to finally getting a little money for it.
Angela Knight
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Angela Knight, at 5/07/2006 10:12:00 AM
>>Can you mesh 'ebooks' with a 'print' book style?
Writing style is writing style--in terms of heat, my Kensington book (and pretty much everything I have planned/am working on) is much hotter than my LSB books. It just so happens the stuff I sold to LSB was erotic romance, and the stuff I sold to Kensington was straight erotica (straight vs erotic romance LOL).
I *highly* reommend checking the copyright date on big authors like Kay Hooper, Nora Roberts and say Sandra Brown (I know for a fact SB's reprits have "classic romance" either on the cover or in the flap copy). And Kay and Sandra (because they're the two I'm most familiar with) only put out one new book a year.
By
Amie Stuart, at 5/07/2006 11:34:00 AM
The cover for CAPTIVE DREAMS is fantastic!! I've not read those ebooks, but I'll pick up the print one for sure.
Also, I'd never heard of Mary Janice Davidson until after Berkley started printing her Undead series. In fact I read the second book and then went back for the first. I wasn't even aware they'd been eBooks previously...so I do think that doing this can intorduce more readers to an author.
By
Anonymous, at 5/07/2006 01:24:00 PM
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