09-07-2011, 09:15 AM | #61 |
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09-07-2011, 10:27 PM | #62 | |
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The comment was made they are still in print. So if I got o a book store or Amazon and order a copy of the book in the latest printing, what is the price? Why would anyone expect the ebooks to be substantially less than a currently in print, latest printing pbook? |
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09-07-2011, 10:28 PM | #63 | ||
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But the books mentioned are still in print. The poster mentioned continuously in print. Quote:
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09-07-2011, 10:38 PM | #64 |
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Because we should not be paying for paper, ink, printing, binding, transportation, stocking, inventory and brick and mortar overhead. Preparation of an eBook is a one-time event, followed by an infinitesimal amount of storage space and server time.
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09-07-2011, 10:48 PM | #65 |
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So... the physical production costs of a pbook are a trivial proportion of the cost of the book, they always have been with printing presses as has been discussed and pointed out numerous times across the forum... guess it's back to
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09-07-2011, 11:02 PM | #66 |
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But a portion nevertheless, accounting for, by the publisher's own repeated estimations, 10-15% of the cost. So ebook customers imho are right to expect the price to reflect this lower production cost.
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09-07-2011, 11:13 PM | #67 | ||
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There might be costs to produce an epub, but the costs would be FAR lower than the production of a physical product since the latter has lots of costs (paper, ink, maintenance for the printing presses, etc.) after the editing and production of the electronic file that would be then fed into the ePub creator and the typesetting system. Frankly, the ONLY reason that ebook prices are anywhere near the paperback prices and beyond is greed, pure and simple - all the savings from not having to produce the physical product are being pocketed by the publishers. |
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09-07-2011, 11:59 PM | #68 |
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I'm not talking about production costs or relative prices of paper books and e-books. I'm talking about expanding the customer base by setting the price low enough to entice people who already own the book in paper to buy it again digitally.
These Victoria Holt books are 40-50 years old, they are not literary classics, the author is deceased so there are no new releases that remind readers of the backlist--but there is potentially a big audience of people like me who devoured these books year after year and now would like to have them on their newfangled e-readers--but not enough to spend $10 apiece. Most new e-book versions of mass-market paperbacks seem to be around $7 or $8--why should these old books cost so much more? |
09-08-2011, 07:05 AM | #69 | |
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And we have enough dead horses already, so I cease and desist. Last edited by mldavis2; 09-08-2011 at 07:07 AM. |
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09-08-2011, 08:03 AM | #70 |
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09-08-2011, 09:06 AM | #71 | |
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They want to sell the series to new readers, and so market and price the books as new according to what they want to profit from those new reader purchases. |
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09-08-2011, 02:53 PM | #72 |
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Here is an example that just doesn't make any sense to me. From the Amazon website:
Micheo Kaku's "Physics of the Furture". The hardcover is $16.63, The Kindle version is $14.99, the paperback is $9.75. It seems almost perverse to set the e-book price so much higher than the paperback price. Ultimately, I think, some publisher will realize the real advantages of e-books: no paper, no printing press, almost $0 cost of distribution, no overstock. Sadly, until that time we will be faced with inexplicable pricing schemes. Even more sadly, for an obstinate person, as I can be from time to time, it means that we just won't buy something that we would have otherwise bought. I suspect there are many who use e-reading devices who share this same reaction to pricing that perplexes and annoys us. |
09-08-2011, 03:00 PM | #73 | |
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09-08-2011, 03:17 PM | #74 |
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Were do you find the paperback version? I cannot find it. Seems unreasonable that the paperback version should be published so soon after the hardcover version.
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09-08-2011, 03:33 PM | #75 |
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As I said, that is the listed price on Amazon for the paperback. While this example seems particularly egregious, it is not uncommon to see a paperback listed at a lower price than the e-book. I find myself not buying either version when they do something like this. I just don't understand the business model for this type of pricing. They won't kill the e-book market and it seems to punish the publisher more than anyone else.
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