Changes Kindle Debacle

Amazon and Penguin are bickering, and the Kindle edition of “Changes” has been caught up in the crossfire. Fans around the world are getting email notifications from Amazon that their “Changes” preorders have been canceled.
Jim had no say in this decision, and he’s already received an outpouring of mail from fans perplexed and angered at this chain of events. We know many of you were relying on this being available on release day, and we’re every bit as frustrated as you are. We’re confident the conflict will not be drawn out much longer, but we have no way of knowing if it will be resolved in time for the book’s Tuesday release. We have no doubt that “Changes” will be available for the Kindle at some point, but whether that’s tomorrow, next week, or next month is anyone’s guess.
We hope this doesn’t unduly inconvenience you guys, and we thank you for bearing with us in this exceptionally annoying time.

Author: priscellie

Priscilla Spencer has been Jim's creative consultant since 2007. In addition to managing content for Jim-Butcher.com and its social media channels, she beta-reads all of Jim's works, serves as a thematic consultant on the graphic novels and role playing games, and illustrates the maps for his books. The whole "Year of Dresden" thing is largely her baby. Her latest claim to fame is directing the official book trailers for Peace Talks and Battle Ground. In her professional life, Priscilla is a Producer, Writer, Photographer, and Fantasy Map Illustrator working towards a career in producing TV. She enjoys musical theatre, gluten-free cooking, sci-fi/fantasy, and weightlifting. She aspires to travel the world and pet every dog.

195 thoughts on “Changes Kindle Debacle”

  1. So here we are about 10 days after the various blogs and newswires carried the story on how Amazon and Penguin are slugging it out over the agency model – and nothing new but our collective whining (me being one of the worst). Nothing here from Mr. Butcher’s entourage, nothing new from Amazon when you send them an inquiry – just the usual packaged tripe their first tier customer service people are directed to use for any question about a missing ebook, and penguin has gone dark on the subject. Notice when you look up a price of a book via the Kindle now, you often see a little note that says: “Price set by the Publisher”. It’s truly amazing how EVERYONE points the finger at EVERYONE else. And I saw a news release where Penguin sent an email to authors and agents telling them that this process is meant to “preserve the value” of their books. Hogwash – it’s meant to preserve the value of their CEO’s paycheck. So, friends and neighbors, we have NO advocate for us. I do smile when I see Amazon sticking it to Penguin by selling the hardcover Changes at the old Kindle price, however. That’s the only win for the reader – it’s a lose/lose for Mr. Butcher and Penguin. I wonder who will blink first? I might – it’s agony knowing there’s a new Dresden novel out there that everyone loves and I CAN’T READ IT. I just might have to compromise my principles and go the cheap Amazon hardcover path so somebody other than me gets shafted.

  2. Actually, Penguin and Jim do just fine with the hard cpoy selling for $9.99. They get paid based on the list price not the selling price.
    I have been reading other stuff and have come to realize that I like the Dresden series but it is not essential reading for me. That is bad for Jim and Penguin because it might mean that they have lost a reader all together. I am going to have to remember that I want to read the book at some point and not wonder why I should buy it to read when I have a long enough to be read list.
    So the hype is gone and possibly a reader. A drop int he bucket I know, but I have a feeling I might not be the only one.

  3. So … it IS greed. How about that.
    Yeah, maybe you’re right … if I continue to hold out I may just give up on the series altogether….
    thx!

  4. Amazon is selling that hardcover at a loss. Every sale at $9.99 is (very likely) several dollars below what they paid the publisher for the book, and beyond printing and royalty costs, publishers are not making all that much of a margin.
    Calling this “greed” smacks of ignorance. Amazon has sold the public a line about looking out for their interests, but it’s all with an eye on their own market advantage.

  5. Of course this is in line with Amazon’s marketing plan. Amazon wants to sell as many ebooks as they can. That is why Amazon has an app for all the Iproducts and the Blackberry. Amazon knows that they more books they sell, the more money they make.
    Amazon has agreements in place with all of the major publishing houses. The only exception,that I know of, is Penguin.
    To add to the silliness, there have been articles written where the Execs of publishing houses admit that they are making less money with ebooks under the new agency model then they did under Amazons model. So their desire to control the price has cost them money and has increased the amount of money that Amazon makes. Please explain to me how this makes any sense?
    I side with Amazon because Amazon’s policy is inline with my interests. Penguin has decided it needs something different from Amazon then the other Publishing Houses needed. Amazon seems to be telling Penguin that it will not accept that. Penguin loses out because it is angering a client base that might be small (ereader users) but who happen to read a lot.
    I am opposed to what the Publishers are doing because they keep saying in interviews that they are afraid of ebooks. More then one has been quoted saying that they would love to see ebooks go away. The Publishers do not have my best interests in mind. Which leads to my not being able to read Jim’s latest book in the format I prefer. Which leads to Jim making less money. Which leads to the Publisher making less money. Which leads to no one being happy.
    Except me because I am off reading other stuff that I can buy at the $9.99 and less price point and wondering why Penguin does not want me to buy books that they publish.

  6. And the rumor that Amazon is losing money selling Changes at $9.99 are true. The book is sold under the old “wholesale model” that means the reseller pays about 50% of the MSRP to the publisher. The MSRP on Changes is $26 so Amazon is paying about $13 wholesale for the book — losing a few dollars per share — exactly what happened when “Under the Dome” came out and was priced at $9 because of the price war between Target, WalMart and Amazon. Amazon writing a check in the amount of $200-$300K to make a splash with a loss leader is nothing new — they make it up with goodwill and people buying more stuff at a higher margin.
    No, the problem Amazon and Penguin are having (I think) are “extra” demands regarding promotions (being able to discount under Agency Models), extra high prices for premium books, and more. Amazon is looking at this as a test case for the Big Six Publishers:
    Hachette Book Group
    HarperCollins
    Macmillan
    Penguin Group
    Random House
    Simon & Schuster
    If Penguin wins this, they in effect will win consessions for All of them that will severly hurt ebook retailing for years to come — i.e. higher prices, delayed releases and more. Sorry Jim Butcher’s books is caught of in these “changes” but I read the hardcover, sold it for close to what I paid for it and moved on. Penguins CEO thinks that e-books are really paperbacks in disguise and has a obvious disdain for them. I really hope Amazon prevails on this one. Get the hardcover at Amazon, read it and pass it on, or get the bit torrent p2p (Hachett book release, European version), read it on your Kindle and move on.

  7. Bought the hardcover at the Amazon discount, clamped it between two pieces of plywood, ran it through the table saw, Scanned the pages, ran them through OCR, loaded the result on my Kindle, read the book. I know I could have grabbed it from a torrent, but hey doing it this way gives me something to grumble at Penguin/Amazon about.

  8. In my house we have a new name for Penguin:
    Penguin Overpriced Offering Postponing Eveyone’s Excitment,
    or, POOPEE for short.

  9. At the risk of continuing to “smack of ignorance” then, can someone suggest when this will all be resolved? I don’t feel like moving on – I want this FIXED!!! I don’t particularly give a rat’s butt who is benefitting or not, be it the authors, the sellers, the publishers, whomever. All I know is that a service I once enjoyed, and incidentally, paid a not insignficant amount of money (one of the original Kindles at full price) for the priviledge of using, has been taken away from me because of strange, esoteric and hard to understand market forces that when described come across as HORSE ROAR (yep, I said that). So who’s going to FIX THIS?

  10. and by the way, for all those that read the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series – be afraid – Ace Hardcover is owned by Penguin books too!

  11. Well, this just figures. The newest book in the Anita Blake series ‘Flirt’ comes out without a hitch and I wouldn’t pay 10 bucks for that even if I STOLE the ten bucks from someone else first, but “Changes” has to get all jacked up. And I’d pay 15 for that one-with my own money, even!
    Where is the justice?!?
    Penguin needs to tighten up.
    Frack’n publishers….

  12. Each time a new book comes out I go back and re-read the entire series. I’ve worn out the books and have been re-purchasing them all on my Kindle. To say I am disappointed in not being able to enjoy the latest after taking the time to read the first 11 books again is an understatement!
    I’ve been suggesting these books to all clients and friends. Will have to tell them not to bother now if there are going to be problems using the Kindle.

  13. For years I have been reading the dresden series. I have each and every book in my bookshelf. Even Changes.
    BUT
    I have neck and shoulder problems. I cannot read a hardcover or softcover book, i cannot hold the book up long enough to read it without causing pain. I bought the kindle to allow me to read without such issues. I preordered Changes months ago and was sorely disappointed to hear this news. Plus many upcoming Penguin books will soon fall into this category. So because of my back issue I am being prevented by Penguin/Amazon to read their books. Doesn’t make me want to buy any of them again, and I’m seriously looking at the Nook now.
    Thanks amazon/Penguin, way to keep your customers happy

  14. May poo-flinging demon monkeys descend upon Penguin Headquarters and wreak havoc with the paycheck of their CEO.

  15. Buy a Nook from Barnes and Noble! Its 10 times better then the Kindle and you’d have been able to read All The Dresden Files By Now 🙂

  16. Oh please! Enough with the nookie spam ad — I tried a nookie and it was NOT better: slow, heavy and the “wifi” is terrible. And after many comparisons in pricing — Amazon’s Kindle bookstore has more selections and better prices.
    Again, the .mobi Kindle is readily available in bit torrent. If and when Jim’s website has a donations button — he might profit from that reality.

  17. I knocked off three other books this weekend. I am moving on to a fourth tonight.
    I am happy to hear that people are enjoying the Nook. The more ereaders out there, the more ebooks there will be. Ender’s Game was finally released as an ebook. Personally I have not heard anything positive about the Nook other then the upgrades have improved its performance but it is still way buggy and navigation is not intuitive.
    I won’t illegally download a book. It really is that simple. I also won’t recommend a series when I cannot purchase the books in that series. So my friends who asked me for suggestions this week did not get my normal “Check out Jim Butcher’s stuff.”
    And there is an article in the New Yorker that discusses Apples role in this sill Agency Model and predicts that in a year, when the current contracts end, Apple is likely to demand a price drop to $9.99. Sounds like the Publishing Houses are doing a great job of looking out for their profits. (eye roll)

  18. I am a Kindle owner. I am not going to run out and buy the hardcover even though that’s exactly what the publisher is hoping I’ll do. Prior to all if these contract negotiations, if a book wasn’t available for my Kindle, I’d purchase the audio version from audible. If I like it, I usually purchase the Kindle version when it’s released as well. At this point, I’m unwilling to buy this book in any form and hope it makes a statement to the publisher that they’re making a very bad move.

  19. Gah! I finally got my hard copy. I have strong feelings for these idiot companies! Definitely not pleasant ones!
    I live in Japan. I usually buy Kindle books because I can get them as they are released in the US instead of having to wait for them to be shipped here. Not to mention shipping cost more than the actual book itself. But I am a pathetically desperate junkie and I need my fix!

  20. Well, I have given up. I won’t buy the hard back and I am no longer interested in the Kindle verison. I have not been tempted to check the spoilers or felt the need to check the book out of the library so I guess it really is not that important to me.
    Amazon has benefited from my purchasing four other books during this time period. That is the great thing about reading, there are always alternatives.
    Penguin, and sadly Jim, has lost someone who has purchased every one of Jim’s books. That is 4 of the 6 Codex Alera books as a paperback(the first four) and all the Kindle versions (10 copies) and 10 of the Dresden file as Kindle and paperback and the one as Kindle only (21 copies). I guess in the end Penguin (and Jim) make out since I bought two copies of most of the books but they lose my future purchases.
    Sorry Jim but your Publisher is doing you a huge disservice.

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