ISBW #141 – Amazon and iPad / Ursula Vernon Interview
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My apologies for having a podcast about something timely and then back-burner-ing it for other things. I still think it’s relevant, especially when we pull in the iPad discussion. If you haven’t followed the news, the Macmillan Amazon links are back up.
- 00:00:06 ISBW #141
- 00:00:39 GoTo Meeting Message
- 00:01:27 State of the Mur: Snow! Ice! Cabin Fever. Project Underground is ready for beta readers.
- 00:04:32 The Amazon/Macmillan kerfuffle. What do readers think? How should consumers (as well as creators) handle the market changes due to Kindle, iPad, and publisher competition?
- 00:17:10 Promo: Beware the Hairy Mango
- 00:18:23 Interview: Ursula Vernon, author-illustrator of: Digger, Nurk, Dragonbreath, and Dragonbreath 2: Attack of the Ninja Frogs. You can find her at UrsulaVernon.com or Red Wombat Studio and if you can’t decide right away, go to Metal & Magic and enjoy the awesomely cute drawings as you ponder which link to click. You can find her books at B&N, Borders, Powell’s, and your local indie bookseller.
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CharlesP | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
Hey! I’ve got that book sitting on my shelf here at work for the next time the kids come by (Monday). The 6yo was re-reading the first one for the third time yesterday.
Lecter | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
By the way, you can make a free Apple account and download the full iPhone development software without cost. If you want to sell/distribute an app through iTunes, then you need to pay. So, although the system is secured in many ways, the initial work, learning and programing can be done for free.
CKHB | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
I would TOTALLY subscribe to “ISBW After Dark”!!!
Joanna Penn | Feb 13, 2010 | Reply
Hi Mur – I really enjoyed the interview with Ursula. I thought all kid’s writers were mostly flowers and bunnies, but she is clearly adult humour as well!
Thanks, Joanna
jh | Feb 19, 2010 | Reply
Mur,
I don’t know if you’ve been told this yet.. or if you found out.. but basically, Amazon subsidizes their books to maintain a $9.99 cost for the bestsellers. It was a big deal on their sales for the Kindle. So MacMillian makes $14.99 worth of royalties, no matter what. Amazon covers the difference.
MacMillian, as you now know, is part of Apple’s Ipad stuff. So.. Steve Jobs wants to sell books at $14.99. But Steve Jobs doesn’t want to drop the price down to $9.99. He won’t subsidize it as Amazon has. Therefore, it came down to this.. MacMillian DEMANDED that Amazon stop pricing their books at $9.99 , no matter what, because Apple won’t sell more Ipads (but will give a bigger royalty cut) if the books went for $14.99.
MacMillian is a bully here. Companies should be allowed to price items for whatever they want, when it is theirs to sell.