Reduce Pricing On Materials / Books

Mark Bold said:

Again, I love the value of being able to link books and other materials together to do a study, but I must say, I believe very few people actually use Logos to actually read the books from cover to cover.  Topical studies, where you just want to add more works to ones collection.  Fine, but still, should the e-version be more than what other places sell their hard copies for?  In virtually every search I have found this to be the case.   I have found it better to avoid purchasing e-versions from logos, and for even a cheaper cost, add a hard copy to my library.  With that, not only do I study, but I actually read the whole work.

Did you include the price of new bookshelves and a larger house for all of those books?  [6]

Mark Bold said:

Although I love the software, I must say, after purchasing it nearly 7 years ago, I have yet to purchase any extra books.  I felt it was about time to share my reasons.

With Amazon.com and the onslaught of e-book readers, the materials provided by Logos are available virtually anywhere.  That being said, the pricing by logos is as much as 2X more - for an e-version than just buying the book for the library.  In the marketplace today, that means e-books are even cheaper.  

Again, I love the value of being able to link books and other materials together to do a study, but I must say, I believe very few people actually use Logos to actually read the books from cover to cover.  Topical studies, where you just want to add more works to ones collection.  Fine, but still, should the e-version be more than what other places sell their hard copies for?  In virtually every search I have found this to be the case.   I have found it better to avoid purchasing e-versions from logos, and for even a cheaper cost, add a hard copy to my library.  With that, not only do I study, but I actually read the whole work.

My suggestion.  Logos needs to be competitive to Kindle and other e-versions.  

Logos is a library system for Bible study--not an e-book reader. It provides tremendous "added value" by providing capabilities for research and study far beyond "reading" a book.

If you have not made any additional purchases in 7 years, you have not experienced the tremendous advances made in the Logos "engine" and have missed out on selecting resources from the thousands available.

My extensive print library now sits mostly unused since I have much of the same resources in my Logos software library. I am able to utilize my resources in Logos in many ways that are not found in a print version or e-book version.

I have taken advantage of the excellent prices consistently offered by Logos through its pre-pub and community pricing programs as well as their tremendous base package values. Their regular sales also offer fabulous values on resources. I started 3 1/2 yrs ago with a small base package and now have over 1800 volumes.

Thank you Logos.

I just priced the seven volumes of the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament at Amazon that are in the pre-publication bundle for Logos.  Guess who is lower - Logos by $14.

Mark Bold said:

Although I love the software, I must say, after purchasing it nearly 7 years ago, I have yet to purchase any extra books.  I felt it was about time to share my reasons.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for finally posting. Your point is well stated.
With so many years experience using Logos I won't tell you what you already know about the benefits of the digital book over hard copy. I only wanted to add two more factors for your consideration:
Convincing the copyright holder to license digital copies is sometimes expensive. They are a little apprehensive to put their works into digital form because it is so easy to duplicate they fear piracy and loss of revenue. I don't think this should be a major concern with Logos 4. With the new Vyrso app and the projected 25,000 Christian books to be released in that format by year's end, we can enjoy reading books cover-to-cover at affordable prices.  
There are ways to save money on Logos books. The pricing of Logos 4 resources reflects the unique factors involved in publishing them. The type of book is often not a cover-to-cover read. There are reference books with special formatting,or heavily footnoted works,or multi-lingual text; some with right to left script. Academic tomes can sell as little as a few hundred copies. Traditional publishers charged several hundred dollars for one copy before the advent of "print-on-demand."  Consider this book in Logos: "Like a Bird in a Cage: The Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE"  $215.00. This book is also $215 on Amazon in hard copy, $131 used. But Logos frequently has sales or huge discounts on bundles and collections. Our example book can be purchased in the History of Israel Collection with 18 additional titles for $499.95. Amazon is not going to cut you a deal like that on hard copy or Kindle. And remember, most of your Logos library is accessible on multiple devices without any additional cost. If you purchase through the Community Pricing program or the Pre-Pub program you save big money. Last year we saw one go for $1. Many sold for $4 per volume. A special Christmas offer had books as cheap as a dollar. These are not undesirable discount "throw-away" titles, but wonderful books like "Aquinas on Doctrine: A Critical Introduction"  $168 ($165hc/$75pb on Amazon.) My true price from Logos on sale; $2.

If you keep up with the Logos blog and sign up for email notifications and Logos Newswire, you will be informed of many opportunities to buy new resources at real savings. One thing I can attest to is the more resources you have indexed into your library the more productive your Bible study gets.

Mark Bold said:

Thanks to all who have replied.  

I guess I am a different user than most.   I don't purchase Pre-Pub materials.  Although many would be nice to have, I haven't read everything that came with the Scholar edition that I already have.  Further, as a student who is working to get an M.Div., I really only have time to purchase materials that are required for my courses.  Although I would have loved the integration and other capabilities. 

I will look into the discount for Seminary students, as I just started this journey - which a discount would be nice.

Still, I do believe to get more users to utilize the extra available materials, pricing should be reduced to be a bit more competitive. 

Again, I appreciate everyone's feedback.  I was not aware of a Seminary discount that I (may) be able to receive now.

Blessings,

Mark

Mark, as a beginning seminary student you will appreciate the power of Logos in formatting your papers as it provides for footnote citation in various forms. You can highlight/cut/paste or export to MS Word or WordPerfet and it will provide the citation in the correct format automatically. If you are using MS Word, you can automatically replace a Scripture reference with the Scripture by using another of Logos' (and Word's) built in features. Check with your seminary professors about their textbooks...many are now starting to use resources that are available in Logos...also IF Logos is "required" by the seminary, you can get HUGE discounts on purchases.

You mentioned that you have been using Logos for 7 years (if I read that correctly). Have you upgraded from Libronix to the Logos 4 program? There is a huge difference in how the two programs work.

Good luck (and prayers) as you begin your seminary training.

Mark Bold said:

 

Again, I love the value of being able to link books and other materials together to do a study, but I must say, I believe very few people actually use Logos to actually read the books from cover to cover.

For a very long time, when I used Logos I just looked up references it suggested.  When I started working with commentaries in more detail, I noticed the Logos would sometimes drop me in the right general area of a commentary, but that there was very useful information (like chapter/section intros/etc) immediately preceding the auto-linked location.  That led me onto a path of reading items cover to cover...albeit I don't get nearly as much read as I place onto my pending reading list.  Reading cover to cover from a desktop was hard, but became easier when I got a tablet and I could sit in a much more comfortable location.

George Somsel said:

There are books you read, books you reference and books you study. 

Precisely.

There are also reading plans within Logos and users have been creating reading lists. So we can concentrate our effort on what may give us the greatest return.  I generally use commentaries as reference works but the way the EEC series is being rolled out facilitates a cover-to-cover reading plan. I could never do that with WBC.