This could be a cool monetization strategy. I don't really read physical books, but the "classics" on Amazon are often complete ripoffs. Here's Crime and Punishment for $10 just to get the Kindle version: https://www.amazon.com/Punishment-Penguin-Classics-Fyodor-Do...
I feel like these open domain novels published by big publishing houses have the veneer of legitimacy, but projects like the one this thread is about I think could accomplish much more. Especially for authors where the work is translated into English. Plus the cover designs are much cooler.
I will say, the search on their website is kind of slow and could use some work.
Although there's no saying as to whether or not they will have proper spellcheck, TOC, if they are legitimately in the public domain, or even if it's the right book with all the pages. That's where a service like Standard Ebooks is superior to the potluck you get from Amazon.
Without discounting the point made by smogcutter about Penguin's edition not actually being public domain: for a classic work, I'd expect to be able to get a paperback for less than $10.* And that involves a real-life physical artifact which (a) necessarily has lower margins than an ebook, and (b) doesn't come with the omnipresent threat that it will evaporate from your device (or your managed online locker or whatever), nor that you'll have to stop reading if your battery dies, nor that you're unable to easily hand it to someone else to let them thumb through or borrow it. For an ebook, $3 or $4 sounds about right. Maybe $5 for a relatively modern translation, as in the case here. Recall that Netflix in comparison is $X per month (fill this is in; I don't actually know, but I know the number is not high) and libraries are free-ish. Price points at or around $10 per work or more feel like a shameless ploy to trigger the sensation of "economy" in "false economy" and push people into rent-seeking platforms where they consistently hand over a continual stream of monthly payments in perpetuity for "unlimited" access—to select items within the very limited one month term that the payment gets you.
* NB: whether this is actually the case or not is a separate matter
Yes basically. I understand if a publisher commissioned a translation and put in work but $10 for a DRM digital copy is too steep. Maybe $3-$4 would be reasonable? Crime and Punishment was written in the 1800s, the author is long dead. And it's considered a historic and important piece of literature.
Regardless, it's great that these works are available in high quality for free.
Because there are high quality alternatives that are free and have no DRM there's no price point I would buy it. The only scenario I would is if I wanted to read a specific translation.
A physical copy if I wanted one I'd be willing to pay ~$6 for, less if used.
That doesn't make sense. You disagree with what? My expectation that it shouldn't cost much more than $5 for an ebook of something with a 150-year-old plot?
> $10 to be able to have it this second on my Kindle vs. waiting to get the physical copy feels like a good value
That's nice, I guess—for you. But we weren't talking about you, and we weren't talking about instant gratification.
If I'm buying for reasons where instant gratification isn't a factor—and I'd argue that for books, prioritizing instant gratification is even sillier than with e.g. food and drink or streaming TV shows—should I still pay the premium to be able to get something "this second" if my flight isn't for another three weeks and I'd have been perfectly willing to deal with a delay?
Yes, I disagree with what you said – that an ebook should be priced lower than the print version.
If you want the cheaper one buy the cheaper one. If you aren't in a rush to get it, buy the one that gets delivered in a week instead of in 10 seconds. If you want the ebook, buy the ebook. If you want the printed book, buy the printed book.
At this point, you're just propping up and tearing down straw men—including your remarks about whether or not italics make an argument "more ironclad": nobody said it did. The italics are a response to your insistence in not engaging in the conversation you're ostensibly talking part in and trying instead to turn it into a different conversation that no one else is.
> $3 or $4 doesn’t sound about right to me
No one asked. You asked, on the other hand, a question about the ripoff comment, and that's the question you got an answer to.
No more attempts at conversational sleights of hand, please.
Yes, I asked a question. You gave your opinion. I said I disagreed with it. You said disagree with what? I said I disagree with your opinion. Repeat… several times now lol.
Here's what you're not getting: nobody asked about that.
You cannot say to someone who doesn't like hot dogs, e.g., "What makes hot dogs gross?" and then when someone explains why, respond, "I disagree." That makes no sense. You asked for the information, they gave it to you, so the only possible way that "I disagree" fits at that place in the conversation is if you're saying that you disagree that that's their reason. To respond "I disagree" in the sense that you don't share their taste is to fundamentally change the subject to try to have a different conversation. And it's not interesting, besides.
People have different tastes. That's expected.
Stating that you personally think it is worth the price—especially in this context, as if it's some kind of retort—is just annoying. It isn't illuminating; that you don't share the same opinion is utterly unsurprising and didn't need saying, and it provides no special insight.
I feel like these open domain novels published by big publishing houses have the veneer of legitimacy, but projects like the one this thread is about I think could accomplish much more. Especially for authors where the work is translated into English. Plus the cover designs are much cooler.
I will say, the search on their website is kind of slow and could use some work.