Big news of the day: Penguin has a digital-first imprint named InterMix which will launch in January 2012 with Nora Roberts backlist books previously published by Silhouette. From the press release:
InterMix will launch in January 2012 with the release of eleven classic books from Nora Roberts—titles that have never before been available as eBooks, including such popular series as Cordina’s Royal Family and The Donovan Legacy and several novels featuring fan favorites the O’Hurleys. Additional Nora Roberts eBooks will be published throughout 2012, with the second group—including seven of Roberts’s beloved novels about the MacGregor family—available in April.
President Leslie Gelbman is also quoted saying, “we’re not ruling out the possibility that some InterMix authors will join Berkley/NAL’s vibrant print publishing program.”
InterMix will also be reviving the Signet Regency line with books that have not previously been available as ebooks.
The press release doesn’t announce any pricing figures, however.
So place your bets: what do you think the price range will be for the digital re-releases and new books?
ETA! I have confirmation from Craig Burke, Director of Publicity, that the print price for the January Nora Roberts titles will be $6.99. The complete list of titles are Skin Deep, Without a Trace, Dance to the Piper, Captivated, Entranced, Charmed, Enchanted, Affaire Royale, Command Performance, The Playboy Prince, and Cordina’s Crown Jewel. These are from the O’Hurleys, Donovan Legacy, and Cordina’s Royal Family series.
Reader Nicolette spotted something cool in the Dictionary.com word of the day on Monday: check out that citation for use of the word “dorsal.”
I wonder who over at Dictionary.com is reading Zoe Archer’s novels? HOW COOL IS THAT?
In the not-awesome news, be ye ware of Aspen Mountain Press, whose owner has been accused of ignoring or communicating inappropriately with authors about monies owed. I thought we did the whole irresponsible-e-press thing a few times already.
Jane at DA linked to one of the former senior management’s revelation while TeddyPig has the collection of links.
Similarly, there’s also not-awesome news from author Doranna Durgin who reports a battle with publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside, and details the steps she’s taken to remedy her grievance with the publisher. I am guessing that going public was a step of last resort.
Of note: SFWA has a “GriefCom” to mediate disputes? Wow. I had no idea.
And finally, the Guardian has a really cool contest for UK folks: watch a video of paper art revealing the first lines of famous books and name them all for a chance to win a Kindle and all six titles. The video is beautiful and clever, too:
Alas, the contest part is not open to folks outside the UK (turnabout is fair play, after all!). I think I guessed 4 of the six correctly – what about you?
ETAII: My new column at Kirkus is up, and I’m talking about the buffet of plenty facing romance readers right now.
GriefCom is one of the two reasons to be a member of SF(F)WA. (The other is the Emergency Medical Fund.) And, yes, if someone is going public, that’s a major violation—GriefCom will never do that unless the publisher is completely unresponsive, and most of the time not even then.
(The only other time I can remember a GriefCom process with a publisher being made public was with Wizards of the Coast (several iterations ago; not to be confused with current WotC management, if any), and that was because they were f***ing multiple authors (not in a good way) and loudly declaring their intention to continue doing so. (Other than sanctioning a publisher, that is.)
I really wish the Nora Roberts backlist price would be less than $6.99. I’m guessing agency pricing, meaning no discounts. Oh well, I’ll have to pass on them unless I get a windfall of cash (come on lottery).
I love those old Silhouettes from Nora and actually have them in my attic (misspent youth and all, LOL) but $6.99? Individually? What are they smoking over there at Pengquin? Did no one pay attention to how successful the Lord of Scoundrels .99/1.99 release was? Sigh.
I probably wouldn’t pay more than $4 for an ebook version of a Signet regency – that’s what I’d pay amazon for a used print version of most of them. I might go a bit more if something was a special favorite, just for the convenience of reading it on kindle. But not much more.
$6.99? I don’t think so. Come on Penguin, don’t be so greedy.
Harlequin is also selling the digital editions of their Nora Roberts titles for $6.99. Difference is you can buy them discounted since they aren’t Agency.
As I said at Dear Author, I would vow to never spend that much on a category length book, but there are some of hers I really want. And I hope more Jayne Ann Krentz titles will be released as well. I really want her old Stephanie James categories she wrote for Silhouette in digital.
there is a boardgame that asks you to do this, I think it’s called “It was a dark and stormy night”
Um, I got two of those titles… and I teach English to high schoolers! Augh! And a quiz without an answer key? I’m flummoxed.
Thanks for mentioning the Fitzhenry & Whiteside situation…a last resort, indeed, after 18 months of refusal to honor contract reversion terms during which they have persistently demurred, ignored, and rebuffed attempts to discuss the situation, whether approached via agent, SFWA GriefCom, or directly. (Including an unidentified woman who yelled at the GriefCom chair, threatened us, and then slammed down the phone).
So yes, this was last resort, and a startling rarity in the annuls of GriefCom, as Ken suggested—at this point, while I still want my book back, I also want to make sure no one ends up working with a publisher who behaves this way—at least, not without warning. Writer Beware is on the case, too—like GriefCom, they do their homework, and have read my entire contract as well as checking into the background.
The whole sordid tale is on my blog (linked to my name)—both a summary and a supportive timeline based on emails. Save a writer…spread the word!
I want many of these Nora Roberts books, although I’ve read most of them. I will not, however, pay $6.99 for a reprint ebook. The most I would probably pay would be $2.99, maybe $3.99.
In regards to the Signet Regencies, I’m pleased to hear that they will be making some available for e-version. But again, not over $2.99 or $3.99. Especially considering how small some of those books were in page count.
Consider75: yeah, consider that you’ve already made 75 customers unhappy with the pricing, Penguin.
I wonder how much longer publishers will continue to actually print books? 10 yrs maybe?
Thoughts?
These pricing decisions baffle me. Front list category length print novels don’t sell for 6.99! I’m not saying things should be indie priced, but why not a “retail price” of 5.99 discounted 20% off to 4.79? I’d buy all of the Cordina books priced that way, but at 6.99 I’ll only buy my favorite (book 2!). Maybe there is something we don’t know – is there a silent majority of romance readers willing to pay a premium for nostalgia?
Do we know for sure that the prices are for single titles, and not 2-in-1s? If it were two books together for $6.99, I could get my head around that.
Aw, I still remember buying Dun Lady’s Jess at a Fred Meyer store when it first came out and loving it. Wish I knew where my copy went. Many of my stored books were ruined by water damage while I was in college.
sooo not worth it. I love my Kindle, but at that price I’d rather go to a used bookstore and scour the shelves for the same titles. I still love book hunting the old way, and it’s much cheaper than sitting on my ass and ordering the ebooks. I won’t mind the price if it were a paperback reprint but again, a digital one? not cool.
Perhaps the powers that be are looking at these reprints as antiques and therefore increased in value?
Strange way to do business …
I’m another who thinks $6.99 is too high. They’re category books and they should have a category price. I can see paying $2.99 or $3.99 but not more.
On the flip side of this pricing decision, some of Anne Stuart’s OOP backlist is being released by Amazon for Kindle for $3.99. That’s a nice price, considering Ritual Sins and Moonrise are single title novels, and the Maggie Bennett books go for collector’s item pricing on the used book sites (I still hadn’t bought the third one because the price was too high).
$6.99? For something I can get at the library? I don’t think so. Maybe when they come down in price.
Vis a vis, “ETA! I have confirmation from Craig Burke, Director of Publicity” … about the price of the Nora Roberts paperbacks, did he happen to mention: a) what Signet titles are being re-issued b) what price are they being sold for c) will there be 2 in one publications (like was once so common—my first Joan Wolf, His Lordship’s Mistress, was in a double volume) and lastly, d) will the trads be reissued as Trade paperbacks (like Jo Beverley recently did) or will they be mass market? Thanks! If anyone knows, as an inveterate collector and promoter of trads, those are the facts that interest me.
My advice would be to follow the Balogh publisher’s model: if you’re going to ask for “full” price, offer 2 books in one volume. Also, share what’s coming when asap: she has shared her upcoming schedule of re-releases well over a year in advance. Otherwise don’t go over $4.00.
I have been collecting the old Signet regencies for some years now, but never go over $3.95 at Thriftbooks et. al. I have also downloaded some works released for kindle at $4. I have a mental block about going over $4, probably because a.)the word count and b.)their original pricing in the day. Plus, just throwing money at a project takes away all the fun, like scoring an as new run of Mary Balogh’s at the Salvation Army for 50 cents each!
Nicole, that’s a total bummer—but also a happy blast from the past, thank you! I’m thinking about putting my ten remaining copies up for sale just because I’d rather people got them from some other place than F/W at this point. :/
Carla Kelly mentioned on her website that a couple of her old regencies are being published as ebooks for Signet. “The NAL editor urged me not to return all my rights to Cedar Fort, and I said there were some I could revert to Signet. I chose Libby’s London Merchant and One Good Turn, because the latter is a sequel to the former, and I want to see where this goes. The editor also said she’d like me to write for them again.”
I know I bang my ‘shut up, ye spoilt Yankies, for the furriners be gaggin for it’ drum all over the internet, but RRP in Australia for a new category romance is $7.99 – and that’s for a random new author. Aussie dollar and US dollar are roughly the same. So, $6.99 for a category romance that I know I will enjoy, is actually a really good deal for me! If these will be on sale to Rest of World, I will definitely be buying them and be very happy with the price!
After the recent horror I’ve had with ebook formats and corrupted files (on over half of my 200+ ebook library), I’ve given up on ebooks. I’ll only ever buy hard copy books from now on. And with a price like that, I don’t feel so bad about it. I mean, you can buy hard copies, with actual paper and ink, for that!