David,
I know how and where your publishers distribute your work is not under your control.
I also appreciate that you must make your choices about publishers and contracts with an eye to the best interests of yourself and your family, and that sometimes your interests and your readers' will conflict.
In order that you understand (if you don't already, of course) and so perhaps might at least influence your existing publishers a little, and possibly weigh up the choices publishers are making for the English speaking market outside the USA when you are contracting with them, I will note that as usual Tor have made "How Firm a Foundation" available only in hardback outside North America, despite North American customers being able to purchase an ebook (at hardback prices, but at least purchase it).
Personally, I have a preference for ebooks: one is they don't take space to store. I have full bookshelves and boxes of books and thus ebooks are practical. Secondly, I don't need to use reading glasses to read them; on a computer I can change the font size to suit the lighting conditions, my tiredness, etc. Finally they're also easier to transport when traveling, although I don't travel much currently.
I am looking forward to reading "How Firm a Foundation". I may weaken and purchase it in hardback (but even then, it will not be economic to purchase it locally; shipping cost from the USA to Australia is more than offset (much more than offset) by the lower prices available e.g. at Amazon.
Some specific prices (with the Australian dollar currently worth slightly more than the USA dollar):
http://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?productType=917504&keywords=how+firm+a+foundation
AUD$55.99 discounted to AUD$31.50, plus shipping.
http://www.collinsbooks.com.au/featuredbook1.asp?StoreUrl=collinsbooks&bookid=9780765321541&db=au
Online price AUD$39.95, plus shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Firm-Foundation-Safehold-David-Weber/dp/0765321548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316056586&sr=8-1
USD$27.99 discounted to USD$15.98, plus shipping.
Thus the full USA price plus shipping might be marginally more expensive than the cheapest local discounted price plus shipping, but there's not much in it. If/when those discounts change (or I try to buy something without discount) ... I'm not going to buy it. :(
In summary, Tor (or their Australian agents) are making two errors that must be reducing your sales:
1. they're charging a very high margin over USA costs, well above what shipping and warehousing in this much smaller market would deserve
2. they're choosing only "traditional" (hardback) format when a book is released.
Baen, of course, is the current poster child for publishing in the 21st century. I've even purchased one ARC, at the premium price.
(The only thing I consider that Baen do poorly is copy editing, but every publisher is under pressure to reduce costs there, and they're no worse than any other publisher I can think of offhand, so I'll give them a pass but would like them to improve.)
Respectfully,
Giles Lean
<giles.lean@pobox.com>
