Most you will pay for the average ebook?

[Kali Yuga]

I don't think it makes much sense to categorically set a ceiling on what you're willing to pay.

E.g. I tend not to buy text-only books (paper or electronic) that are more than $10. However I also occasionally purchase monographs, which can range from $10 to $50. Also, if a textbook that could work fine electronically is $40 and the paper version is $80, chances are I'll take the ebook.

On a separate note, in a few years it won't make much sense to peg ebook prices to paper prices. That attitude is pretty much a part of the transitional period.

[Lirael]

For any book, I'm absolutely *not* willing to pay any more than a paper copy would cost me - it doesn't make any sense to me that I should. For novels, that means my price ceiling is usually around $10. For me, in an ideal world, the ebook would cost less than the pbook, but I'm willing to pay up to the paper price, and no higher.

For textbooks, I'll only buy the e-version if it's significantly cheaper than the paper version, because my previous experience with e-textbooks has been that they're a bit cumbersome to use - but I'm willing to put up with it for a price cut. Case in point, for one of my courses this semester, we had the option of a $100 pbook or a $35 ebook. I went with the ebook.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I don't think it makes much sense to categorically set a ceiling on what you're willing to pay.

I agree, especially considering that ebooks are not restricted by physical size as paper books are. One could imagine a single ebook with the "complete writings of Isaac Asimov", or an annotated multilingual edition of put-your-long-book-title-here, that would be worth much more than, say, a 100-page (as per typical pape book pages) short story.

... and that's without even going into fiction/reference/art distinctions.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Just curious, in light of the new price-gouging agency model (decade-old paperback $1 cheaper than print! They're all heart) if anyone has bought any books yet under the new pricing and what your thoughts are on how high they can take you for. I have still been adding books to my wishlist (mostly at Kobo since Fictionwise doesn't have anything good anymore) and some books I would have impulse-bought in the past (e.g. books to replace a paper version taking up shelf space in my tiny home) I am wishlisting and not buying. With the exception of maybe 1 author where I really would be willing to pay to have it right away, I just can't see myself paying more than $12 for an ebook---$10 is my limit but Canadian books seem to be $2 higher so I have bumped it a little. But more than that, I'll wishlist it and wait.

So, do you have a ceiling? What is it?

I can understand the need for a $12 limit to handle Canadian pricing, but I find it interesting that 67.5% choose $10 or less. And even though the 'bump' to $12 'only' adds 2.5%, that still shows 7 out of 10 people would consider the current higher-price policies of the 'big five' publishers to be way out of line. Of course, the average upper-management type at these mega-publishing-houses cannot read, cannot think beyond his/her next feeding and cannot imagine a world where customers are even *close* to being right. So we'll have to either cave in or do what comes naturally. (In the latter, that means swarming to the darknet to assuage our addiction.)

So be it. Dinosaurs sometimes need to be hunted to extinction as they're too stupid to simply give up and die on schedule.

Derek

[Elfwreck]

I picked $10, but that's probably not entirely accurate.

I'd pay more than that for gaming ebooks, which I'd use as reference works. (And I'd wind up printing a copy because all ebook software lacks crucial features of pbooks for reference work, including the very simple "here, you compare these two charts on two different pages" aspect.)

But for novels and mainstream nonfic, my price caps out at about the same as mmpb's. While I might pay more for collections or reference works, I picked an answer based on the majority of my buying habits. (Most of the time, I won't pay more than $5, but I've got no problem with $6 at Baen, and have bought a few at $7 from FW, although I'm not likely to do so in the future--too much free content I'm just as happy to read.)

[TallMomof2]

Pretty much $5.00. Sometimes I'll go up to $10.00 but most of my purchases are under $5.00. Anything more expensive goes onto a wish list where I wait for the price to drop to what I consider reasonable.

[Ea]

It depends to a large degree on how much I want the book, plus the e-book price vs. p-book price - i.e. how much is it worth to own an e-copy and is the p-book version much cheaper?

But for genre fiction and other quick reads, books that I probably will only read once, I guess my limit is about 7-8 USD, max 10. But it doesn't mean I wouldn't buy it if it was a bit more expensive... Between taxes and shipping, e-books are most often the cheapest option for me - a mainstream paperback, ordered from England, would typically cost me the equivalent of 15-20 USD.

A 5 USD book is at the price level where rarely stop to consider whether I should buy it or not, as that price it pretty close to 'dirt cheap'.

[bevdeforges]

Actually, my price point is about $15, so I had to go with $16.

My main reason for going to an ebook reader is to be able to get English language fiction here in France. So basically, I'm looking at not paying more than the paperback edition would cost me if I were making my usual runs back to the US to buy books. Up to now, I've been buying books between trips from Amazon in the UK - and despite the discounted paperback prices, you have to figure in shipping costs.

There is a 5% maximum discount on books here in France, which I am told specifically does NOT apply to ebooks, however no one seems to have told FNAC, which is about the only source over here for ebooks. They seem to be charging about the same for French titles as the paper editions.

[causticmuse]

Generally, I try to finagle coupons and sales to get the price of a fiction ebook I want to $5 or less. I am patient enough to wait for new releases to drop down to paperback prices before I bite. I'm willing to pay up to $10-$15 for non-fiction that I will refer to repeatedly, but again, I will wait for sales and coupons or Fictionwise's 100% Micropay rebates on those if I can to bring the price down below $10.

I prefer to pay no more than I would for a used paperback copy of the same book including shipping.

[Sydney's Mom]

Since I prefer ebooks to even pbooks, I will just use the library. I need to put holds on most books, but I have such a TBR list, I don't mind waiting a couple weeks. I will simply start Under the Dome. I wanted that book, but it was windowed. I got it off the darknet, and then bought it legitimately when it was finally released. And I still haven't started it. So I think I will just calm down, and wait for the library.

[dmaul1114]

$10 is my threshold for the average novel/non-fiction book.

At $10 and under I have no problem paying that for something I'll only read once, and having the convenience of not having a physical copy to get rid of, or hassling with the library.

[FizzyWater]

Generally 25% - 30% less than the print price (assuming it's not an overpriced indi-pub trade paperback) is my 'stopping place'. I've paid more and not minded - occasionally - and I've paid more and grumbled, but caved - once or twice.

I want to pay pretty much the same price I'd pay if I bought the book at Target or Wal-mart or if it was on sale at B&N. While I like to think they should be a little less than that - because I can't share or resell them - I'd rather get them timely and pay the same as the print book, than to wait months and months before being able to read the book digitally.

[mrkarl]

14 dollars is my limit for a book that's part of a series that I've been waiting for and only immediatly when it becomes available.....but, I've been in the print industry a long time and I know that a lot of work and money is being saved by selling it electronicaly so for the average story the amount I'll pay for it will get less as time goes by so I'd maybe pay a couple of dollars for something thats been around for 20 or 30 years

[cubeball]

I will say US$10 for a new release inclusive of tax if any. As for books tat are a year old or more not more than US$7. But then again i will pay abit more if it's a book i really want,some really old books tat i would keep and read over. I just stop buying tis few days coz of the price increase and just add books i wanted to my wishlist. If this trend persist, i will most likely turn to the 'ahem net'

[Dellaster]

Depends. The price of the ebook must be equal or less than the cheapest paper version. That's my only absolute. My preference is what Baen does with Webscription.net: about $6, multiformat & no DRM, for any novel they carry even if it's still only available in hardcover on the paper side.

Like others I have bought Baen eARC ebooks for $15. The thing about those is that the paper book doesn't exist yet and won't for at least several months at the time the eARC is released. For example, I bought one eARC at the beginning of February that's still listed for hardcover preorder at Amazon for $16.32. That's value for your extra bucks.

Other higher-than-$10 exceptions include technical books, like those on computer programming language. It's case by case when it comes to non-fiction.