Barnes & Noble considers bundling print books and ebooks

The largest book retailer in the United States is making the bold move of considering bundling ebooks and print books. Barnes & Noble, who came out with their own ereader Nook last November, will begin testing the idea within the next few months. This is according to a recent article on Publishers Weekly and the Teleread blog.

I’ve been advocating for this type of bundling for a while now. The obvious advantage is that you can read the print version in the comfort of your own home, and then take the ebook version with you while you’re on the go. This would work especially well with dinosaur-sized books like Stephen King’s Under the Dome (which I’m currently reading as an ebook). If I had bought King’s latest magnum opus as a hardcover, you certainly wouldn’t see me lugging it around so I could read a few pages in the doctor’s office waiting room.

However, there is one caveat to B&N’s plans to bundle print and ebooks together, as the Teleread post explains:

But from the article, it does not sound as if B&N is truly planning what people usually think of as “bundling”—you will have to pay some extra money for the e-book version. Given that the e-book version has no marginal cost to produce, I expect e-book fans will still express disappointment that this offer does not go far enough.

So it’s not a true “bundle” where you get both for one price. However, I think B&N and publishers are taking a step in the right direction. People want choice. They want to read books when they want, where they want and in the format they want. This faux bundling starts to make that possible.

While not the ideal situation, having to pay a reduced price for the ebook version of your newly purchased print edition will not be the end of the world. However, the key word here is “reduced.” If B&N and publishers think consumers will pay much more than $5 for the ebook, then they’re going to have a lot of angry consumers to deal with.

Print-On-Demand at B&N Stores?

Another interesting item brought up in the PW article is that B&N is playing with the idea of maybe bringing POD technology directly to stores (think: Espresso Book Machine):

He said at some point it could be possible to put a pod machine directly into a store, providing the store “was big enough.” He would also not rule out the possibility that B&N could make a “small acquisition” in the technology field if it fit with its digital plans.

Very interesting indeed. I have read a lot about this type of portable POD technology, but would love to see one of these machines in action for myself.

Reading about B&N’s future plans for ebooks got me thinking that they are now taking the lead in innovation. Amazon has been the leader in ebooks for a few years now, but they really haven’t done anything that innovative in a while – other than releasing updated versions of the Kindle every few years or so.

What do you think about B&N’s plans to bundle ebooks and print books? Would you go for it? Or is this just a cheap marketing gimmick to get people to buy their Nook? Leave a comment below and share your answer.

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