Quote:
Originally Posted by latepaul
When I buy a Mars bar I'm paying for the confectionery as well as the wrapper. But I don't buy it for the wrapper. The wrapper performs a useful function - stops me having a sticky mess in my pocket or hand - but it's the chocolate that I want. So if someone managed to make a chocolate bar that didn't need a wrapper I'd buy it (or not) based on how much I wanted it versus the price.
The paper in a paper book isn't something I want. It's useful - it holds the print - but it's not why I buy a book. There are things about it - I can resell it, lend it etc - that it has over an ebook. But those don't happen to be things I'd pay extra for given that I lose the advantages of an ebook.
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Ah but the candy bar has to travel through the physical world before you purchase it as well. It goes from the factory, to a warehouse, to another warehouse, to the store where you buy it. Ebooks can go directly from publisher (especially if self-published) to the buying public. Plus the publisher doesn't have to worry about losing money spent on paper & ink if they offer the book either free or at a reduced price during a sale. If it costs 30 cents to make a candy bar and the bar normally costs 45 cents to buy the candy maker makes 15 cents profit. If they offered a sale that had that candy bar only costing the buyer 20 cents then the candy maker would lose 25 cents rather than making 15 cents profit. Ebooks cost less to produce than pbooks I'd think because it's just a matter of formatting and spell checking one copy that is copied each time someone buys that particular title. There is no additional cost in printing new copies, no cost in buying paper or ink. No additional cost in storage for the multiple copies before the bookstores purchase them or cost in gas or other fuel in transporting those copies from the warehouse. It's all electronic.