You Can Quote Me on That!
"The market for digital books … has been roughly doubling every 18 months."
Andrew Savikas, vice president, digital initiatives, O'Reilly Media; Book Business feature, "Are We on the Verge of an E-book Explosion?" (Oct. '09)
"The list of things that are different now than they were … is pages long. Most importantly, however, in this marketplace, anyone choosing reclusivity or anonymity over engagement chooses irrelevance."
Carolyn Pittis, senior vice president, global marketing strategy and operations for HarperCollins Publishers; Book Business Guest Column (May '09)
"If you are thinking about books that are going to sell in places other than bookstores, then you are not just competing with other books. You are competing with
T-shirts and fart makers and candlesticks and music and DVDs and all these things."
David Borgenicht, president, Quirk Books; Book Business feature, "The Two Sides of David Borgenicht" (August '09)
"… [Improving inventory productivity] … remains one of our key priorities. … We believe returns are not productive for the industry as a whole, and looking at a wide range of alternatives to returns is something we support."
Anne Roman, Borders corporate affairs; Book Business feature "The Point of No Returns" (March '09)
"Prices of e-books should be shaped by cost structures and customer demand rather than by comparison to traditional p[rint]-book pricing. … There is no reason, moreover, why e-books could not be priced dynamically, as are most products in an online world—the initial release price for Dan Brown's new novel, for example, could start at $39.99, rather than the announced $28.99, for the first 24 hours to reflect the pent-up demand and the relative price insensitivity of his most devoted fans, dropping swiftly as demand declines."
Peter Olson and Bharat N. Anand, Book Business Guest Column (June '09)
"E-book sales figures don't necessarily include revenue from other ways publishers are making money from digital content, such as licensing agreements, ad-support sites … for example."
Michael Norris, senior trade book analyst, Simba Information; Book Business feature, "Are We on the Verge of an E-book Explosion?" (Oct. '09)