Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
If increased prices result in more people pirating the books, then the publishers will have to take that into account.
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Only if there is solid evidence for the relationship. Internet assertions don't really count.
As a ratio, the price difference between a a 99 cent book and a pirated book is the same as the price difference between a 99 dollar book and a pirated book -- infinity. So what's more important, the ratio or the absolute difference? And how's the publisher to know?
It's a little more complicated than that, I know, because convenience and risk factors mean nothing is totally free. You could assign a price to the risk of getting a computer virus from a cyberlocker site. And, in the other direction, you could assign a price to the risk of identify theft when you give your credit card information to a on-line bookseller. I'd personally rate the cyberlocker malware risk higher, but there surely are cyberlocker fans who think differently.
A really big publisher can experimentally approximate the most profitable price points. I can't think of ways the publisher can know why that price works best.