In a Wall Street Journal article today, Jeffry Trachtenberg reports that Simon & Schuster and the Hachett Book Group would purposely delay ebook version of many of their new upcoming releases. Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster states that they need to do this to now before the “..installed base of ebook reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible.”

So, the book publishes don’t like the fact that a ebook version cost $9.99.  Now, I am just using common sense here, but if you don’t have to produce a hard cover book (along with all the production cost associated with the distribution of that book), doesn’t it cost less??  Didn’t the music industry cry foul when iTunes and other such electronic versions of music distribution came on the scene?  (iTunes saved the music industry!!) David Young, chief executive of the Hachette Book Group states that “We’re doing this to preserve our industry,”  ”I can’t sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It’s about the future of the business.”  Not sure, but I think it is about the high priced, high margin hard cover books, not the future of the business.

This is pure stupidity on many fronts.  First, the ebook devices that these publishers are talking about are Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and other devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry.  These devices have become very popular and have a mass appeal that can only help book and newspaper publishers.  Second, the digital book market is growing.  Publishers should embrace it!  Mrs.Reidy and Mr. Young, you need to become a little more forward thinking and wake up to the fact that you are in the digital age.

Think “long tail”, not “short profits”.  The eBook market allows for a long tail and long shelve life for books.  Instead of think “old school” publishing cycle of “Hard Cover” than “Paper Back” then discount rack, think LONG TAIL.  Think Digital.   Now instead of a limited shelf life for a new book, think long.  People can download the book for months and years to come, versus the limited time frame of a hard cover release.  $9.99 is much better for 5 years than 4 months of $16.99 and 1 year of $1.89 in the bargain rack.

Now, the other really stupid thing that these short sided CEO’s are not thinking about is that if their books are not available for download on release, those ebook customers may just ignore the new release.  What happens then?  You have lost a sale, you have provided a poor customer experience and the authors you represent leave your publishing company and go to a more forward thinking publisher or become self publishers and publish themselves without your fees.  Now that would really suck for you…….

Lastly, if I was a book publisher in this day and age, I don’t think I would fight with the giants.  Amazon and Barnes and Nobel represent a massive amount of the retail book market.  Not sure if these CEO’s have been out in the real world in a while, but most brick and mortar book stores have CLOSED!!!!  Now, I am not suggesting that this would happen, but what happens if Amazon and Barnes and Nobel (both of which have a large stake in the eBook market) decide to not offer Simon & Schuster and the Hachett Book Group new high priced hard cover books, for say, 3 or 4 months??  Might have a little bit of a problem there…..

Point to all this is we live in a digital age.  Customers have changed the method in which they want to receive and read books.  Publishers can fight it or be more customer centric.  Stop being stupid and lead your companies into the future.  Your customers are already ahead of you, come join them or they may not be your customers any more.

Disclaimer:  I have a Kindle and love it.  I would much rather read a book on my Kindle carry around a 500 page hard cover book.  I also read books on my iPhone.

Chris Reighley is an eCommerce marketing professional, online consumer behavior expert and social marketing evangelist. He is currently working on a PhD in eCommerce for Northcentral University in Prescott Valley, Arizona.  Chris owned and operated many ecommerce retail stores in the music, golf and health & beauty categories.  Currently Chris is the Director of eCommerce at FillTek in Cincinnati, Ohio where he works with online retailers such as Hugo Boss, Tretorn, Tommy Hilfiger and Bluefly.