Low prices? Don't count on it, say publishers

This NZ Herald article talks about the pricing of E-books and basically says that we are going to pay through the nose for them.

I have great difficulty in believing that costs of a book are not substantially reduced once the physical copy of the book is discarded with and there is no way I will accept paying a price that is only 20% less than the lowest print price.

I can import actual books into New Zealand from Britain for around the same cost as the e-book version is being sold for inside New Zealand.


So far I haven't found any real advantage to reading books through various electronic items (desktop, laptop, netbook, phone).  I don't see a dedicated reader as being  a good thing to have.   Given this, there is no way I am going to pay over $10.00 NZ for an electronic copy of a book.  In fact, unless it is something I really, really want then I am unlikely to spend more than about $5.00 on an e-book.

The Book Depository

I have run out of things to read so I have been back at the UK online book store, The Book Depository and have ordered a few books:

• River Cottage Meat Cookbook - I first heard of this book through meateaters.co.nz and have been meaning to buy it.  However, I have been put off by the NZ price - $90.00+.  Price from BD: around $60.00.
• The Collapse of Complex Societies - NZ $95.99.   $72.00 from BD.
• The State of Art by Iain M Banks.  A collection of short stories.  The title is a novella based in the Culture but set in 1977 - NZ $29.99.  $12.60 from BD

• The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa.  NZ $32.95.  $19.88 from BD.

 Total cost if I had bought these in New Zealand:  $248.93
 Cost through  The Book Depository: $161.22  andd that includes the freight!

I think I have just given up on buying books from NZ book stores

The Price of Books II

I ordered a Bill Bryson book from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/  on Friday 28th of May.  The book arrived at my office on Thurday 3rd of June.  This is an excellent service.

The cost of the book was 13.88 British pounds which worked out to be $29.67 NZ, substantially less than I can buy it in New Zealand.  This included the cost of shipping to New Zealand. To do get a book delivered this fast through Amazon would have cost an additional $30-40.00.


Prices through NZ websites:

• Fishpond - shipped from the UK: $49.95
• Whitcoulls - FREE Delivery: $59.95

I think I'll be making more orders through the Book Depository website.

The price of books

Some one needs to explain why I can buy a paperback book by Bill Bryson from an a shop in England and have it shipped to New Zealand for $10.00 LESS than I can buy the same book at Whitcoulls in New Zealand.


What's really crazy is that I can buy hardback books by the same author from the English shop for only $2.00 more than I can buy the paperback books by him from Whitcoulls, New Zealand.


Go here for good pricing and free shipping to overseas: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/

More Wellington

Camille and I did another wander around today spending money, mainly on books today. I'm not sure what Camille got but I got

1. 3 William Gibson (science fiction) books that I have wanted for years but never bothered to buy
   
   
2. "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves. I enjoy Graves' books and the Claudius books in particular. I was looking for Claudius The God as well but no bookshop I entered had a copy. I have another shop to check so I may yet get it.
   
   
3. "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene

We also met Spike for a couple of beers and a late lunch at the Herd Brasserie in oriental Bay. Spike had an excellent blue cheese and mushroom linguine while Camille and I both opted for the lamb salad with rocket, red onions and feta. Biiiigggg disapointment! While the lamb was good and rare, there was fuck all of it and huge amounts of rocket. Camille had bugger all red onion and NO feta at all. Not worth the price. I could produce something similar for two people for about $5.00 (seriously!). It cost us $40.00. Don't eat that dish if you choose to eat there.

In fact, food wise today was a bit sad really as we started out doing a brunch at some cafe. Camille got a flat white which was good and I had an espresso which was the most bitter espresso I have ever had. Camille ordered french toast and bacon which was ok. I ordered a single piece of fish in tempura batter. Bad, bad bad! Over cooked, dry and tough. Fish should never be cooked so much that it can get stuck between your teeth but the first mouthful got jammed in between them. Awful. Camille had a second coffee and that came out bitter as well.

Wellington

In Wellington for the weekend. Camille is working and is in a meeting until at least 5:00pm. I've been wasting my time wandering the streets spending up large. New trousers, boots, jersey, car seat covers.

Car seat covers??

No, I didn't actually buy those. They came with the boots which is a kind of odd thing to give away with a pair of boots, particularly boots bought at Kirkcaldie and Staines.

I also bought a couple of green teas as the Jimmy Cook (ok - James Cook Grand Chancellor) hotel doesn't have green tea as one of its options in the room or with breakfast. How slack is that? The teas I bought were Gunpowder tea, so named because the leaves are rolled up very tightly and resemble coarse gunpowder grains. The other tea I bought because I liked the name which is.....

Iron Goddess of Mercy

Now that's a real tea! It isn't actually a green tea though. It's an oolong tea. Sort of half and half.

I also bought three books from Borders. They are all cheaply published Penguin books and they are:

1. The Classical World - Robin Lane Fox
2. What is History - E. H. Carr
3. The consolations of Philosophy - Alain De Botton
   

I'm really pleased that those Penguin books are being published again. When I was a child we had one room in the house that was lined with Penguin books. They bring back memories. They also bring back value for money as they cost $12.99 each. This is so much more attractive than buying a single paperback for near $40.00. They just aren't worth that and I am no longer prepared to pay it - except for the occasional impulse buy.

Over and out!