# New Nora Roberts - Yikes!



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Nora's _Chasing Fire_ will be released on April 12. The Kindle version is 14.99! Guess i'll just add it to the list of her books I haven't read yet.

And I've read almost every book she's written.


----------



## PraiseGod13 (Oct 27, 2008)

I've had several books that I've wanted to read lately that are $14.99 in the Kindle version.  That's more than I'm willing to pay.... so I've checked them out at the library instead.  I prefer to read on my Kindle.... by far.  But, I'm back to reading DTBs when a Kindle book is beyond my budget.
    Keep an eye on your book.... it might come down in price when the release date gets closer.... or not.


----------



## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Yay Penguin. <not> 

Pretty sad when I can get the Audible version cheaper. (I have the 2 credits for $22.95 a month and this is most likely 1 credit, so only $11.50) I love my Kindle and I love Nora Roberts, but $14.99?? Nope, not gonna do it.


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I still haven't read Nora's _The Search_, which came out July 6. Waiting for the $12.99 price to drop. It didn't get very good reviews, so I can be patient.

I think I've only ever paid more than $9.99 for a Kindle book two or three times, and they were all Nora Roberts/JD Robb books. But only books I can't wait to read. Otherwise, I have plenty of other books to choose from while I wait for the prices to go down.


----------



## fancynancy (Aug 9, 2009)

Good for you.  The madness just has to stop.

The only time I'll pay that much for a Kindle book is when my book group is reading something that I don't have time to order in paperback.  My only other choice is to miss the meeting.  But for books I read on my own time, there are so many great books out there, there's always something just as good to read, and I've got all the time in the world to wait for the price to come down.


----------



## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

$14.99 is more than I am willing to pay.  I'll be checking it out of the library.


----------



## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

yeah.. I love Nora Roberts/JD Robb books usually, but no way in he..ck am I paying that.


----------



## Larry45 (Feb 7, 2011)

I run into the same thing with James Patterson books.  I will not pay $14.99 for an e-book knowing that at least 80% of it goes to the publisher...


----------



## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

Yikes is right! I paid $12.99 last time for her book but I most definitely won't be paying $14.99 this time. Which is fine, I have lots of other things to read that are at a better price.
I love Nora but I am not paying that much for an e-book.


----------



## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

I won't pay that much for an eBook, either. It's madness. Let's hope with enough readers refusing the crazy prices, they'll soon drop to a reasonable level for those big name authors.


----------



## Kenneth Rosenberg (Dec 3, 2010)

Wow, that's just crazy.  I know publishing companies aren't people, and they don't necessarily have any morals, but to me charging $14.99 for an e-book is just greedy.  It's like they don't know how much the price of an ebook should be so they just keep pushing it to see what the market will bear.  My guess is that they're going to start alienating a lot of their customers this way...


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> My guess is that they're going to start alienating a lot of their customers this way...


My guess is you're right.

Do they not remember that we can get books for FREE at the library?!?


----------



## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

$14.99? Seriously?? Wow. I sure won't be paying that much for an ebook...no matter who wrote it. That's just crazy.

Sandy


----------



## Kristan Hoffman (Aug 6, 2009)

Larry45 said:


> I run into the same thing with James Patterson books. I will not pay $14.99 for an e-book knowing that at least 80% of it goes to the publisher...


Okay, I don't want to start a huge fight here, and I agree that $14.99 is more than I'm willing to pay for an e-book, but the last part of this statement didn't make a whole lot of sense to me... Who else is the money supposed to go to? The publisher has to pay the editors, and the cover designers, and the marketing staff, and the receptionists, and the printers, and the distributors, and... a whole lot of other people. Am I misunderstanding something?

Kristan


----------



## Kristan Hoffman (Aug 6, 2009)

PS: I am totally not a troll looking to cause problems. I opened this thread b/c I love Nora Roberts! Then I saw the price and I was like, Yeesh, I'll wait too.

Kristan


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

My problem is eBooks that cost the same - or more than! - paper books. I hear that printing a book doesn't really cost that much, but it has to cost SOMETHING, including supplies, labor and shipping that eBooks don't need. And when I bought paper books, I lent them to many friends, denying the author and everyone else involved multiple sales. When I buy a book for my Kindle, nobody reads it but me.

When I look at the breakdown of what it costs to produce eBooks and paper books, the author and publisher make very different amounts on the different types. That doesn't make sense, either. Why shouldn't the author get paid the same for what he wrote, regardless of the medium it's sold on - and why should he get less for an eBook that costs the same as a paper book that has to be manufactured?

None of it makes sense.

Besides, the prices are rising much too fast. Just two years ago most eBooks were $9.99 or less. Now they want $14.99? I don't think so. And, for the record, I didn't buy paper books when I felt they were too expensive, either. 

My money, my choice.

If this trend continues, I'll seriously consider getting a second eReader, one that can get library books. FREE library books.


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Kristan Hoffman said:


> Okay, I don't want to start a huge fight here, and I agree that $14.99 is more than I'm willing to pay for an e-book, but the last part of this statement didn't make a whole lot of sense to me... Who else is the money supposed to go to? The publisher has to pay the editors, and the cover designers, and the marketing staff, and the receptionists, and the printers, and the distributors, and... a whole lot of other people. Am I misunderstanding something?
> 
> Kristan


My answer would be that it shouldn't go to anyone! eBooks should be priced like paper books - everyone gets their fair share, include the cost of production and a similar profit margin. Seems pretty simple to me.


----------



## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

I finally gave up and asked DH to buy me a nook (regular not color) for Valentine's Day to read library ebooks. I saw that Susan Elizabeth Phillips' new book Call Me Irresistible is $12.99 for the Kindle so I am now 3rd in line on the hold list to borrow the ebook from my library.

It really doesn't take many books at that price to pay for an ereader that you can use for library books. I have no idea what the publishers are thinking but I wouldn't be surprised if ebook prices continue to rise.


----------



## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

chipotle said:


> I finally gave up and asked DH to buy me a nook (regular not color) for Valentine's Day to read library ebooks. I saw that Susan Elizabeth Phillips' new book Call Me Irresistible is $12.99 for the Kindle so I am now 3rd in line on the hold list to borrow the ebook from my library.
> 
> It really doesn't take many books at that price to pay for an ereader that you can use for library books. I have no idea what the publishers are thinking but I wouldn't be surprised if ebook prices continue to rise.


I am considering doing the same for the same reason. I recently borrowed the last Sookie Stackhouse book since I've been waiting FOREVER for it to come down to a normal price. I've decided that since certain publishers are being unreasonable in pricing ebooks, I might as well not give those publishers ANY of my money. I'll just borrow from the library. My local library has ebooks and regular books and I have no issue with waiting for my turn in the hold line for one or the other. I hope the publishers will wake up to the fact that their strong-arm tactics won't work as long as libraries exist (at least for some of us).


----------



## Larry45 (Feb 7, 2011)

Kristan Hoffman said:


> Okay, I don't want to start a huge fight here, and I agree that $14.99 is more than I'm willing to pay for an e-book, but the last part of this statement didn't make a whole lot of sense to me... Who else is the money supposed to go to? The publisher has to pay the editors, and the cover designers, and the marketing staff, and the receptionists, and the printers, and the distributors, and... a whole lot of other people. Am I misunderstanding something?
> 
> Kristan


My point is, if you look on the Amazon page below the book's price, it says "This price was set by the publisher." You'll see that on all the big-name authors' books. And if the publisher sets the price, you can bet they're taking a big piece of it. But I will not pay that for an e-book knowing that the vast majority of that money goes to the publisher and not the author. For a hardback or paperback, maybe. But an e-book? Absolutely not. We have too many indie authors here that get 35% on books under $2.98, and a whopping 70% on books $2.99 and up. I intend to support those authors all I can. I like Nora Roberts and James Patterson as much as the next person, but $15 for an e-book is a complete rip-off. I'll wait til it comes out in paperback and pick it up at Costco for 5 or 6 bucks. We have a ton of very talented indie authors here, and if we buy their books, at least we know that 70% of our money goes where it rightfully should...to the person who wrote the book.


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I stopped buying Janet Evanovich because of the price and the same goes for Nora Roberts. I've got a Kindle crammed full of free and bargain books just dying to be read. If I want to read Janet or Nora, I'll just reread those that I bought at a reasonable price.


----------



## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

The other thing about using an ereader for library ebooks is that you are not limited to just your local library. There are plenty of free and low-priced libraries you can access for ebooks and you can usually access the ebooks in most of the larger libraries in your state easily. I received my nook late last week and I already have about 15 library ebooks from 3 different libraries.

Here is the great MobiRead Wiki on Ebook Lending Libraries - http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBook_Lending_Libraries which has many options for every state and lists how many ebooks each library has available.

I should add that Macmillan is currently not allowing public libraries to lend their ebooks so it won't work if you're seeking Macmillan books. Just another publisher decision I don't understand at all!


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> I stopped buying Janet Evanovich because of the price and the same goes for Nora Roberts. I've got a Kindle crammed full of free and bargain books just dying to be read. If I want to read Janet or Nora, I'll just reread those that I bought at a reasonable price.


I just read Janet's Fifteen. I really want to read Sixteen, but the price has not budged from 12.99. Seventeen is due this summer, and I hope Sixteen drops in price. Not holding my breath, but a reader can hope.
deb


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

drenee said:


> I just read Janet's Fifteen. I really want to read Sixteen, but the price has not budged from 12.99. Seventeen is due this summer, and I hope Sixteen drops in price. Not holding my breath, but a reader can hope.
> deb


Don't forget that kindle book lending group. It's getting huge. You can probably find Sixteen there. Isn't that the one featuring Lula? I'd like to read that myself.


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Evanovich is lendable?  I hadn't looked at that.
deb


----------



## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

drenee said:


> Evanovich is lendable? I hadn't looked at that.
> deb


I checked one of the Plum books that I own and it says I can lend it.


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Thank you.  I will post in the lending thread if I decide to borrow it.
deb


----------



## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

I'm the minority opinion here; while I certainly _prefer_ a lower price, I honestly have no problem with it. Will I buy it? Nope--but that's because I haven't gotten into NR (yet). But I can say with authority that if this were the J.D. Robb that comes out next week, the $14.99 price wouldn't stop me from buying it. I might grumble a little, but I sure as heck wouldn't hesitate.

To be fair, I have a very small number of authors that I feel _that_ strongly about. For the rest, well, I didn't buy hardcovers much before the Kindle, so I'm not likely to pay hardcover prices for most authors' work now.

But I think the agency publishers are still experimenting to see what they can get away with, and NR is the perfect author to try stuff like that on--very very large following that's fairly loyal, and what, the third largest number of ebook sales? From a marketing perspective, what a great test case for them.


----------



## mishymac (May 13, 2010)

VictoriaP said:


> I'm the minority opinion here; while I certainly _prefer_ a lower price, I honestly have no problem with it. Will I buy it? Nope--but that's because I haven't gotten into NR (yet). But I can say with authority that if this were the J.D. Robb that comes out next week, the $14.99 price wouldn't stop me from buying it. I might grumble a little, but I sure as heck wouldn't hesitate.
> 
> To be fair, I have a very small number of authors that I feel _that_ strongly about. For the rest, well, I didn't buy hardcovers much before the Kindle, so I'm not likely to pay hardcover prices for most authors' work now.
> 
> But I think the agency publishers are still experimenting to see what they can get away with, and NR is the perfect author to try stuff like that on--very very large following that's fairly loyal, and what, the third largest number of ebook sales? From a marketing perspective, what a great test case for them.


I agree....while I don't like to pay more than $9.99 for an ebook (as I can't really see why they are soooo expensive when I can find plenty free or under $5) I also will happily pay up to $14.99 for a NEW book by one of my fav authors. Especially considering I share an account with my 2 sisters and mum and a few other family members and we all read the same sort of books. Previously when I would buy my fav new authors in dtb format I would spend up to $20 per dtb, share it with all the people that are now on my kindle account and not have the cost shared at all. NOW we all share the cost for the same style of book, so fortunately for me instead of costing me $20 for a new dtb or $14.99 for an ebook it actually only costs me about $2-3 per book, and I still share it with the same people....now I just share the cost as well!

i will only pay this amount for a NEW book by one of my FAV authors tho....it's NOT a regular occurence!


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> But I can say with authority that if this were the J.D. Robb that comes out next week, the $14.99 price wouldn't stop me from buying it. I might grumble a little, but I sure as heck wouldn't hesitate.


Same here. I love the JD Robb books too much to wait. But I can't think of anything else I'd pay that much for. I'm waiting for prices to drop on five books by some of my favorite authors. I have plenty to read in the meantime.


----------



## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

chipotle said:


> Here is the great MobiRead Wiki on Ebook Lending Libraries - http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBook_Lending_Libraries which has many options for every state and lists how many ebooks each library has available.


Thank you for that! I was wondering where else I could look.


----------



## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

[quote author=Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']
Don't forget that kindle book lending group. It's getting huge. You can probably find Sixteen there. Isn't that the one featuring Lula? I'd like to read that myself.

[/quote]

I should have thought of that. Doh! I need a couple of hours to put my books up for lending too.


----------



## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

VictoriaP said:


> I'm the minority opinion here; while I certainly _prefer_ a lower price, I honestly have no problem with it. Will I buy it? Nope--but that's because I haven't gotten into NR (yet). But I can say with authority that if this were the J.D. Robb that comes out next week, the $14.99 price wouldn't stop me from buying it. I might grumble a little, but I sure as heck wouldn't hesitate.
> 
> To be fair, I have a very small number of authors that I feel _that_ strongly about. For the rest, well, I didn't buy hardcovers much before the Kindle, so I'm not likely to pay hardcover prices for most authors' work now.
> 
> But I think the agency publishers are still experimenting to see what they can get away with, and NR is the perfect author to try stuff like that on--very very large following that's fairly loyal, and what, the third largest number of ebook sales? From a marketing perspective, what a great test case for them.


ITA with this except in my case NR IS one of the 3 Authors I would pay the higher price for if I had to especially because getting from the library is not an ideal option for me


----------



## Elise Logan (Feb 23, 2011)

With some of the big publishers now wanting to put lending limits on books so that libraries have to repurchase copies of e-books, lending is going to be somewhat curtailed. That, combined with the agency pricing higher price points is going to mean that I'm not going to be willing to try new authors nearly as often. 

And the big pub houses are severely delusional if they think I'm paying that for e-books. With an e-book, I don't actually own my copy, they can limit or prohibit lending, and they're hosing me on the price, too? Yeah. I'm not paying more for less utility.

E


----------



## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

Soon, a big name romance writer is going to do what David Morrell did in thrillers: skip the traditional publisher.  The math is inescapable.  I've been in the business over 20 years and have to say it's changed drastically.
Nora is pretty cool-- I always like how people take up smoking at Nationals to stand outside with her.  I remember sitting with her in Reno when she read the script for the Ritas and refused to do it-- when she makes her mind up, she makes her mind up.

Publishers are trying to keep hardcovers alive.  I was shocked to look at pricing at one of my ebooks from St Martins and to see how much it cost--made me feel bad and I know it's artificially high to sustain a business model that's archaic.


----------



## Jason G. Anderson (Sep 29, 2010)

I guess the big publishers are hurting, so they're trying to get as much money as they can. They know a good portion of her fans will buy her latest book no matter what the price, so $14.99 it is.

I have to confess before I got my iPad, I pretty much borrowed all the novels I read from the library. New book prices these days are crazy. And with so much out there now via indie authors and traditional authors publishing their backlists, I'm unlikely to ever pay more than $10 for an ebook.


----------



## Casse (Oct 16, 2009)

4Katie said:


> I still haven't read Nora's _The Search_, which came out July 6. Waiting for the $12.99 price to drop. It didn't get very good reviews, so I can be patient.


IMO this book was excellent 

NR is my fave author - as long as the price is less than a DTB then I will purchase them. Mom and I share an account for apx 7.50 for both of us to read it - yep I'll have it on release day.

To each their own.... our local library is near worthless and my time is worth something so personally I can't wait


----------



## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

Part of it for me is also related to how much my time is worth.  At approximately 100 pages per hour, the average JD Robb gives me four hours of high octane reading pleasure--assuming I only read it once, and I typically do reread them at least once more.  A lower priced average read might give me the same reading time, but less enjoyment.  It's absolutely worth it to me to pay more when I break it down into those terms.

What a $14.99 price tag versus a $12.99 price tag might do is cause me not to pre order immediately, but wait an see if the price drops prior to release, because sometimes they do.  But it wouldn't stop me from buying on release day even if that didn't happen.  Frankly, the most recent JD Robb, which came out on Tuesday, was well worth even $14.99, had they charged it, and I would've had no regrets after reading it.

As I said before, the higher prices mean I don't do this with as many authors as I did prior to agency pricing.  But for the authors I treasure, $15 is still worth it.


----------



## eBookworm (Dec 8, 2010)

That one is not going to be available in Australia!!


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Casse said:


> IMO this book was excellent
> 
> NR is my fave author - as long as the price is less than a DTB then I will purchase them. Mom and I share an account for apx 7.50 for both of us to read it - yep I'll have it on release day.
> 
> To each their own.... our local library is near worthless and my time is worth something so personally I can't wait


I had a coupon for a free audiobook, so I got that. Even bad (bad reviews, at least) Nora Roberts book is a good book for me!


----------



## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> I checked one of the Plum books that I own and it says I can lend it.


The first two aren't though. I could have sworn they were to start but now I don't see the lending button anymore.


----------



## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

I enjoyed The Search, did not really enjoy the Bridal books (but bought them to read and then shared with my MIL)-- I won't buy a $15 ebook, though.  That's nuts.

I am thinking about buying a nook or something just for library books....  What besides Nook does epub?


----------



## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

Sony and Kobo or the main ones other than Nook, but there are a few other brands out there.  The Sony's are better ereaders IMO but they are spendy.  The Kobo isn't as good but they are selling for $99.


----------



## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

For devoted Nora Roberts fans---some of the earlier backlist titles are now starting to get kindled. On June 20 the entire MacKade Brothers series (four books) and the 'Star' series (three books) are going to be available in kindle format. So this might be a good time to 'click' on some of your favorite oldies to encourage the publisher to include more of these (like the Stanislavski sisters, etc.).

Wisteria


----------



## anne_holly (Jun 5, 2011)

I can get old Nora Roberts in paperback for 50 cents at any Salvation Army. Seems to me, saving $14 is a good thing to do.

I understand that publishers are experimenting, but one of the major advantages for Kindle (aside from saving trees) is that they should be cheaper to produce (less on transporting, printing, etc), and, therefore, cheaper to buy. I'm certainly no expert on these matters, but if they do cost less to produce, I'd like to see those savings passed on to the consumer to make them more affordable for a range of incomes.


----------



## Justin Alexander (Feb 19, 2011)

Kristan Hoffman said:


> Okay, I don't want to start a huge fight here, and I agree that $14.99 is more than I'm willing to pay for an e-book, but the last part of this statement didn't make a whole lot of sense to me... Who else is the money supposed to go to?


The author.

Author's historically only got a 10-20% royalty on the cover price of each copy sold because the publisher generally only got about 50% of the cover price and the majority of that went towards paying for each individual copy to be printed.

On ebooks, authors are still only getting a 10-20% royalty, but the publisher is now getting 65-70% of the cover price and the majority of their costs (i.e. the cost of printing each individual copy of the book) have literally disappeared.

So there are three problems with the way publishers are handling the e-book revolution:

(1) They're gobbling up all of the new profits instead of equitably sharing them with the people actually responsible for creating the value that people are paying for (i.e., the written word).

(2) They're pricing the books high enough that they're actually reducing the number of copies sold (which means the author is getting screwed twice).

(3) They're gouging me as a customer. There's nothing about an ebook that justifies the publisher earning more profit; and there's certainly nothing which justifies them earning higher revenue (which is bizarrely becoming commonplace).

The reality of the e-book revolution is that it will allow readers to buy more books at lower prices while still generating more money for authors; which will, in turn, allow more authors to create their work as a full-time profession, with the result that more high quality books will get written for all of us to enjoy. It's a win-win-win scenario. Unless, of course, the publishers gouge their customers and screw the authors.

So for both personal (budgetary) reasons and for general reasons of principle, I strongly dislike what the mainstream publishers are currently trying to get away with.


----------



## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I could never afford Nora Roberts hardbacks, either, much as I love her books.  The Kindle version is cheaper than a hardback, but still more than I want to pay for one title.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, not that I loved Nora Roberts less, but that I loved a bargain more.  

Julia


----------

