// Home / News

HarperCollins joins eBook holdouts

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 11 Dec 2009 at 09:36

HarperCollins has added its name to the growing list of publishers who will delay eBook releases.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins, claimed that starting January the publisher will delay eBook releases by anything from four weeks to six months, depending on the book.

Initially the scheme will be trialled with five to ten books each month, though it could be expanded.

Each new eBook represents a potential new marketing opportunity at a time when we need every possible hook to get consumer attention

"We're going to experiment with this," Murray told the paper. "Each new eBook represents a potential new marketing opportunity at a time when we need every possible hook to get consumer attention."

Murray claimed the publisher was taking the decision to protect profits. Amazon's ability to buy books in huge numbers means it can release eBooks at the same time as hardbacks, often at prices as low as $9.99 in the US.

Murray has warned that this trend could harm the industry, with publishers unable to take chances on new writers.

HarperCollins has become the third publisher in as many days to announce that it will delay the release of eBooks, following Simon & Schuster and the Hachette Book Group.

Subscribe to PC Pro magazine. We'll give you 3 issues for £1 plus a free gift - click here

From around the web

User comments

They are really thick

To think people will still buy both.

"Hello McFly?"

If you have an eBook reader, you only buy eBooks!

By cheysuli on 11 Dec 2009

What idiots!

As cheysuli says, do they really think they are going to gouge ebook owners twice, once for the hardback and then later for the ebook?

If they had any commercial sense at all they would simply sell the ebook with a time sensitive price - say hardback -10% at initial launch ramping down to paperback -10% when the paperback is released.

The copyright law really is being made an ass - publishers need to be made to choose whether they want to sell rights to intellectual property or a physical object. They should not be allowed to mix their models to suit themselves when they have a monopoly on particular properties.

By JohnAHind on 11 Dec 2009

Lamentable Company

I never had much regard for HC since the grinning and boasting idiots got their Michael Jackson Biography on the shelves before his body even reached the mortuary.

I hope they lose major market share over this.

By Alperian on 11 Dec 2009

So.....

Following on from the theme of Cheysuli, book companies are expecting me to purchase a hard copy of a book at full price, purchase an ebook, at full price then purchase a softback edtion at full price.

Do they think customers are soft?

Are they aware that we are talking about three markets here.

I see the amazon issue, but keeping the price artificially high helps nobody, except profiteering companies.

By Ajamu1 on 14 Dec 2009

Leave a comment

You need to Login or Register to comment.