Joseph Stirt runs one of the most interesting blogs on the net – bookofjoe. Everyone should make it required reading. (How’s that for an unequivocal statement?)
Joe sent me a link to his posting on this fascinating book, whose thesis is that Lincoln was the first master of a new technology.
The book is available in e-book form from Amazon ($9.85) and Fictionwise ($16.96 no club /$14.42 club, after rebate) DRM applies, unfortunately. You can read the first chapter in PDF form by downloading it from the book’s Web site.
It looks so interesting that I just had to post it here.
I’d buy it from Fictionwise in an instant if it wasn’t DRMed. I wish there was some reliable way to convey that fact to the publishers (not just for this book, but in general).
It’s probably not Fictionwise’s fault, but according to Amazon, the paperback’s list price is only $13.95, which is $3 cheaper than Fictionwise’s non-club price (and still 47 cents cheaper than Fictionwise’s club price). The Amazon price is 11.16, which makes the Fictionwise price even worse. Between DRM and more expensive than the paperback, I think the publisher must be actively discouraging ebooks. Of course, when it doesn’t sell, the publisher’s response is “nobody wants to buy ebooks”.
Fictionwise has the list price at $19.95, so maybe somebody has a typo.
The hardcover list is $24.95 at both B&N and Amazon, and PB list is $13.95 at both. I don’t buy DRMed products either, so it doesn’t matter to me that the Fictionwise price is IMHO rather overpriced.
Oh, I agree that it’s not Fictionwise’s fault. Their (and everyone else’s) DRMed books are often more expensive than the paperbacks, which is absurd, and leads me to believe the payments to DRM vendors must be substantial.
Why would I ever pay more than the physical object for a book I can do less with?
I thought this was a joke at first. Am I the only one to remember the disgusting spectacle of “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” UPN sitcom that had Lincoln engaged in “telegraph sex”?