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Old 02-13-2010, 08:53 PM   #1
Kanlee
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Question Tor E-Book pricing?
I just checked out a few Tor books on Amazon and noticed that the mass paperback sold for about 2 dollars less than the e-book?
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Old 02-13-2010, 09:21 PM   #2
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Yep. They suck as far as that goes, pretty much.
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Old 02-14-2010, 06:25 AM   #3
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I just checked out a few Tor books on Amazon and noticed that the mass paperback sold for about 2 dollars less than the e-book?
Buy the e-book now while they're still that cheap. (Look at the "Digital List Price" - it's usually above the actual selling price and the paper price. In a month or so that's what you'll have to pay for it. Yes, that means you'll be paying four times as much for an e-book as for a paperback in some cases.)
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Old 02-14-2010, 12:51 PM   #4
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MacMillan claims that want to sell their ebooks from a range of $5.99 to $14.99, and the $14.99 price is when there's only a hardcover in print. If so, and MacMillan's CEO speaks for the pricing at its subsidiaries, Tor ebooks ought to be priced in May at $5.99 when there's a $7.99 paper book available.
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Old 02-14-2010, 01:43 PM   #5
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The Mass market paperback is 7.99,the paperback is 10.17 and the kindle edition is 9.99.
What is the dif.between paperback and mass market paperback?I would gladly pay 5.99 for the e-book but it is 9.99.
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Old 02-14-2010, 01:58 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Kanlee View Post
The Mass market paperback is 7.99,the paperback is 10.17 and the kindle edition is 9.99.
What is the dif.between paperback and mass market paperback?I would gladly pay 5.99 for the e-book but it is 9.99.
In this case I believe paperback means Trade paperback, which is like a large, nicer paperback. Mass markets are the paperbacks that you see most of the time, the small ones with darker paper.

Tor is a part of MacMillan, a publishing company that is rejecting Amazon's price point of 9.99 for hardcovers, and have decided to price their ebooks from anywhere between 5.99 and 14.99. As you can see here, they're charging a lot more than 5.99, unfairly.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:17 PM   #7
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And then the publishers complain when you can find a used print copy for $3.00 or find "other" digital means to obtain a copy.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:28 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilac_jive View Post
Tor is a part of MacMillan, a publishing company that is rejecting Amazon's price point of 9.99 for hardcovers, and have decided to price their ebooks from anywhere between 5.99 and 14.99. As you can see here, they're charging a lot more than 5.99, unfairly.
Amazon is currently setting the prices so I do not see why you blame the publisher.

I really do not get what an unfair price is. I thought that seller and buyer interacts and there will be a price and that this process did not have any goals like being fair.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:39 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by tompe View Post
Amazon is currently setting the prices so I do not see why you blame the publisher.

I really do not get what an unfair price is. I thought that seller and buyer interacts and there will be a price and that this process did not have any goals like being fair.
It's unfair that they are charging more for the ebook than the most recent pbook edition. I blame the publisher because they were doing this before the whole Amazon/Macmillan debacle and that was reflected at other ebook sites, not just Amazon.

But I digress. Without knowing the titles in question I can't compare other sites, or check to see when the book was released in mass market.
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Old 02-14-2010, 02:50 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilac_jive View Post
It's unfair that they are charging more for the ebook than the most recent pbook edition.
Why? An ebook is potentially more useful since it is searchable and it is easier to use a dictionary.

Quote:
I blame the publisher because they were doing this before the whole Amazon/Macmillan debacle and that was reflected at other ebook sites, not just Amazon.
Yes, but since Amazon is selling books at a loss you can blame them for not selling the ebook at the price you want.
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Old 02-14-2010, 03:12 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by tompe View Post
Why? An ebook is potentially more useful since it is searchable and it is easier to use a dictionary.



Yes, but since Amazon is selling books at a loss you can blame them for not selling the ebook at the price you want.
I can't search my ebooks. And I don't have a dictionary on my device. That's why you pay more for the device, not the ebook. I don't have a Kindle. It's not like the publishers are only going to charge more for Kindle books. They're going to make all ebook distributors jack up their prices.

And your second comment, I don't understand. In this case Amazon shouldn't be selling them at a loss. The book is in mass market paperback, the ebook price should reflect that. Amazon takes a loss on the 9.99 "hardcovers," and maybe a few of the "paperback" ebooks.

If Amazon is charging more for this ebook all on their own, I can see your point. I highly doubt that is the case though.
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Old 02-14-2010, 04:23 PM   #12
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It's a sad state of affairs that's for sure.

Hopefully after a bumpy 2010 we'll eventually get a pricing that structure that is fair for consumers and that publishers and Amazon are 'satisfied' with. They won't be happy, but satisfied is enough for them. The bottom line for me is that I will not pay 50% more for an ebook over a paper book when the ebook comes with a number of restrictions (DRM) as to who I can lend it to and I am unable to re-sell it.

I don't mind having DRM which 'checks out' a book so only one person can use it at a time. But I need to be able to let my friends check it out so they can borrow it like a paper book and I should be able to sell the book once I have finished with it like I can a paper book. The publishers are trying to force us into 'leasing' DRMed books with a one book per person restriction for a higher price than paper. It is ludicrous.
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Old 02-14-2010, 06:15 PM   #13
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I won't necessarily agree with tompe that ebooks ought to be more expensive than paper. However, he is correct that you cannot blame Tor right now for the current prices. Tor is setting its current cover prices with the expectation that Amazon and other retailers will offer a significant discount. It's like castigating a car manufacturer on your new car's cash price because the auto dealer refuses to go below MSRP or, for a hot car, charges more than the MSRP.

This will change when Amazon switches to agency pricing, and Tor will gain much more control over pricing. Until agency pricing kicks in, you can't exclusively blame Tor for the price and can't predict how they will price it.
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Old 02-14-2010, 07:37 PM   #14
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Why? An ebook is potentially more useful since it is searchable and it is easier to use a dictionary.
Depends entirely on the file format, DRM, and the reader. Some formats I've seen like searching, many readers and viewing software don't have search features even if the format will let you, and it is also possible for DRM formats to limit abilities like that (although not sure if any currently do).

Also, it can be argued that getting something tangible outweighs the potential ease of use. I would much rather pay for something tangible, even if it is a container for a digital file. When you get something you can touch, you can't have the retailer or the publisher take it away from you. If you have computer problems, you still have it.
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Old 02-15-2010, 05:31 AM   #15
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And your second comment, I don't understand. In this case Amazon shouldn't be selling them at a loss. The book is in mass market paperback, the ebook price should reflect that.
Macmillan's pricing department doesn't agree with you, since their digital list price on most books that have been out in paperback for years is $14, with spikes as high as $30. We'll see how well this works out for them if they try to keep those price levels once the new price-fixing agreement is in place.

Amazon shows the digital MSRP, and generally buys at 50% of list, so you can make a reasonable guess as to whether or not a book is selling at a loss.
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