I’m aware of that. And I have bought a bunch that way. My problem is with the books that I purchased in the past in one format (eReader)…which are now available in other formats. Instead of offering me the chance of downloading in another format, I need to purchase it **again** in the format I now use.

And what of all my purchases via Palm/Peanut/Whatever you call it this week? All in eReader…all useless to me.

And peopel wonder why eBooks aren’t taking off. If deadtree editions were this much trouble, they wouldn’t have taken off after Gutenberg’s first edition of The Bible!

I know the problem is less with Fictionwise than with the publishers who provide the books (and set the conditions), but I’m amazed that they don’t seem to have a clue.

(Let’s not even get started on hardcover prices for eBooks that have been in paperback…for months to years!)

It’s just that there’s no reader for encrypted Mobipocket files yet.

Also Fred Kiesche, Fictionwise does offer multi-format unencrypted eBooks whenever the publishers will let them. I know the vast majority of my purchases have come that way.

As for the iPhone, I’m pretty sure I read that eReader is working as fast as they can to get DRM elements integrated into their app so that folks can read the books they’ve bought that are so protected. Hopefully that will come with 1.3? I’ve only ever bought multiformat from them, though.

As for whether the “deals” are confusing–I hadn’t thought they were, but I also hadn’t paid much attention to them.

It’s also very cool to hear that the micropay is refundable–I hadn’t looked into that, but had expected it to not be.

Hey, Steve, I’ll buy more books from you folks (in the future) if I have better access to the books I’ve already bought!

Steve: Thanks for your explanation. I suppose no matter what you do, someone will find it too confusing.

Thanks for a well-balanced article. I want to explain some of our thought processes in implementing this system.

Based on our customer’s comments, your opinion that the weekly coupon was “simple” is not shared by quite a few customers. We have been receiving customer support tickets since we acquired eReader from customers telling us they dislike the weekly coupons (in some cases in extremely emphatic terms).

The weekly coupons also made it very difficult for us to run any kind of sensible promotions for individual books without having to do a lot of explanations. This resulted in complicated wording on many of our special promotions like “40% Off (including 10% weekly coupon and a special discount)”. Again, this resulted in customer supports when people could not figure out what things like that meant. That is a direct result of having a weekly coupon. The weekly coupon was not at all simple in the minds of many customers.

This Rewards system will allow us a lot of additional flexibility and will lead to much lower prices for regular customers. We will be able to do on eReader very special promotions like 100% Rewards ebooks in the near future. That was not possible using the coupon system.

I do understand the view that there is always some amount of money being held for the next purchase. Therefore, the benefit accrues mostly to regular customers and not one-time customers. All I can say is: yes, this is a loyalty program. That’s why it’s called “Rewards”. We’re Rewarding repeat buyers. Loyal customers get much bigger benefits under this program than the 10% coupon.

The philosophical question is: should a retailer design their discounts to reward one-time buyers, or should they design their system to reward repeat buyers? About 90% of the sales on our sites are repeat buyers. You can do the math and come to your own conclusions, but there is no question in my mind that we’re doing the right thing here.

The eReader Rewards system was designed to be far simpler than the Fictionwise Micropay Rebates system which we agree is too complicated. In the eReader Rewards system there is no need to choose a payment type, the rewards dollars just get automatically deducted. There are no promotions that depend on choosing a particular payment type. There are no clubs to join, no dues to pay, everyone gets the same deal. Pretty simple.

-Steve P.

My ebooks I buy from Sony or Baen. I wait for Sony to run a coupon special and then use that for purchases. Even though I pay more (or seem to) at Sony than I would at Fictionwise, I like the pricing ease of understanding that I get at Sony.

When Fictionwise ran its 100% rebate on membership a couple of weeks ago, I almost joined, especially after reading comments from others who love buying from Fictionwise. But in the end I didn’t because I just find the system too confusing.

I know I’m probably in the minority in this regard, but I’m also certain I’m not the only ebook buyer who doesn’t buy from Fictinwise because of the system.

In fact, I recently asked for a refund because I had a lot of money and I wanted to use it on eReader.com purchases instead of Fictionwise.com, and they did it, fast enough. Only a small amount was not refunded, that I earned by registering to the Buywise club (it was the “100% micropay rebate” campaign, a feww days ago).