High pricing of The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible

I'd suggest reporting them to the authorities!!!   :-} 

William Norman said:

If it is not superior shouldn’t the price be closer to the range of the other major works?

These two products are published by Abingdon Press. They are a publishing house associated with the  Methodist Church.  They already publish CD-ROM versions of both of these titles and other similar works. They have had no problem selling them for these same prices for years. Even used CDs bring close to the retail price on the rare occasions they are offered for sale.  I can not tell you if they are really that good in comparison to the other works you cite but they are certainly that desirable to a number of Methodists.

I believe Abingdon has agreed to publish them in Logos format for the extra benefits that can be realized. The Pre-Pub price is likely the retail price and is probably set by Abingdon and will not be discounted soon, if ever.

I am aware of other third party denominational publishers who also fix their prices in Logos. Someday, I hope to buy The Northwestern Publishing House Electronic Library: Collection One. When I have the funds I will ask my salesman for the best deal he can give me. I really don't expect him to have any freedom to lower their prices either. Baker Academic is marketing their Pre-Pubs the same way. Having them available, even if fixed at a high price by the publisher, is better than not having the choice at all.

Tom Reynolds said:

Even if it costs Logos nothing in time or money it gives them a bad reputation.

The works of John Henry Newman are already available in digital form from a Catholic publisher for a price lower than the Logos version. By your reasoning they should not be published in Logos because it will hurt their reputation to offer a superior version for a higher price. I know Catholics who already own the cheap version who want the Logos version. The users who won't buy the Logos version probably will never buy the cheap version either. The pricing is not the real issue.
I say let the

1. Methodists choose between Abingdon's hardback set with inferior CD or Logos' superior and more versatile version.
2. Catholics choose between Faith Database (PC only) or Logos' superior resources (PC & Mac)
3. Lutherans (who else wants the quarterly?) have access to the Northwestern Publishing Collection
4. Everyone choose between the Pradis format or Logos release of Zondervan's titles.
5. The Anabaptists are pleading to buy their books in Logos, as are many others.

 

Tom Reynolds said:

while some Methodists might pay that most Logos customers will not

I presume Logos and Abingdon both believe there are enough willing to pay the asking price to proceed with the project. I will agree with you the price of a resource does not always reflect it's value. Almost everyone agrees the IVP Essential Reference Collection 2  is a good deal for the price. But how many will buy Barth's Church Dogmatics? A lot of users sthink Platinum is a better package than Portfolio when comparing book per dollar. I think Word Biblical Commentary is a better per dollar investment than Anchor Yale Bible. 

Tom Reynolds said:

People look at the physical book price and compare it to the digital Logos book price and are turned off of digital Logos books.

Bob Pritchett addressed digital book pricing here. Some people prefer the unproductive nature of hardback books. [6]
My brother is a pastor who no longer uses digital books for sermon prep. His church does use worship presentation software & digital hymnals. [8-)]

I would much rather have a choice to pass on the Oxford Latin Dictionary than have the option of buying it removed from the table.

MJ. Smith said:

Matthew C Jones said:

But how many will buy Barth's Church Dogmatics?

Far more interesting to me.

It took me years to finally cough up the money for Barth and then only after Logos offered it at a big discount.

I have seen the hardback sets of Interpreter’s Bible and the Dictionary and liked what little I saw but not $1200 worth. I can make that amount of money go a lot further in other areas of the Logos catalog. Now if Abingdon saw fit to drop the prices drastically in the future I may someday get to own these sets. Fortress Press did that with Hermeneia Commentary by dropping the price and adding value with the Continental Commentary.

 

Rev Chris said:

I agree Abingdon should drop the price ... but I'm also willing to still spend what Logos is asking on both NIB and NID so my supply/demand ratio wouldn't suggest they do so.

Thanks for sharing that. You obviously have a lot more experience with these sets than I do. Can you give a comparison with the other titles mentioned in the original post?   Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary,  Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, and the 1979~1995 edition of the ISBE

I do have all three of these titles but I don't have the Interpreter's works to make the comparisons. I like all three and listed them above in the order of my preference. Tell us why the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible is worth $400. And what does it offer that these other three do not?

New Interpreter's Bible has some contributors I am familiar with and respect. I wish there were some sample pages to see how it is all presented. I see it uses RSV and NIV. I've gotten used to gleaning from Zondervan and College Press NIV works so it isn't a big drawback to me personally. I would also be curious how it stacks up next to Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (INT) (43 vols.) by John Knox Press. They sound very similar.

 

I like the NIDB but it isn't as good a work as Anchor, it is very nice but a little brief, it has a wide range of articles of a theological nature and is very current. I don't think it s worth the price, I do think a vast majority of mainline protestants desire it and not just some Methodists (raised lutheran, Anglican now). As for comparing interpretation to NIB, it's the exact opposite Interpretation is a good commentary some volumes are very good but most ate just ok. Page count shows you a lot the 43 volumes of smaller pages run i think it;s 9000 the close to full letter size pages of NIB are over 12000. NIB has weak points in it too but over and over again it tends to be outstanding and worth every penny. I use both most every day for my devotions, and half the time or less I find something good in Interp. in the NIB I would say 85-90% i find something that really deeply speaks to me. The original IB was highly valued by most mainline seminaries for close to 50 years and I have little doubt NIB will find a place in the hearts and library's  of many Christians for many decades too. The addition of the alexandrian cannon books (All books found in roman catholic Bible), broadens this set out to reach not only protestants but also catholics, there are even a few top evangelicals  who have contributed, like Wriight's Romans or Leviticus by Kaiser. This commentary will not be the one to best serve every Christians, especially if your theology, is very rigid, but I know even when i disagree with an authors conclusion I find having wrestled it over in my mind I can better say, "This is what I believe and why." I hope I can one day own the NIB in Logos, if I can't that is ok, but I feel it is a valuable loss to a fine library that is Logos. After seeing the NIB be nearly completely ready to go to contract and then seeing it fall down to what I am guessing is 80% there I am not sure it will ever make it but I do know the full retail price is the likely biggest reason it's not currently in production. God willing perhaps one day it shall, but until then I have my hard copy and my old cdrom version of it. It is no Logos but it functions adequately for my needs. 

-dan