Individual Volumes of New International Commentary series

Since the NIC set is somewhat expensive, I wonder if Logos will eventually
sell individual volumes of the series. They do this with some other
sets.

Seems it would benefit everyone - including Logos and Eerdmans - to sell
individual volumes to those who cannot afford the entire set.

Or do the publishers feel that individual volume sells would kill the sells
of such a high priced set?

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Comments

T MacLeod

I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember a Logos staffer saying in one of the forums that that was probably never going to happen.

Daniel Lee

Since the NIC set is somewhat expensive, I wonder if Logos will eventually
sell individual volumes of the series. They do this with some other
sets.

Seems it would benefit everyone - including Logos and Eerdmans - to sell
individual volumes to those who cannot afford the entire set.

Or do the publishers feel that individual volume sells would kill the sells
of such a high priced set

Per Dan's comment on the blog, doesn't sound very likely:

Dan Pritchett replied to comment from Ian

| May 29, 2009 10:41 AM

| Reply

Sometimes
with large collections and series we are able to sell individual titles
from those series several years after their release. Sometimes we are
required to keep series together and never split them up.

According to the terms of this contract, we do not have the ability
to sell any of the content in any configuration other than a complete
set. That means you won't see individual books or even an Old Testament
and New Testament collection for NICOT/NICNT, just the complete
collection.

It is possible that some years in the future this may change, but
especially in this case, I would not count on it. It took perhaps a
decade of work to get the contract to this title in the first place,
and it was under the strict terms to sell it as a complete unit. I do
not foresee that changing any time soon, if ever.

If you are interested in NICOT/NICNT at all, this is perhaps the
best price you will ever see on it and the best possible time to buy.
The price could increase at any time, since it has already rocketed
well-past the 100% of interest needed to move it into production.

Mike Childs

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/64762#Comment_64762

Thanks for the information. I had missed Dan's comments.

It seems that the New International Set is one that I will just have to be satisfied to use in paper format. The Logos Electronic format is much handier, but on my budget it is not $900 handier. Maybe one day.

Besides, it will look good setting on my office bookshelf, too. And there is something about holding a book in your hands.

Robert I

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/64825#Comment_64825

It is now several years later and many competitors are selling just the NT or OT set, along with many selling the individual copies. Can Logos not renegotiate these prices? Many competitors regularly offer these sets at discounts, so I am not inclined to believe that a contract renegotiation would not be advantageous to both publisher and Logos. I hope folks will reconsider this!

Steve Croyle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/371310#Comment_371310

I agree. I certainly can appreciate the 10-year effort to get the series at all and also whatever effort went into now being able to offer the OT and NT separately. Even the payment options offered by Logos have helped to ease the financial burden a bit, although there's additional cost to that as well. The price of the entire series, even divided OT and NT, is still prohibitive for many of us, though, and while the NIC series is certainly an excellent commentary series, some of the titles in the series are not considered to be the top commentary for the particular title. Those who have to choose between good and best will have to settle, either for an inferior commentary or one that does not allow us to leverage the power of Logos. But if negotiations can be revisited and Eerdmans (and other commentary series publishers) can be convinced to offer their titles individually, those with tighter budgets can also benefit from the best Biblical scholarship and digital tools.

Would contacting Eerdmans (and other commentary series publishers) directly help? If so, What is the appropriate way to go about doing that so as not to jeopardize Logos' relationship(s) with the publisher(s)?

Steve Croyle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/399759#Comment_399759

Actually, I just checked on the Accordance website, and they offer NICNT series titles individually. On the same page the NICOT individual titles are listed as coming soon. Not only that, currently you can get 10% off if you order 3 or more individual titles from the NICNT series.

So Eerdmans already does make the titles available individually with competitor software. Seems to me that Logos could use that as leverage in negotiating with Eerdmans.

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/399763#Comment_399763

they offer NICNT series titles individually

Other competitors do the same for some time.

Eerdmans already does make the titles available individually with competitor software. Seems to me that Logos could use that as leverage in negotiating with Eerdmans

In my opinion, this fact in itself may not be a good argument for Logos. It only were a good argument if Logos had some sort of promise or even contract clause that Eerdmans won't treat them worse than other bible software. I can imagine that publishers may even prefer a situation with a number of competing bible software firms each not being able to really fulfill their customers' wishes to the full extent, rather than have one champion routing out the rest and becoming "difficult" to negotiate with.

Some publishers may even flirt in the back of their heads with the idea to someday "do it by ourselves" or simply buy a major bible software. Additionally, most of this people are still paper-based in their thinking. Not being able to get individual NIC volumes in Logos increases their chance that some Logos user buy some paper volumes.

I think the better argument would be to make clear to the publishers that currently the breadth of available resources in Logos is so large that the customers' buying power is limited by our budgets, not by availability of resources. If there is no individual NIC volume, most of us will not buy the set and not run out to buy a paper copy, but spend their money on another resource - which gives no revenue to Eerdman and in the longterm decreases the standing of NIC.

OT: Logos don't mind us discussing competitor software, but they ask us to refrain from linking to their sites -> you may want to edit your post accordingly Thanks!

Steve Croyle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/399769#Comment_399769

In my opinion, this fact in itself may not be a good argument for Logos. It only were a good argument if Logos had some sort of promise or even contract clause that Eerdmans won't treat them worse than other bible software. I can imagine that publishers may even prefer a situation with a number of competing bible software firms each not being able to really fulfill their customers' wishes to the full extent, rather than have one champion routing out the rest and becoming "difficult" to negotiate with.

Some publishers may even flirt in the back of their heads with the idea to someday "do it by ourselves" or simply buy a major bible software. Additionally, most of this people are still paper-based in their thinking. Not being able to get individual NIC volumes in Logos increases their chance that some Logos user buy some paper volumes.

I certainly hope not. Perhaps I'm naive, but I hope that limitations would not be placed on Biblical scholarship for the sake of corporate American business maneuvering.

I think the better argument would be to make clear to the publishers that currently the breadth of available resources in Logos is so large that the customers' buying power is limited by our budgets, not by availability of resources. If there is no individual NIC volume, most of us will not buy the set and not run out to buy a paper copy, but spend their money on another resource - which gives no revenue to Eerdman and in the longterm decreases the standing of NIC.

You're probably right. But the reality is that some, maybe many, Logos users who can't afford the entire set will indeed go out and buy a hardcopy of the title they want. Publishers can see that, even in this thread if not in their sales reports. Seems to me that a partnership between Logos and the publishers that sees and values the benefit of making Biblical scholarship available to more Biblical scholars will be a win deal for everyone - Logos, the publishers, and the Bible scholars.

Anyway, I mainly just wanted to voice that I too would like to see Logos offer the commentary series titles individually and that I'm willing to be part of the solution wherever possible and appropriate.