Quote:
Originally Posted by wallcraft
I agree that Amazon isn't planning on loosing money in the long term, and may not be loosing money overall today on ebooks (or on ebook-buying customers). The issue, though, is whether an ebook issued 4 months after a hardcover is a "leader", and therefore worth Amazon's time to deeply discount it. If not, how many $25-30 ebooks are these publishers going to sell.
I am also ok with the 4 month lag, if this implies a lower cost (lower list price). With the possible exception of audio books, this is the way it typically works in book publishing. Paperbacks cost less than trade paperbacks which cost less than hardcovers, and this is partially an indication of the reader's impression of quality but much more an indication of release date.
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To your point about a lower cost - I completely agree. I think the publisher's price point is way to high in the current market, and if S&S is going to position eBooks to release between hbooks and pbooks, then the pricing needs to be adjusted to reflect that as well. However, if prices drop and eBook release is delayed 4 months, publishers have then effectively removed from Amazon one of it's key selling points that eBooks are cheaper than hbooks (as it's implied because they're available at the same time.) So does Amazon still have the same motivation then to use a loss leader strategy on eBooks? Probably not. How does this impact the final pricing eBooks will be available on the market? Heck if I know!