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Show Notes: Tim Holman, VP and Publishing Director of Orbit Books
Discussion: Mike and Mike talk about the inevitable consolidation of many gadgets down to one multipurpose gadget, and how these many tools can eventually help writers.
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Interview: Mike and Mike talk with Orbit Books VP Tim Holman about the $1 e-book promotion that Orbit is running, and also toss around many ideas about the potential place of ebooks in the future grander scheme of publishing.
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Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now the penthouse suite of Third Life Books, the place for SL versions of Michael A. Stackpole’s writings, and many other goodies, including a Wednesday night writing workshop. You can find the castle at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49. Come see the castle roof pool!
Promo: J.C. Hutchins: Get Committed at “The Brink”
Link: Introducing the One Dollar Ebook from Orbit
Link: Orbit Books
[...] finally, there is a good discussion of ebook pricing by Orbit. I think the $1.00 pricing is genius because it seeds the front list. On Twitter the other day, [...]
Nice job. Good interview.
Great interview and very topical for me. The Orbit dollar deal did everything right where the Tor free ebook give away did everything wrong.
Tor started their giveaway with Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, it was a great book and I loved it. I immediately went to purchase the rest of the series, guess what, it wasn’t available. Many months later the other two books were released, book 2 for $13 and book 3 for $24, way too much for any book in my opinion.
Orbit then offers “The Way of Shadows” by Brent Weeks for a dollar. I give it a try and find it is very similar to “Mistborn,” not quite as good but still very enjoyable. After finishing the book I looked for the rest of the series and they are available and for $8 each. Easy sale I buy both and Brent Weeks now has another fan. Also, I will probably never return to the “Mistborn” series again, Tor lost a sale and possible a customer. Way to go Orbit.
Mike, do you have an email address for Tim Holman? I would like to send him a thanks for the interview and relate this story to him.
Ed G: many thanks for your comments, and sorry that I didn’t see them earlier. The main idea behind the dollar ebook promotion has been to give ebook readers a great opportunity to try a new author, but our feeling is certainly that it’s far less likely to benefit the author if other books in the same series or by that author aren’t available in ebook too. The promotion has continued to work really well with the other books we’ve tried, so everybody very happy!
[...] who are sticking to their guns on that issue. [edit 2009-05-22] The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, in episode 353A just interviewed Tim Holman from Orbit Books. The discussion was all about eBooks and this [...]